COULD I HAVE DONE MORE?
“Could I have done more?”
Of course, you could have done more. You could have done more “damage.” Did you ever think of that? Why is it that whenever we ask if there was something more we could have done that we always envision it as having such positive and healthy results? Just because we could have done something “more,” does it have to mean they would have automatically lived longer and healthier? That’s not the way life always is, and we know it.
Actually, there are three possible outcomes if we were to do “more” for our pets. They are 1) that their health would improve and they’d be the better for it, or 2) that there would really be no change at all; in other words, as far as we can tell it didn’t even make a difference, or 3) that things would have gotten worse and they may even have suffered a much worse end, and a whole lot sooner, too. And we must admit two other things here. We must admit that any of these three possibilities could have resulted from having done “more” than we did; and we must also admit that we have no way of knowing either way. We may think we have a good guess and that the “chances are good” for any of these options to have been the result, but there’s no way we can absolutely know what would have happened.
Actually, most of the time we do something “more” for our pets it probably does end up in a good way and our pets do get better and live longer because of it. Or, at the very least, what we do for them ends up making no significant difference at all—no harm, no foul. They neither get any better nor any worse. These are things we already know, so I won’t spend a whole lot of time discussing them. But we should also keep in mind that it often turns out just the opposite way, too.
So how do you know which it would have been? You don’t. And what makes you think you can go around kicking yourself in the rear for not having done “more,” when you have no way of knowing if the “more” you would have done would have made things better or much, much worse? Or something in between? How can you be so sure that doing “more” would not have taken your pet much sooner than having done nothing? You can’t.
It just may be that your pet actually lived a longer and even happier life simply because you did NOT do more! Did you ever think of that? Well, maybe you should. You don’t know the future, do you? Do you have a crystal ball? I doubt it and, even if you do, I doubt if you can make it work! You don’t know what your good intentions would have done—how much irreparable harm you may have done had you gone ahead and done “more.” Good intentions don’t guarantee good results, you know.
Have you ever had a cat or dog go in for surgery only to see him die unexpectedly on the operating table? Do you know the horror and shock of the vet coming out of the back room only to say that something went wrong and your little friend is no longer with us? I have. It’s happened to me and I’m not alone. We had a cat with cancer in her mouth. She had a part of her tongue removed and, yet, we were able to feed her through a tube and a plunger every day. But then she needed more surgery and so we took her in one day. But she didn’t make it. Even though the cancer had certainly caused a lot of trouble, there was no way any of us expected her not to make it through this operation; but she didn’t, and we were shocked when the doctor gave us the news. The doctor was shocked. Perhaps you’ve had it happen, too. Either way, I’m sure you’re already aware that it has happened to many other people and that it will continue to happen to many, many more!
Are not the dead bodies of our pets that died on the table worthy to be considered as proof that something can go wrong when you least expect it to? And that their deaths are just as real, when it does?
And it’s not just the potential for dying on the table that we have to fear. I know of others that had allergic reactions to the medications they were on after their surgeries, too. This is not to mention untold numbers that had the same life-ending reactions to their medications without having surgery. I have a friend who lost his dog because the vet gave him too much heartworm medicine! Do you know of such stories, too? If not, do you think I’m making them up? It happens a lot. It really does.
And these are all the results of loving owners who all decided to do “more” for their beloved pets. They’re a testimony to the fact that you can do “more” and that it can backfire—it can be disastrous to the health and/or lives of your pets. They also didn’t know, beforehand, that their actions would come to such a tragic ending, but they did anyway. Their pets are just as dead as yours is, and yours probably lived quite a bit longer simply because you did NOT do “more” for them. Don’t think so? Just ask me. Just ask them. Go online and find some of them out and talk with them about how they did “more” for their pets--only to lose them.
We lost another one to a blood transfusion that the doctor suggested we do. Monster got all new blood in the morning, got much worse in the afternoon, and we had to put him to sleep in the evening of the same day at an emergency hospital after our doctor’s hours were over for the day! Somehow he was given the wrong blood type! He was my wife’s favorite pet and we thought we were doing “more” for him, too. And we did. We did more damage.
I’m not going to list a lot of other things that can go wrong, and have gone wrong. Perhaps someone will write a book on it some day, memorializing all the beloved little ones who suffered in anguish and died simply because their loving owners did “more” than you did. And guess what? They thought they were doing the right thing by doing “more” for them, too. And guess what again? They WERE doing the right thing for them. They’re not at fault, either.
