Nala my little lion...

I lost my puppy to the Parvo virus on Wednesday morning...She was only exactly 4 months, a beautiful German shepherd puppy, with eyes that looked as though they could talk...

My puppy was from Lassie, Bernard's bitch who gave birth to 8 puppies where only 3 of them survived. We named her Nala ( as the female lion who was with Simba in the Lion King) as we hoped she'd have a will and strength of a lion.

Nala was not fearsome, in fact, she was gentle, playful, loving and amicable. She was my parent's pride and joy. She was never disciplined, she was spoilt silly, and she had the most amazing character.

When Nala and her other 2 siblings were 5 days old, her mum, Lassie was sick with tick fever, and the other 5 puppies already didn't make it. Bernard's family took things in their own hands, started bottle feeding the pups every 3 hours.

Nala was the fattest and cuttest out of the lot. She was whiny and she loved to hurdle up with the other two for warmth.. Bernard decided to give Nala to my parents, cz she was the strongest one.

My parents loved her to the core. She was the only dog who lived in the house, who slept by my mum's bedside and was treated like a human. They watched her grow in pride, one by one of her droopy ears standing up and her limbs growing at exponential growth. They would call me everyday to update me on how she was doing and tell me all the antics she would pull all day long

It happened just like that.... She had diarrhea, they took her to the vet, she was hospitalized and 2 days later, she hemorrhaged and passed on...

Some say she was just a puppy, it wouldn't have hurt.. Some say she was just a dog
She was a part of our family.. And we have guilt, regret, sorrow and an unexplainable hurt that we couldn't do more than we already did to try and save her...

I bottle fed Nala since she was 5 days old. She fitted in my palm. She would suck on her milk bottle without pausing to breathe... She was like my baby. i can only Imagine how my parents feel. It's like losing a child. We don't treat dogs as pets. They're not there to amuse us, protect us, or act as decoratives to the garden. We adopt them as family. And treat them as one.

While i still grieve over her passing on, and i cannot understand why God took her away so soon, I'm still thankful for having her short presence here. I know she's no longer in pain, and she'l be happy to have her urn rest in peace in the garden of the new house we bought which was meant for her to run in.

Nala.. we love you... Always did.. always will...