Losing a Pet

We had to put our GSD down back in August. Technically it was my wife’s dog. They bought him as well as his brother back when she was in high school. Her brother had to put him down back in June.

Putting him down was hard for us, but his health went downhill fast. It was the right thing to do. The vet came out which was nice as well. He was just laying down under his favorite tree by the pond.

Ours was the guy on the left. Her brother had the guy on the right. This is them in the back of my Jeep shortly after I met my wife. Ours got his ass kicked often by his bigger brother. Lol
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I've lost a few feline friends. Arizona, the big red tabby-and-white Maine Coon mix, lived to be 16.5; I was there as he growled one last time at the vet as she came to administer the final injection. His ashes are up in the CO mountains among the bobcats, as I always thought he believed he should have been one. A plaque at the Denver Dumb Friends League reads: "Arizona 1983-1999: I handled quarters & rations, you handled the rest."

Marie-Antoinette the highly intelligent black cat passed away overnight at the vet, so I couldn't be there. With little Oreo the long-haired tuxedo cat, I was there as she settled into the Long Sleep. My Siberian kitten Tatiana went very quickly at age 3.5 of heart trouble, and so I couldn't be there with her.

You don't get over it. Well, you do, sort of, but you'll always miss them. If the Rainbow Bridge deal is correct, I'll have all of the above cats running up to me, and there could be trouble. "Back off, black cat, he's my human." "Put a mouse in it, Fat Boy, he's mine!"
 
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There's nothing I dread more than when the time comes for one of my kids to cross that rainbow bridge. It's a cruel reality that their lives are so short, and it's hard to face the coming days when they're no longer there to greet me at the door, or drop a toy at my feet and assume the play bow position. Two little cedar boxes on my mantle remind me of the best memories of my life.
 
I am going to say this because it is funny yet it fits with this thread in a way...

I heard John Madden say during the 88 NFC championship game between the 49ers and Chicago Bears in a game at Solider field where it was 17 degrees Fahrenheit and a wind chill well below zero , " tough guys don't wear long underwear". Made me laugh when I heard this the other day...

But... Losing a beloved dog, cat or bird or any other greatly loved pet...

That will make many, many a tough guy get tears in their eyes.

Even if they don't wear long underwear in really cold weather.
 
Found this topic the other day by chance.
Last night, my wife and I suddenly were faced with having to put one of our cats down due to being stricken with heart failure and a blood clot which paralyzed her rear legs.
Needless to say, work is not going so well today for either one of us- the shock and grief is overwhelming.
Having remembered this topic, we are both reviewing the web site that the OP mentioned, together.
 
Sorry for your loss.

It is hard. I've had cats all my life, and it's always difficult, especially if you have to have them put down. Always wondering "did I make the right decision?". Last year I had to put down my 17 year old cat I'd had since he was a kitten. I knew he was getting old, but over a couple of days he seemed to be moving slower and wasn't eating a lot. We made an appointment for the vet, but the next day we found him listless and unable to stand up, so I had to rush him to the emergency vet instead. They found he was dehydrated and his kidneys were shrunk, to which I had to reluctantly agree that it was probably not good for him to try to treat him for kidney failure just to have him live for a few more weeks or months.

Yeah, I got a bit teary eyed when I had to pet him and say goodbye, then leave there with the empty cat carrier.
 
There's nothing I dread more than when the time comes for one of my kids to cross that rainbow bridge. It's a cruel reality that their lives are so short, and it's hard to face the coming days when they're no longer there to greet me at the door, or drop a toy at my feet and assume the play bow position. Two little cedar boxes on my mantle remind me of the best memories of my life.
And the hardest time for me is coming home to an empty house and finding their playthings everywhere I look. Just devastating. Some consolation in knowing we gave them a good life and did the best we could for them. Regards to all my countrymen and to all those around the world who still call us an ally. This time next year things will be better.
 
Sorry for your loss.

It is hard. I've had cats all my life, and it's always difficult, especially if you have to have them put down. Always wondering "did I make the right decision?". Last year I had to put down my 17 year old cat I'd had since he was a kitten. I knew he was getting old, but over a couple of days he seemed to be moving slower and wasn't eating a lot. We made an appointment for the vet, but the next day we found him listless and unable to stand up, so I had to rush him to the emergency vet instead. They found he was dehydrated and his kidneys were shrunk, to which I had to reluctantly agree that it was probably not good for him to try to treat him for kidney failure just to have him live for a few more weeks or months.

Yeah, I got a bit teary eyed when I had to pet him and say goodbye, then leave there with the empty cat carrier.

Thanks, I appreciate that.
We have been going back and forth with that question of "Did we make the right choice" for 12 hours now
 
Found this topic the other day by chance.
Last night, my wife and I suddenly were faced with having to put one of our cats down due to being stricken with heart failure and a blood clot which paralyzed her rear legs.
Needless to say, work is not going so well today for either one of us- the shock and grief is overwhelming.
Having remembered this topic, we are both reviewing the web site that the OP mentioned, together.
That was what took Tatiana the Wonder Siberian -- not even 4 years old. She had always played vigorously -- almost as if she knew she didn't have much time, and had to get in all the joy she could.
 
And the hardest time for me is coming home to an empty house and finding their playthings everywhere I look. Just devastating. Some consolation in knowing we gave them a good life and did the best we could for them. Regards to all my countrymen and to all those around the world who still call us an ally. This time next year things will be better.
When I came home from saying goodbye to Arizona, who'd been my buddy since his kittenhood 16.5 years before, the people upstairs kept walking around so loudly I wanted to go up and scream at them.
 
Alexander, Cinders,Snowball, Killer, Charlie Pride,He,She,Yshettes,ABE,Calico,Teena,Benjamin, Tuffy,Timmy, Tiffany, Lilly,Truman,,Sadie,Fiona, Emily. Most just showed up at the door and stayed a lifetime. Lots of joy,tears and sorrow. Thank you all for sharing your life with us. We always tried to do the best we could for you.
 
We lost Bear a Black Lab mix about 2 years ago. He lived a long happy life of about 14 years. We kept him tied on a 50' rope in the back yard so he could roam around but couldn't get out in the road and get run over. One day we went out, his rope was broke, he was gone and never came back. We looked for him but never found him. He was still active the last time we saw him. We figure he got loose and went to find a peaceful place to die. Other than having slowed down a lot in the previous few years his biggest problem seemed to be his hearing. He had got so I could walk right up on him and he often wouldn't know I was there until I petted him.

We've still got a Border Collie Caroline that it about 9 years old that we've had since she was about 6 weeks old. After we lost Bear we brought her in the house to spend the rest of her life inside with us.
 
It is incredibly painful to lose a pet, and to watch them get put down. It was incredibly painful to see my grandfather get morphine as he was passing too. These things imprint into your brain, and can haunt you.

But one can observe it as beautiful too if they’re resting peacefully, not suffering, and no longer have to suffer.

Dorsnt make it an easy topic.

Sorry for your loss.
 
Here is the story of Old Drum, long read but an interesting story about a famous court case in Missouri in the 1800's involving the shooting of a dog.


If you cannot wade through the entire story read the lawyer's closing argument to the jury, if this doesn't bust you up... needless to say the jury returned a verdict in his favor.
 

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