They thought about it a lot, consulted with the doctor and then decided to do what was the best and right thing to do. The odds were in their favor of it turning out all right. Of course, there’s always that chance we take and, again, we can just never know for sure what may actually happen. As it turned out, it was just one of those things in this life, in this fallen world, and they just had no way of knowing it would end this way. But you can’t fault them for doing it any more than they can fault you for not doing it. If we had known the potential outcomes, we would have always made the “right” decisions. But we’re not privy to that much information.
Those of us who believe that God has created all these little creatures also believe He cares for them and provides for them, too. He made domestic animals to befriend us and to get along with us in this life as loving, little companions. He made us to love them, and we do—and He made them to love us, which they also do. God loves and cares for them and for all the other lesser creatures on the earth as well.
This is why God is moving behind the scenes to somehow prevent us from making decisions that are actually fraught with danger, even though they may seem good to us. I believe we make decisions that turn out good because, unbeknownst to us, it was God Himself who was working in us and through us to make these decisions—without our even knowing it! But, why can’t it work both ways? If He helps us at times to “do” things that turn out good, wouldn’t He also help us to “not do” things that otherwise would turn out bad? So, maybe He was behind your decision to not do more (without your knowing it), and maybe some unknown disaster was thereby averted. You never know; you never really know.
So, yes we all could have done more for our pets, but that doesn’t mean it would have turned out to be “good” for them. And this is something we’ll never know in this life. All we can do is that which we should be doing all the time anyway, and that is making the best choices that we can, and putting our faith in God--trusting in Him with all our hearts.
Don’t forget that for every single creature on the face of the earth, there is a dreaded day coming in which we will all take our last breath and slip away into the next life. And there’s an element here that we should not be ignorant of: there’s a time appointed, even for our pets, in which our lives will come to an end. And this is true no matter what you or I will ever do, or neglect to do, on their behalf. There comes a time when nothing else matters other than it’s their time to go and still their Father, who is with the sparrow when he falls to the ground, is also with them forevermore. So, again, how do you know that it wasn’t in God’s plan for them to die when they did? After all, if it wasn’t, then why did He allow it? Nothing happens that God doesn’t knowingly allow—nothing.
In life, many questions are almost beyond our ability to answer, or get a reasonable handle on, and this is one of them. Nevertheless, let’s look at a few other things to see if they may soothe our grieving souls. When it comes to our pets, it’s almost like we’re doomed to live in angst and confusion over how much blame we deserve for their suffering and ultimate demise. After all, they were OUR pets, weren’t they? And we were their “owners,” entrusted by Almighty God Himself with the unique responsibility (and even honor) of caring and providing for them, weren’t we?
Well, when the time finally comes to say good-bye, it’s only natural to find us wondering, “Was there something else I could have done? Was it my fault that he suffered and died?” or, “Could I have done more?”
These queries are similar to what we asked in the Article, “Is It Something I Did?” There, we looked at whether God may have taken our pets away, or at least allowed them to be taken, for some wrong we may have done. This is another question that haunts us when we lose our pets; but it’s just another attempt by our own fallen selves to condemn us and to make us live in guilt and fear when there’s no reason at all for it. God does not punish us for something WE did by taking the precious lives of our pets. He’s too good for that kind of stuff and He doesn’t need to stoop so low as that. He’s infinitely capable of coming up with effective ways to chastise us for our indiscretions, without resorting to robbing innocent little creatures of the very lives He so graciously imparted unto them. At least, that’s what I think. However, being that I’m not God, I could be wrong; but I doubt it.
But just because these questions come so naturally (and to some extent it’s right that they do) it doesn’t mean we’re implicating ourselves as being “guilty” in the matter. So whatever you do, don’t allow yourself to go overboard with it. It’s all too easy for a grief-stricken, broken heart to go too far in punishing itself when, in reality, there’s no reason for it. Who’s making you torture your broken heart? God isn’t. So don’t beat yourself over the head about it—at least not without some real and honest reflection about it first. It’s one thing to ask these kinds of questions; but it’s an entirely different matter when it comes to treating yourself honestly and fairly with the answers.
