Saying goodbye to a pet

[Ghostvirus]

Dude...

I have a snuggy bear that is about middle aged. I am not looking forward to that day. I have vowed that she will be my only pet. Unless my future kids want one.

Man I am sorry.

 

[Anita18]

My wife saved Ash from our local Humane Society 6 years ago. She went over to buy our dog Mollie her yearly license and saw Ash sitting there. They told my wife that she was returned 4 times to them. My wife brought her home and we named her Ash because she reminded me of Bruce Campbell's character from Evil Dead 2. Ash had her one ear operated on and they removed a tumor at one time, so her ear was beat up. She also had a small scar going across her nose. To me she looked exactly like Ash at the end of Evil Dead 2. She was our *****y cat. She would look at you and meow, but it also came out like she was complaining. She hated being picked up and would fight her way out of your grasp. I would chase her around saying I was going to get her and pick her up and hug the meanness out of her. She loved laying on the spare bed in the sunlight. When we were spending our last minutes with her saying goodbye we took her outside and left her soak in the sunlight which she loved she much. it was the only time she left either of us hold her without her flipping out and trying to get away.

I'm going to miss my little Ashy girl. She was a sweet little cat and brought us a lot of joy and I only hope we made her life better.

I'm sure you absolutely made her life better, and at least I'm glad you could say goodbye.

One of my guinea pigs died in my arms a few years ago. She was very sick, and the night before I could do nothing but cry as I held her in my arms. Despite feeling weak, she still chirped as she usually did (albeit weakly), as if to say, "Hey girl, it's okay." It still heartens me that I was able to say goodbye to her and make her feel loved in her last moments. I think that's all you can really give them. Her cagemate died more recently, in my parents' home and my mom was REALLY upset since she thought she could have taken her to the vet in time. I dunno, I think it's better that if you're going to go, to go while you're comfortable and in a place where you feel safe and loved.

You definitely did that for Ash.

 

[NewYorkSpider]

My condolences. I dread the day that both my cats have to be put down. I haven't lost anybody close to me in my life. All my grandparents passed on when I was little. So putting the cats down might have to be the hardest thing I've ever done.

 

[SuperFerret]

Everything I could possibly say has already been said, so I'll reiterate just one thing: You have my deepest condolences. Here's to Ash, may she rest in peace.

 

[Cunning Stunts]

My family had a dog we only adopted an eleven-year old King Charles Cavalier that was completely deaf (my dad blew a whistle in her face while she was asleep to test this- and it was true). I got very close with this dog real quickly.

We took her for a walk one day by a farm that was literally next to my house. She ate one of the crops, which had rat poison on it.

Thankfully, my parents knew how attached to this dog I was, and didn't tell me how she actually died. They told me she was sick, and had to be put down. What actually happened was that she began vomiting pretty violently (bloody, constant heaving, etc.), and was in such agony that my parents took her to the vet as soon as it opened.

They told my father that they could save her, but it would cost quite a bit of money to keep her alive. He told me, "Even though she was deaf, it was almost like she heard the doctor. She looked up at me, almost like she heard the question. I said, 'Okay, we'll keep her,' and she just turned her head and died right there- almost as if she just wanted to know my answer."

The funny part of this story is, we had her cremated, and my dad brought the box containing her ashes home around dinner time. He sat down for dinner, and tasted something funny in his meal. He looked to the side of the plate, and there was a direct ash trail from the plate to where he had placed the box.

There was a hole in one of the corners.

Long story short, I feel for you, Kable. My parents adopted a dog when I was one-year old, and I grew up with this dog for thirteen years. That dog was so incredibly human-like, it was creepy... He was like a brother to me. We had to put him down after a while because he lost use of his hips. Sadly, these two examples aren't the only two.

My condolences, man.

 

[Corpus Luteum]

R.I.P Ash, R.I.P

*sniff*

*bawls*****

 

[Firm18]

I'm sorry mate, that has to be really hard.

I have a dog, had it since we moved from England to Poland, she is 13 now so I guess I'll be saying goodbye soon .

I really love her and every day I try not to think about how will it be when there is going to be no one in the house waiting for me.

 

[Kable24]

Thank you all for the condolences. It made my wife cry reading everyone's posts. I am going to miss Ash so much. I just think it's unfair that our pets our only with us for a few years. I'll always have my pictures and memories of all my pets...kids.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Any of you pet owners seen the Futurama episode "Jurassic Bark"? The last few min will make you cry. I was still crying the day after I watched it.

