Goodbye, sweet Basil.

We lost our precious Basil boy much too soon. He was only five and had always been incredibly healthy. He became unwell, and we spent three days working with the vet, trying to bring him back, but he lost the battle to cardio myopathy. When it became clear that he was getting worse, despite every possible effort, we let him go. Initially, he responded to the treatment and seemed to be improving for about an hour, then he took a turn. He was struggling so hard to breathe, even on oxygen, and the fluid in his lungs/heart were increasing rapidly, and he was so miserable. It was an absolutely brutal experience for all of us.

We took his twin brother and soul mate, Charlie, in to spend time with him at the hospital in his last few hours. I hoped it might encourage Basil to fight harder and pull through, but he just wasn't able. He did respond quite happily to his brother, and Charlie was very happy to see him. I'm not sure what he understood about the situation, but I hope that he found some kind of understanding/closure after seeing him.

Basil and I were very close, and I miss him tremendously. He was my talker and was very smart. We had long, meaningful conversations, and I could always count on him to hang out with me while I did my kitchen work. I can't begin to describe how much I miss him.  Charlie misses him so much more.  He's been a lost little boy, since Basil's death, and I've been trying to baby him and give him lots of attention, but it's clear that he's depressed and in pain.  They have always been together, and Charlie doesn't seem to like life very much without his brother. I hope time will help him recover.