A day of sadness.

This morning I let Molly, alfred and Gem out and went to let Jackson and sasha out of their kennel as they all exercise together.Sasha was eagerly waiting but There was no sign of Jackson . I could see him in his basket and thinking he might be deaf went to wake him.To my great distress I could see he was dead.He looked as though he had died in his sleep but it was a terrible shock.Last night he had been enjoying his evening run, had been eating well too so I can only suppose he must have had a heart condition of which we were not aware.Poor Sasha is very quiet and subdued, she clearly misses him too.I am glad that for the time he was here, he was very happy, he loved itat the shelter, enjoyed his romps on the field(several times daily)and the company of the other dogs.From the first day he arrived he made himself at home, there were never any signs of fretting or unhappiness, on the contrary his tail never stopped wagging and his face always seemed to be smiling.He really was a lovely dog and at 6years he was far from old, such a shame.
As if this was not bad enough I was forced to make a decision regarding my old cavalier Ruby.For a while her back legs have become weaker and weaker and her kidneys have started to fail so I knew her time was imminent but it was the last straw today when I found her distressed and lying in her own excrement.This is not fair to any animal, they all deserve some dignity in their old age so I made that awful decision which I knew was right but nevertheless left me feeling so empty and sad. Rhian kindly offered to take her to the Vet and I readily accepted her offer.It had been a long time since Ruby really acknowledged me, she spent most of her time sleeping so I did not feel I was letting her down by not accompanying her.Rhian is so strong and I am so grateful to her for this, it is not easy for anyone to do and she has had a terrible past year with losing a few of her own dogs.I cant thank her enough.Shes a good friend as well as a work colleague.
Although these two incidents have understandably overshadowed the day, there have been some bright spots, we have found homes for 4 domestic cats and 5 feral cats have gone to a new home.These good moments make the others more bearable. I will focus on the fact that these lucky cats will soon be enjoying the life they deserve.