The vet’s diagnosis was good and bad. Good in a sense that DH didn’t have cataracts, it was merely his eyelid that folded over his eye, giving that white cloudy look; bad in a sense that his overall condition was deteriorating because most likely he was old. The vet explained to me straightforwardly that it was almost DH’s time & that his body would eventually give up. What relieved me was knowing that DH was not in pain, but he was merely uncomfortable.

At the end, it was not easy for me to have DH put to sleep. As usual, I always wondered whether it was the better choice in comparison as to giving him another chance or letting him take his own time.

Here are some photos of my last moments with DH at the animal clinic:

DH was sleeping throughout the vet visit

His fur was always so soft

He is laid peacefully on this beautiful rolling hill where some of my hamsters are currently resting.

On a more positive note, I was surrounded by dogs during my 2-week vacation:

Walking alongside the Sg river & Tinky stopped by to smell the flowers (or another dog’s pee)

And we saw a monitor lizard bathing on the rocks

Joey getting older & becoming a sleepy head

Not to mention I also stopped by House of Chinchillas, a pet store specializing in chinchillas that is located in Serangoon! Even though it’s a small store, it houses lots of cute & fluffy chinchillas! To my surprise, these chinchillas (that were all born in the tiny island) are considerably smaller than the ones (of the same age) who are born in the US. According to the storekeeper, it’s because they don’t need all the excess fat to keep them warm because all they’ve known is the tropical weather. Well, that’s a logical explanation .. But when I ask her whether they are of pet or breeding quality, apparently they are all of pet quality. At least I now know where to buy chinchilla supplies as they stock Mazuri & chinchilla housings (& maybe more chinchillas hihihihi!).

When I returned to State-side, it’s good to see the chinchillas and the one & only hamster (Pinky) I have left are all healthy. More posts on them later

ps: sorry for the poor photos, they were all taken by my phone as my camera is too bulky to carry around.

Ok, enough venting for now.

He must really like that pillow I bought especially for him.

The fur on his cheek has turned white ..

And the fur around his nose has turned white, too.

We’re not sure of his real age, but he was supposedly born in December of 2000, which makes him 9 years old this year. The problem is, we’re sure of he is an American or an English Cocker Spaniel; American Cocker Spaniels have an average lifespan of 10-11 years (too short) and English Cocker Spaniels have an average lifespan of 11-12 years (still too short!). Not sure why cocker spaniels’ lifespan is shorter than other purebreeds. I hope that with a healthy lifestyle, Joey can beat the statistics

Then, he curiously searched for “Machu Picchu chinchilla” and he found a bunch of travel pictures of ‘chinchillas’ residing in the Machu Picchu ruins. When he shared the search results with me, I remember of another creature my friend had emailed me about; those are not pictures of ‘chinchillas’ residing in Machu Picchu, but they are Vischacas! They’re close cousins of chinchillas, no wonder people mistakenly believe that they are in fact chinchillas!

One of these days I do want to make a trip to Chile’s part of the Andes mountain, where Tubby is from; and then I’m going to throw some raisins at the wild chinchillas*

*I’m just saying; don’t do this because it’ll only make the wild animals dependent on humans & it’ll just make it harder for them to survive on their own in their natural habitat.

Found a whole bunch of tadpoles and snails, big and small, in a fountain filled with algae. This wasn’t my hand, it was my cousin who dared to pick up a tadpole.

Beautiful architecture.

A fearless bird who’s not scared of people. When I went inside the huge bird cage, it would follow me around.

A mother hen with her chicks. It was real cute; not sure if you can see from the picture, but there’s a small hill behind the mother. The mother hen flew up the hill (yes, chickens can fly), leaving her chicks behind. All the chicks started chirping because their wings weren’t strong enough to carry them to the hill (notice some of the chicks’ wings are spanned open). So the mother hen came back for her chicks.