Losing a pet is never easy and Maya Farías reflects on the time she spent with her dog.
I’ll never forget when I had to say goodbye to my best friend. About 12 years ago, a month before my third birthday, my parents decided that my brother and I were ready to add a new member to our family. That day at the shelter, we had no idea we would be walking out with the best dog we could ask for.
My brother picked out his name, Melky, inspired by Melky Cabrera, who at the time played for the San Francisco Giants. He was a small, white chihuahua with a brown spot on his back, a brown face and tail and little pointy ears. He was well behaved, never failed to join us on family outings and was always ready to protect us with that signature chihuahua bark.
But in 2023, my family noticed a change in Melky’s behavior. He had less energy, sometimes seemed clueless and would even experience weird unexplainable twitches. Concerned with his behavior we took him to the vet to figure out what was going on. He grew very ill, and we learned that he had developed a brain tumor.
A month later, we couldn’t let him live in pain any longer. I held him tight in his last moments, regretting the time I could’ve spent with him and chose not to. None of us expected to have to say goodbye so soon, and yet there we were, heartbroken to see him go.