October 29th, 2012, we went to the vet after my most beloved little Jacques suddenly collapsed on the 28th and couldn't get up, to put him to sleep.
For 2 months he had been on heavy medication due to an infection in the mouth, and as he was finally starting to get better and the infection was as good as gone and he could finally start to eat solid foods again, he all of a sudden just collapsed and couldn't get back up. Sat with him for 24 hours straight, holding him and singing his favourite song for him over and over the entire time and telling him over and over how much I loved him. And if I tried putting him down, just to go to the bathroom, he started crawling towards me, not wanting to be apart even for a minute, so I just couldn't bear to leave his side even for a short while. I even held him as I tried to sleep, allowing him to rest on my chest trough the night before we went to the vet first thing in the morning.
Turns out that a heart muscle had grown unnaturally and wasn't pumping the blood around properly, which was causing him to have trouble breathing and there really was nothing that could be done about it. The choices were to put him to sleep and spare him the suffering or to stuff him full of heart pills and maybe slow down the process of the heart condition for up to 6 months, meaning he would be in constant pain and suffering, and I just couldn't for anything in the world do that for him just to keep him alive for 6 more months for selfish reasons, so the choice was pretty obvious.
When you really love someone, you got to do what's best for them. Of course, I stayed with him, holding him till his very last breath.
Now we have him in a beautiful urn and made a little altar for him, so that he can stay where he feels at home and feels safe. I'd never be able to do anything like go bury him in the woods or something. He should be where he really belongs.

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[Memorial Video]

Miss him so terrible. He was my whole world and when he was put to sleep, my entire world collapsed.
He was the most wonderful little chinchilla one could ever ask for. He was a true mommas boy, who got upset and depressed if I was away for more than 10 hours straight, but he never bit anyone, and he was extremely intelligent. Rather than me teaching him tricks, he taught himself tricks and then showed me what he had learned and at times, even taught me a few tricks. He even figured out on his own what to do while he was out and needed to go into the cadge to pee, rather than just do it somewhere in the room, he usually came up to me and started pulling my clothes with his adorable little hands to show me he wanted to go in and pee.
And what he loved above all else, was to sleep on my chest while I watched tv, and always complained loudly if I put him back in the cadge to go to the bathroom or something.
And he always came before everything else. If he started "barking", his mommy was there right away to hug him and comfort him. And in return, he was really protective of his mommy, never allowing people whom he didn't like anywhere near. Then he would just "bark" to no end till they were out of the house/apartment. And he certainly knew people.
Thanks to him, his mommy didn't hook up with a guy who later turned out to not only be a complete jerk, who was married on top of all, but also turned out to be a pedo.
I never doubted little Jacques judgement as I knew that it was always the right thing to do. We were very close and had each others full trust.
He might only have lived for 6 years, but it was the best 6 years of my life and I made sure that he was always as happy as he could be and spoiled rotten with love, care, treats and plenty of fun and games.
I'll never be able to be so close to a pet ever again. Not even with Love. He's my little friend, but he can never be my beloved little baby, no matter how sweet and caring he is.
There just is no animal in this world that could fill the void left behind by Jacques.