I'd best mention at the beginning that this article is not solely about Aloe Vera and Sam! Did you know that Cleopatra is reputed to have used Aloe in her beauty regime and that Alexander the Great is said to have captured the island of Socotra specifically because the plants grew there so abundantly? He then converted his wagons of war to grow Aloe in them, thus taking fresh plants into battle so that his troops could use beneficial gel from the leaves to soothe their wounds? And Dioscorides, the Greek physician, in the process of cataloguing over 600 plants discovered 'miraculous' Aloe and used it effectively in his pills and potions.
Added to which, Gandhi - when asked how he survived his long fasts so well - attributed his strength to drinking the gel from this plant.
Maybe you did know these things, but I didn't when it was first suggested to me that it might help my dog's arthritis if I gave him this Aloe Vera gel to drink.
I knew nothing about it except that its taste was challenging.
Vaguely recalling an old adage along the lines of 'the worse medicine tastes the more good it does' I decided that the contents of the tub must be powerful stuff! So I gave some to Sam - and to my astonishment he eagerly lapped it up.
I wondered then, and often subsequently, whether his doggy instinct was telling him something of the plant's history.
Did distant memories of Cleopatra, Alexander, Dioscorides and Gandhi live on in the liquid Sam was drinking? Did he know at some deep level that Aloe Vera was good for him? Sam often seemed to know things I didn't.
He knew, for example, to treat everyone equally - never pre-judging others and always expecting the best.
He knew when to be gentle and when it was OK to be boisterous.
He knew when I wasn't feeling well and on such (rare) occasions came and licked my hand, then flopping by my bedside as if to say "I'm in no hurry for my morning walk today".
He saw things I couldn't see.
Sometimes, when we visited my elderly neighbour who lived with her disabled daughter, his whole body tensed as he gazed into the far corner of Joy's study.
He would sit as still as a statue, seemingly unable or unwilling to move, gazing as if at something...
or someone.
It transpired that Joy's father had died while seated at his desk in that very corner! A friend, Yvonne, had once had a black cat called Peter, who died just before Sam was born.
When Sam, as a puppy, and I went to visit her he suddenly bristled as we entered her living room up on the first floor.
Then he fixed his gaze on the arm of her sofa before lifting it and seeming to watch something move from that arm to the far one along the back of the settee.
I was puzzled by the intentness of his gaze and the way in which it shifted from arm to arm...
until Yvonne said in little more than a whisper: "He must be seeing Peter - who always reached his favourite spot via that exact route!" Well, I've strayed far enough from my subject.
I'll just add that drinking a particular brand of Aloe did wonders for Sam's stiff limbs and for his whole quality of life.
So I decided to drink it too...
and to spread the word far and wide about this Miracle Plant.
Thanks, Aloe Vera and Sam!