As if we needed anymore proof of our pets’ compassion, here comes another story to hit you right in the feels.
Spencer and Rocky were inseparable as brothers and best buds for 10 years, sleeping in the same bed, eating from the same bowl and basically hanging out all day everyday. Sounds like a good life.
As their owner Beth Fisher said, the two dogs ‘had never spent a night apart,’ and they ‘always walked together when they went out.’
After 10 years of friendship, sadly Spencer and Rocky’s time together was suddenly cut short. During a visit to the vet to check on an ailment Rocky had, it was revealed he had developed a cancerous tumour. It was sadly too late for surgery, and the family had to make the difficult decision to end the dog’s suffering.
Beth told The Dodo:
Rocky had to get put down that day. It was hard to process Rocky’s sudden death, but we can’t imagine how hard it must be for Spencer to have lost his little brother.
She added:
Since Rocky passed, Spencer has been getting up in the night to wander the house looking for his brother. And then he starts crying because he can’t find him.
The family have kept Rocky’s ashes, but it was soon clear Spencer needed something more to remember his brother by. It was then Beth’s dad ordered a pillow for Spencer with the late Rocky’s smiling face on.
Spencer embraced the present straight away, cuddling up to the pillow and carrying it around between his bed and sofa.
As Beth said:
Spencer has been cuddling into the pillow since it arrived, carrying it from the sofa to his own bed. He seems a lot more settled now he’s got something to cuddle into.
I don’t think Spencer will ever get over Rocky’s passing, but I hope he’s able to learn to go on without him.
We’re hoping Spencer is able to take comfort in his new pillow, and take comfort from all the cuddles he’s getting from his family.
Beth said though Spencer will have to learn to move forward without Rocky, the pillow has been a reassuring gift to the dog, who is getting used to not having his brother around.
Sorry, think I’ve got something in my eye…
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.