Hopefully, something we say will cause you to reflect honestly and fairly with yourself, as you no doubt would do for others, before you’re mentally and emotionally ruined by it all. You are, after all, your own worst critic and this is the way it should be—but that doesn’t give you license and the liberty to condemn yourself unfairly. Perhaps you’ve already considered these things and you’ll find nothing new to think about. If so, then at least you’ll have something you can refer to in the future without having to labor over it yourself.
As for our pets having to suffer and die some day, there is virtually no “guilty” party living today that we can point to. Things, and especially bad things, happen in a fallen world such as this, and we have to remember that. There is really very little in this life that is under our control—our complete control, that is. And if there is any real guilt to be assigned here, it must be traced all the way back to the Garden of Eden which is where all corruption, suffering, sorrow and death originally entered the world to start out with, as the result of the disobedient choice of Adam and Eve. It was at that time that ALL creation became corrupted and began to suffer and to die, both physically and spiritually.
So, as far as dying is concerned, that they will all die is an established fact that we can do nothing about. Now, granted this may be a somewhat smaller consolation than what we’re looking for, but it’s true nonetheless. The fact of their death (and the real cause of it) is found way back when and nothing can ever change that now. It’s all in the past and what’s done is done. Our pets, and all of creation, will suffer and die somehow, and at some particular time, whether we do anything on their behalf or not, in trying to prevent it. Therefore we must consider the fact of a certain and absolute inevitability to the whole affair that is utterly beyond our control. They will suffer and they will die. We will suffer and we will die.
That being said, there are still some things that we can do to prevent this suffering and death from coming any sooner than it has to; and by our caring better for our pets we can often add months and even years to their lives. Now, if this is what you’re thinking, you’re absolutely right—there are things we can do—many things. But, as we saw above, there’s no guarantee that the good things we do for them will always turn out good. And remember, even when we are successful in our efforts, we’re only merely postponing the inevitable. Hopefully, with the Lord’s help, we’ll be able to put it off for many, many happy years yet to come.
Another thing to keep in mind is this: even though our pets are “our” pets, they really belong to God. And we are not our own, either, as we’re all the creation and property of the One who made us all. So our pets are “our” pets only because He made them to be our pets in the first place, and it’s only because He has entrusted them to our care. But they’re really His.
When He created man in the beginning, He made us to be His co-ruler on this earth. We were to be the caretakers of all that He had made and to have dominion over all His lesser creatures, as well. Not in wanton cruelty and abuse, of course, but rather to co-exist with them and watch over them in His stead. In other words, He gave them to us to love and to care for, as well as to work with in keeping up the Paradise He put us in. But again, the bottom line is that we are all “His.” And that’s all part of His plan, His grand design and scheme of things, even as it was before the foundations of the world were even established.
Why do I need to say all this? And what does it matter if we are all “His” or not? Well, if we’re all His, then He (who alone also has the power over life and death) has the final say as to whether any of His creatures is allowed one more minute or one more hour of life. God is the only One who is in complete control of everything in His universe. Nothing ever lives one moment longer or one moment less than that which He Himself has personally, and knowingly, allowed—and in some sense even “ordained.” And so our pets cannot live one moment more than He has granted them to live, either.
Now, of course, there’s something more we have to think about here. And it is this: He is ALSO in control of whether or not the pet’s “owner” is allowed to neglect something necessary (either intentionally or in total ignorance) that would have helped their pet to live longer or healthier. It’s not that God has merely allowed our pets to die, but He has also allowed us to allow them to die. Not that this is what we wanted, or intended to do, for we often have no clue, but it’s often the results of what we do, nonetheless. God not only ordains the ends, but the means, as well. And this is something that is almost always unknown to us while it is going on. The fact is that we never have all the facts, and even the facts we do have we often don’t understand. And the same is true of their implications, too.
Plus, don’t forget that it’s never quite as simple as just deciding, “yes” or “no,” for there’s so much gray area involved, too. Any time we have options to choose from there always seems to be a number of potential pros AND cons to each of them and we try our best to weigh these options and to come up with the best decision. If the choice was, “Do you want your little doggie to die today? Yes or no,” then we’d never have a problem making the best decisions for them. We’d just choose “yes” every day and then they’d never die!
