"I watched her basically die in front of my eyes, at least I thought she was. And now I got to go through it again"
Matt Olivarez had to do what every animal owner dreads. He had to put his dog to sleep. "She's, obviously, she's in a lot of pain. You sit next to her, you hear her whining a lot, you know."
This is Matt's dog, Mia. The 10-year-old Rottweiler can barely get up because of spinal problems. This past weekend, Matt and his vet decided it was time to put Mia down. "She's suffering, you know what I mean? So, I took her to go see what was wrong with her. And the vet suggested she be put to sleep."
Matt brought what he thought was Mia's lifeless body back home to bury her. But the next morning, Matt couldn't believe his eyes.
"When I came home from work she was sitting right there in front of her bowl of food. All I know is that, when they injected her, they injected her twice. And, she went to sleep. And they said, 'That's it. She passed.' And they gave me a blanket, wrapped her up. I took her home. And I wanted to figure out what I wanted to do with her. And, the next morning, I came back, she was wide awake."
And now, Matt is faced with an awful decision. Does he take Mia back to the vet and watch his dog go down again?
"You know, what if I would have buried my dog alive? What if I had her cremated? She would have gotten burned alive. That's animal cruelty. How do I explained that to my kids. How am I going to explain to my kids, I gotta kill Mia twice? I gotta kill her again? My kids are eight and nine years old. I mean, she's a family dog."
While Olivarez considers what to do next, he has heard back from the animal center where he took his dog last weekend. The facility says it will refund his money.
