Our miniature dachshund Scooter has been having health issues since last year when he had a stroke. Of course, he's my baby and I've taken care of him for pretty much half my life. My husband and I decided as long as his quality of life is good, it didn't matter that he was blind, almost deaf and has trouble walking well. He was such a happy little guy.

I had to go out of town last week on a business trip and he wouldn't eat much for my husband. Last Friday morning he did get him to eat mashed potatoes but he started violently throwing up. My husband rushed him to the vets, where he has been in ICU in an oxygen tent since Friday. Their goal was to keep him alive until I could get back into town.

Not only did they keep him alive, he started getting better and the vet was ready to take him out of the oxygen tent. We went to the vets so that we could take him home today and I could spend some time with him. We were in the vets parking lot when my husband's cell phone rang - Scooter had just passed away. I feel so terribly sad that I wasn't able to say goodbye to him but I feel that just like people, animals choose when they want to pass. I also believe that he knew how much difficulty I was having with the thought of having to euthanize him when the time came so he chose to pass on his own, which is how I had always wanted it to be.

I am so very heartbroken right now but I know that we all did everything possible to allow him to live a long happy life with so much love.