But it’s not that simple, is it? We always have to keep many factors in mind. For instance, in considering surgery we have to evaluate their general health. Are they generally healthy enough to go under the knife, and strong enough to endure the anesthesia, the cutting, the open wounds and then, of course, the whole recovery process? Will they be able to stomach the medications that will follow? Are they too old to make it through the operation? Is there any other reason to think they may not live through it? Do the other health problems and diseases they have present a problem for the success of the operation? Can we even afford this financially? Is the operation absolutely necessary? Must it be done now or can we wait? Can other alternative treatments or therapies perhaps take care of the problem as well or even better? Are there any other treatments available, such as medications, chemotherapy, radiation, a change of diet or exercise, (and on and on)? Should I get a second opinion? Is there time to get one? And where do I go to get one? Is there a “specialist” in this field of medicine that may have better ideas? Will my little doggie have a good quality of life without the operation? Or with it? What are the chances for a reasonably healthy life either way I choose?
I’m sure you can add to this list. We all can. It’s not always black and white and it’s not always such a simple thing to choose whether or not we should do something “more” at this particular time. Is “more” better? Is it always necessary? Not always. We look at the options and consider them; even seeking advice from God and then we decide what to do, if anything. Sometimes we choose to “wait and see” if the condition improves or not, or if it’s something the pet (and we) can comfortably live with. Then, of course, there may be physical things going on inside of them that we don’t even know about yet. Maybe there’s a condition they have that we haven’t even discovered yet. And it may also alter the results of our decision, too. We won’t even open that can of worms here, as I’m sure you can guess all the implications of that possibility! And it’s a real one, too.
And yet, for all this, God is still in control of everything. He knows what’s going on and He knows what’s best for all involved, too. He’s also aware of the many complex questions and issues we have to think about as well as the emotional toll it takes on us. This is why we must know that He’s with us, helping us make the right decisions and to do the right things—not always for us, per se, for many of “us” don’t give a hoot about Him anyway, but He’s always concerned for His innocent, lesser creatures—our pets. And He’s always there for them, even when cruel people unfairly treat them. Sometimes people, out of wickedness, literally torture and kill these animals of His just for fun. And it’s sad—very sad. But, He’s still with them until the end and He will restore their little bodies in the New Earth and they will live in His glorious Kingdom with Him forevermore, never to be harmed again.
Let me take a moment to discuss something else that needs to be addressed. I hope this doesn’t become too philosophical for you, but here goes. When we talk of doing something, we need to include “nothing” in its very definition. In other words, if I choose to do nothing, I’m actually choosing to “do” nothing. Did you catch that? I have a choice before me to do one of two things here. I can either “do” something or I can “do” nothing. But either way, I’m doing some thing!
If I choose, then, to “do” nothing, I find that it often takes more energy (though not always physically) to do that nothing. I must refrain myself, or hold myself back from doing the something I would otherwise have done. And it is also, sometimes, a much more difficult thing to “do” nothing (or to do “less”) than it is to do the “more” we’ve been looking at.
But there are similarities between the two. Let’s consider, again, the option of surgery. If I choose to do the surgery then I will find myself wondering if I’ve done the right thing, if I’ve made the right choice. Now, if I decide not to do the surgery, I will also wonder whether or not I’ve made the right choice. Either way, I’m going to be anxious about it until it finally becomes apparent what the outcome of my choice is going to be—be it for better or for worse.
If I lose my pet without having surgery done (as I have) then I’m going to wonder, “Why didn’t I choose to take him in and do the surgery? He may have lived if I would have.” On the other hand, if I lose my pet in the surgery that I choose to do, or even as a result of its complications (both of which I have also done) then I’m going to wonder, “Why didn’t I choose to keep him home and forget the surgery? He may have lived if I would have.”
In light of this angle, it seems that we really have no business asking if we could have done “more,” per se, for the “more” could include both the “doing” or the“not doing” of a thing. Is it semantical? Yes, but I believe there’s something to it when we really stop to think about just what we’re trying so hard to blame ourselves for.
It would seem that a similar, yet better, question would be, “Could I have done otherwise”? This way we leave out the “more” idea, as though even by our not having done “more” we were somehow at fault for having not done something we could have done. The fact is that when we chose to do “less,” we really did make an honest and truthful appraisal, as to the best of our limited abilities, and chose the way that we really thought was the best for our pet. It was an actual plan that we chose to follow and, quite frankly, it is one that many times has been successful in the past allowing our pets to live on longer than they would have. Conversely, we also find that having chosen “more” does not always prolong their lives at all, but oftentimes actually takes them from us all the sooner.