 

[Drakon]

Yeah, that's one of the saddest ones. I remembered it again when watching Bender's Big Score.

 

[The Guard]

I'm sorry to hear about all your pets. In my brief experience on Earth, there are few things harder to do than losing a cherished pet. We put our beagle Bilbo to sleep a few years ago. He was about 13, and relatively fine, and in decent health, and then one day suddenly he had an enlarged heart, fluid, etc. My dad called me and was like "The dog has a week to live". My parents brought him to me at college so I could say goodbye, and he was there in the yard just sniffing around, hanging out...he didn't know any better. It was heartbreaking watching this dog I'd grown to love coughing and struggling to breathe every so often. I had to work when he was being put down, couldn't get the day off, and couldn't be there with him. My family all got together a while after it happened and there was just silence, and then my father, who as far as I know didn't cry much at all last year when his mother died, just burst into tears. It was a heck of a moment. You get attached to them, you grow to love him as much, if not more, than many of your own friends. It's a powerful situation to be in.

I keep a little stuffed beagle over the mirror in my car as a sort of tribute to him.

 

[SsM]

I almost cried reading this..

I'm going to lose my **** when my dogs die; one is 14 one is 13 and the youngest is 12

I'm literally going to lose my ****.


I'm so sorry for your loss.

**goes off to cry**

 

[Star]

Not to sound like the broken record (but meaningful all the same) that is this thread, I'm really sorry about your cat. You guys did the best thing for him (her?), both in giving it a home, and laying it to rest.

I had to put my first dog down back in November. He was 17 years old. His name was Shadow, an all black (aside from a stripe of white running from his chin to his chest) lab/beagle mix. I got him when I was 6 or 7. I'm 23 now. He lost his hearing, his vision was starting to go, his hind legs were slowly stopping to work, and we had recently found out he had cancer. The dude was a fighter, fiecerly protecting me and my family (he lost the tip of his ear protecting my younger brother from a much larger dog who had wondered into our yard). He was my best friend, my partner in crime. When I was smaller, I'd lie on the floor to watch tv and he'd run over to me and snuggle up, letting me use him as a pillow. I spent many saturday mornings watching cartoons like that. When we put him down...he just would not let the drugs take their toll. Word cannot express how hard it was to say, "Shadow, buddy, you've loved us enough. It's time to let go..." As soon as I said that, he looked up at me, winked (which he did alot to me), and closed his eyes for the last time.

I consider myself a pretty tough, "keep emotions inside" type of guy, but I lied on the vets floor for half an hour, just holding my buddy and crying.

I payed extra to have him cremated alone (they usually do mass cremations of pets). His urn and a picture of him sit on my night stand and I say "goodnight" to him every evening. I think I always will.

The family still has two other dogs and some cats, and as much as I love them, Shadow was the best, and I'll never forget him. Since then, I have moved into my own place, and I have realized how much we can take pets for granted...sitting alone at night watching tv is a meaningless time spent, unless you've got a dog curled at your feet.

I feel you buddy. Time will heal the wounds, and getting another pet will never replace your Ash, but like a friend, your next pet will help heal the pain.


...*goes to have ciggarette so office buddies won't ask why my eyes are watering*

This made me well up, so sad.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

I had to put my first dog down back in November. He was 17 years old. His name was Shadow, an all black (aside from a stripe of white running from his chin to his chest) lab/beagle mix.

(not going to quote it since all of your post it was in the post above mine)

I didn't notice your post before. My golden retriever is also named Shadow. We named him that b/c he was always following us and right by our feet as a puppy (hence a shadow).

Reading your post made me tear up. Especially what you said to him. I really, really dread that day. Just thinking about taking him to the vet and knowing he isn't coming back is unbearable now. I don't know how I will be able to handle it when it's for real. I don't want to have another dog in my life since having to go through that once is more than enough.

 

[Bunker]

I had to put down my 18 year-old kitty, Catrina, down a couple years. Her and I were really close. She would always sleep at the foot of my bed and would always come outside whenever I got home from school. She got a really bad virus that made her lose like 10 pounds. She wasn't eating and she looked like a stick, It was terrible seeing her suffer like that, so we decided to euthanize her. Saying goodbye to her was one of the worst moments ever.