Dear Zak,

There were three biscuits as usual on the sink this morning. I unlocked the back door but there was no gentle mouth by my left hand when I let it fall to my side, waiting to take the biscuit from it. Roxy was not there. My Smiler Girl is gone.

We took Roxy to the vet yesterday morning after a particularly energetic visit to the Wag Zone where I took these photos. She’d been diagnosed a month or so back with liver cancer and Marianne had to giver her chemotherapy drugs as well as a very complicated diet in light of her pancreatitis. At first she coped but recently had become very picky and was eating less and less and losing weight. The vet redid the ultrasound scan and the news was not good – the cancer had spread and was aggressive. The decision was made to stop the chemotherapy, bring her home and spoil her with whatever she really liked to eat for the few weeks she was estimated to have left.

Around 10 p.m. last night she became very distressed and was clearly bloated and in a lot of pain. We rushed her back to the vet who diagnosed gastric torsion (which saw the end of Jenni all those years ago) and Marianne made the decision to let her go. She was not even seven years old. Poor girl, she did not have good luck with her health even when she was younger.

I will miss her big, goofy smile with ears curled back that greeted me when I came home. Smiler. Run free soft girl. I stroked her soft muzzle one last time then we laid her to rest next to you my boy.