The bottom line, again, and the key to this all is still the fact that we just never know what the end of anything will be, even though the chances may be greater one way or the other. We just never know beforehand, and we just never know afterwards, either. But God knows both, so let’s do our best and leave the rest to Him. In the end, it’s all up to Him, anyway. Many cats and dogs have lived when there was no real reason they should have lived; and many have also died when there was no real reason they should have died, either--except for the fact that it was the way He wanted it to be. Trust Him. It’s really all we can do. And that is something we CAN know.
In this Article we’ve pointed out that we can just never really know anything for sure; and we had better not forget it. It’s important. Hopefully, however, we’re always learning more as we go along in life and experiences such as these will help us to become more aware of the ins and outs of making good decisions—especially when the lives of others are at stake. And it’s not always the lesser creatures that we must decide for, either. Some day we’ll have to make decisions for our beloved human family members, too—if we haven’t already, that is.
Anyways, don’t overlook the importance of “ignorance” in times like these for it really does exonerate us to a certain degree. Many years ago, my dog Pino died of a tumor that had been growing in her. Whenever I think back on those days, I’m amazed at just how ignorant I was of such things. “Tumors” on pet dogs was not something I had ever become very acquainted with and I never had any foundation or way of knowing anything about it. Now days when I think about just how unlearned I was in this area, I feel so ashamed of myself and over just how little I did for her. But, I realize now that it’s only natural to be so ashamed. After all, I was ignorant of what it was all about. And, being that I’m part of a fallen world, this is to be expected.
The truth is, I didn’t know any better and, as a result, my little Pino died sooner than she should have. If I had done “more,” then her chances would have been better, though not guaranteed, of course. But since I didn’t know any better, and therefore didn’t pursue it as much as I should have (or, at least, “could” have), the tumor took her away.
But that was many years ago and I’ve learned so much more since then. I have no doubt, now, that, if confronted with the same situation again, my zeal for pursuing other options would be much, much greater than it was in my youth. I know it’s too late to help “the Peener,” but it helps my pets today.
What I’m getting at is this. I’m not a veterinary doctor, and I haven’t taken any veterinary courses in college, either. And I never will. Not everybody can be a vet and not everybody will. But not even they can always help, anyway. That’s why there are “specialists,” even for animals. I know. I’ve taken several cats to special doctors who are experts in their special fields. But guess what? They can’t always help, either! Not even they always know what’s going on with our pets. And what’s more, all our vets and specialists make mistakes at times, and the lives of our dear little pets are made to suffer for them, too.
So, even if we WERE all veterinary doctors and specialists, we’d have no guarantee that our pets would pull out of their final calamity and live to bark about it. We can only go with whatever knowledge or other insight we may have at the very confusing moment we’re called upon to decide. And, sadly, it’s often not enough for our pets. But there’s no fault involved. We just do what we can do. We don’t want them to die! And, yet again, we will learn from the experience, and our future pets will be the better for it.
Just don’t kick yourself for not having known enough to do enough. You did what you could do. It may not have been as much as others have done, or what they could even afford to do; but you did what YOU could do and God is pleased with you. He’s thankful that you cared for His little creatures, and that you cared. And, besides, HAD YOU KNOWN the negative consequences of your choices, you surely would have made another choice. Right? Of course you would. But even the experts don’t always know what God knows. And only He knows it all.
From time to time, we will have to make life and death decisions on behalf of our most beloved little pets. It’s never easy for any of us and it’s really hard to even speak of it in a way that covers every situation. Yet, somehow, when the time comes, we really know way down deep that it’s the right thing to do for them, and that if we really love them then we will do this one last thing for them. It’s an act of mercy; it’s an act of love. How many times have we refused to do what is right and loving for them by letting them suffer every day? Obviously, it’s so hard because we love them so much and we don’t ever want to see them go. We just can’t let go and we don’t want to be the one who deprives them of their precious life, either. And, when you think about it, there’s nothing wrong with that—except, of course, that they often continue to suffer in the meantime. And we don’t want that either, do we? What a quagmire we find ourselves in.
