Our sweet little betta fish named Delilah died last Thursday night. We started to suspect she was ill a few days prior, and after a little bit of research we determined she was succumbing to a common betta fish disease called fin rot. Within a day or two, it became clear that she was getting worse very rapidly. The girls were refusing to look into her bowl the last day, as it was so sad to see her suffering so much. I tried to convince the girls that euthanasia was the kindest course of action, but they wouldn't let me do anything violent to her little body. We tried to think of the least traumatic method for both Delilah and us. My husband suggested putting her in the freezer, thinking the cold would actually numb any pain she was in and her system would just shut down. It turns out that Delilah's time had come naturally though, because when I went to relieve her of her suffering, I found she had already expired. Tears were shed, mostly of guilt, I think. Maybe if we changed her water more frequently, fed her more regularly, and so on, she'd have lived longer than one year in our care. Well, we buried her in the yard on Saturday morning and the girls are going to paint a small rock to place over her resting place so that we will always be reminded of our sweet little betta named Delilah.
And yes, she was named for the song Hey There, Delilah by The Plain White Tees. And everytime I walked past her bowl I would say, "Hey there, Delilah!" Really, I would. I'm going to miss that.
I think its not just the humans who will miss Delilah:
What concentration! Or is it constraint? Or both? The cat in these pictures is Mona. Every evening after we finish dinner, Mona would jump onto one of the chairs, put her paws on the back of the chair to gaze into the china cabinet where we kept Delilah and meow like crazy. It ended up being a consistent reminder to feed, Delilah. And every once in a while, we'd bring Delilah out on the dining room table for some supervised visits between the two. Very cute.
I miss her :'(
ReplyDeleteThat's a really good picture of Delilah.
Aw that so sad. I had 2 betas and they were Hero and Ando (from the show Heroes.) Anywho they died within days of me getting them. I hate when animals pass on so sad.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm sorry. Losing a pet is always difficult. Your Mona is so sweet. I love how she was communing with Delilah.
ReplyDeleteSo very sorry for your loss.
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how pet get to you, no?
...btw... GPS ... lol
snarky wench.
I love fish. I have two fish tanks at home and a betta here at the office. They really do grow on you.
ReplyDeleteSorry about your loss. :(
Aw I'm so sorry to hear that Christine. I've always been so sad when I've lost fish. Hang in there.
ReplyDeleteMona's adorable.
Oh I'm so sorry about Delilah. Hugs to your family, and to Mona for losing her little friend.
ReplyDeleteOh I'm so sorry about Delilah. Hugs to your family, and to Mona for losing her little friend.
ReplyDeleteAwww, that IS sad. I'm sorry for yalls loss. It may have been a fish, but clearly it was important. Reminds me of our two Betas we had, separately of course.
ReplyDeleteOne was named Fish. The other was named Fish, the Sequel.
Fish we had for over a year and he (?) was growing SO well. We loved Fish. He meant something to us - hello, the goober liked us to pet him, he'd come to the top and everything when he saw us and that was after food.
The good thing is you really don't have to feed them too often; but it is the water and don't feel bad, I was late changing Fish's from time to time.
But Fish, after having such a long life with us ended up on our living room floor one day, "fished" out by strangely enough - our black cat! I say strange, just because of yalls cute black cat. So there went Fish. We we were VERY upset with Paxton (the cat culprit), but then I was like, no, it's MY fault. He's a cat, it's in his nature. I should have made sure Fish was in a more secure local (when I'd thought he was).
So after we got over poor Fish, we bought Fish, the Sequel. And I think the poor thing succumbed to the same thing yours did. Nothing seemed to help, the food, water changing. I felt bad then too.
They are the poopingest little things though, aren't they?
Geez, I wrote a novel! Sorry. :D
ReplyDeleteThanks for all your kind words, everyone. Mona is still looking for Delilah in the china cabinet. It's kinda cute.
ReplyDeleteLOL @ kmont!!! You can write as much as you like. I appreciate you sharing your experiences. I'm going to show Maria your comment later. I think it'll make her feel better.
What Paxton did to Fish is why we kept Delilah's bowl inside the china cabinet. In the beginning we left Delilah's bowl on the dining room table with a screen cover on it, but the cats were still able to knock it over. All the water drained out of it except the 1 inch that was left in that didn't make it over the lip of the jar. Amazingly, Delilah was fine swimming in that little bit of water till we found her in the morning. She had since then been sequestered to the china cabinet. Naughty cats.
I know how you feel, I lost my betta about 1 week ago and although it wasn't quite as painful it still hurts.
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