Farewell to Slinkie

Slinkie December 16, 1994 to May 14, 2009

I was living in Raleigh, North Carolina, and one day I entered a pet shop – just to look. And there was Slinkie – when I told the employee to put him back, he clung to my sweater….you guessed, the next day I returned to buy him. How did he get his name - I brought him home, my neighbors were outside, I put him in the grass and he rolled down the hill. My neighbor said: “just like a slinkie toy.” That was it.

Slinkie has lived in North Carolina and Connecticut, but mainly in Texas and now Missouri. He’s even flown on business trips with his mom; his favorite was to New Orleans…Slinkie shared a beignet in Café Dumonde!!!

Slinkie really loved his younger sister, Daisy, and then Hugs (mainly because she is a mini-Dachshund). I think deep-down Slinkie liked his two big sisters, Brianna and Kirra. However, in the last year as he became more blind, the bullet trains (Brianna and Kirra) running through the house frightened him.

Dr. Leach, a vet at the University of Missouri Vet School, has been taking care of Slinkie for the past couple of years. Michael and I consulted with him a number of times to help us decide Slinkie’s welfare. We realized it was ‘time’ when Slinkie would cry/moan for no reason (at least none that we could decipher).

This was our first experience with euthanasia. When we arrived at the hospital, the receptionist escorted us into a ‘special room.’ Dr. Leach came in for a final discussion on what we should do…we decided it was time. Michael was holding Slinkie, I was on the floor petting him and then Dr. Leach injected Slinkie. Slinkie very sweetly went to sleep. In a couple of weeks we will have his ashes and a clay cast of his pawprint.

Although we all miss Slinkie, we know that he is frolicking in doggie heaven having steak for breakfast, lunch and dinner and…of course, flirting with all the girl dachies. We love you, Slinkie.