But, remember, even as much as they are our little loved ones, they also belong to another. They belong to the One who made them all they are. Whatever there is about them, He has made it to be that way. He knows them far better than we do and He also loves them far more, too. When it’s the right time, God is waiting for us to do the right thing and to let them come home to Him. The Bible tells us that not even a sparrow in the wild ever falls to the ground without their “Father.” And it’s never any different with any of our little ones, either. He knows all about them and He’s with them every moment from their very beginning and right on to the end. And He’s also with them right on through the end, too. That is, through the end of this life and into the next.
Of course, we don’t go whilly nilly throughout the countryside putting all His creatures to sleep simply because He’s with them anyway. But if we did, He’s still with them anyway. And, if we did, He may choose to no longer be with “us” anymore—but He’ll always be with them.
We are to act and care for His creatures responsibly, doing whatever we think is best for them. This is part of our responsibility and of the honor that He has blessed us with and we shouldn’t take it lightly. It’s sacred. And along with it comes the responsibility of recognizing when the time has come for them to leave and of accepting it. And we must also understand that it truly is the most loving and merciful thing we can ever do for them, no matter how much it will break our loving hearts. Sure, we’ll make mistakes from time to time, but God is there to forgive us and to help us learn from our mistakes so the next time we’ll know better. And, I believe, the next time we will.
As for this responsibility we have, God gave it to us and He expects us to use it. Like it or not, He has given us this power to make these decisions for them. They’re not able to make these choices for themselves and they need someone who really loves them and cares for them, to do the right thing for them when the time is right--to alleviate the suffering. And, as we do our best to do the right thing for “His” creatures, He will always back us up. He will not scold us and punish us for having done the wrong thing for them. Besides, He’s the one who’s really in control of their lives, anyway! No one can ever die unless “He” allows him or her to. So, if we’re trying to do the right thing, and even if we’re too weak to do what we know is the right thing to do, He knows and He cares for us, too. He’s our loving Father, too; and He even understands all our shortcomings. And in the end, He is able to make all things right again; and when this life is over, that’s what He’s going to do. He will right every wrong and make it all right again—and that includes the wrong that caused our innocent pets to be cursed in the first place. That’s who He is.
I must say I’m often amazed at this notion of the “right time” and just how it seems to work itself out. It’s not all about discerning the exact moment on the exact given day that they must be forced to breathe their last. It’s more like a “right time period.” This period of time will be different in every case, of course, depending on various factors. But, God allows a time of grace, it seems. He doesn’t rush us into anything, for He knows that we are only frail human beings, too weak and too emotionally attached to just waive their little lives away. He knows what we’re going through and just how hard it is to bring ourselves around to finding the strength, and the faith, and the courage, and the love to do what we all know must be done. But He also knows of the little one who is doing all the real suffering here, and so He helps us along. It’s times like these we need to be sensitive of our suffering pet as well as of their God who is on the other side—waiting for them.
You know, for people like you and me, death is no small thing. It’s a horribly significant thing to live through the death of a loved one. It is so final—or so it seems, anyway. And that’s why it’s so heartbreaking to lose those we love, and especially the little ones we have to say good-bye to by being the ones to make that final, sobering choice to bring their suffering to an end.
But you know something else? To God, death is really nothing at all. It is less than nothing. He is the ruler over life and death. He has the keys of life and death in the palm of His Almighty hand and He can do whatever He desires at anytime. Death is less than nothing to Him. It’s no big deal to Him at all. Out of nothing, He can bring to life all of His creation, which is what He did; and when we have died He can resurrect us all again, too. In fact, He even raised His own self from the dead after dying on the cross for our sins. So, for Him, death is nothing at all to be worried about. And I wouldn’t worry too much, either, about having to let your little ones go when the time comes, for God is right there waiting for them and He has the power over their death, too. He is the life of all He has made.
So, could you have done more? Sure, we all could have. But would it have even made a difference? Maybe yes—maybe no. But you’ll never know. Not in this life, anyway. And sometimes it’s a good thing that we didn’t do any “more.” It only would have gotten worse. We’ll just never know, in this life. But God is life and God is love. And He is in control and what’s done is done. He’s able now to make it all better. And that He will do.
More discussion on the topics of Articles such as this can be found in the book, “Will I See Him Again? (A Look at Pets in Heaven),” by Tom Waldron. The book is available from Amazon.com (see home page of mybutchie.com for link). Also, please feel free to e-mail me with any comments or whatever you may have at: