In Boot's honor, pet memories

[makoti]

When the dog was 13, he started going deaf, and then his hips starting going out. He reached the point where he couldn't get up without help and even then, he was in pain. We decided to have him put to sleep. We both went to the vet, sat on the gurney with him, fed him ham (his favorite), and loved on him until he passed. The cat was depressed for several months and will sometimes sit on the hearth next to the dog's urn which has his collar on top.


I really don’t want to derail the thread for Boots, so I’ll create this one to pass on my story.
The above reminded me of my two dogs, both gone now, from a few years ago. In a very bad stretch, they both got seriously ill. One had cancer of the blood vessels, one became paralyzed in all limbs. They played and snuggled all the time. They were really bonded. The one with Cancer, Brackets, was fading fast when I had to take the other, Damsel, in for an MRI. She had a serious spinal issue and needed immediate surgery. Had to leave her for the night so they could do it. I had already decided to let Brackets go, and it turned out to be the same day as her surgery, so I had one dog I was putting down and one in surgery she might not recover from.
I’m in the vet’s office with Brackets, making the final decision, and the vet leaves to get what he needs to do it. I put Brackets on the floor, he walks over to the door, stands there and looks at me, and I knew, I just knew he wasn’t ready to go. Vet comes in and I tell him, sorry, we can’t. He’s not ready.

I went straight from the vet to the surgery place to get Damsel, who came through it and needs a few weeks to recover. When in the car, Brackets ALWAYS sat up front with me, even if Damsel was in the car. Not this time. She was in her crate, in the back, and he immediately jumped out of the front seat and laid next to her crate for the entire hour drive. Would not leave her. Head resting on her crate while she slept inside.

It took her about a month to recover enough to walk. He was right there. Six weeks after her surgery, he finally gave in and I had to let him go, but he was not leaving until he knew she was ok.
After his death, Damsel almost died from grief. She stopped drinking anything. Stopped eating. Barely moved. It took a few weeks of that before she started to perk up a little, but for months after a walk, she would run into the house and turn around to look for him chasing her in.

I never had dogs that committed to each other, and they’d only known each other maybe 3 years.

[p nut]

Sorry for your loss.

My first dog, when I was 8, my aunt gave me as a present. I loved her so much. She’d recognize my footsteps as I walked home from school, and got so excited she’d empty her bladder……as well as her bowels. 😂 Two years later, my family moved and couldn’t take her with us. So we left her with relatives. It was a hard day saying goodbye to her. I later found out she would not eat. She’d just lay around. And eventually passed away two weeks later. My parents didn’t tell me for a few years. I still get misty eyed when I think about her.

[sasquatch16v]

Sorry for everyone's loss.

I guess I'll share. My dog, Madison, passed this past December, and I'm still struggling with it, I don't actually talk much about it.

She was a 17 year old Jack Russel and she was incredible.

My now wife's parents had 2 other dogs when we first met, they had puppies and our dog was one of the puppies. I (we) were there at the very moment of her birth and was with her at the moment she passed, something so many dog owner's don't get to experience, the birth of their pup.

She was always our BFF, as we struggled with fertility issues for almost a decade. Once COVID shut the world down, I started working from home and developed an even closer bond with her and a routine, she'd sit at my feet and knew my break schedule and when it was time to go for our lunch walk and play. I'd spend my entire hour lunch break walking her, when it was time to turn home I'd give her favorite toy and she'd basically try to run all the way home. But her favorite part of the day was her after dinner walk around the block with us. The neighborhood knew her as the "donut dog".

About a year and a half before she passed she suddenly went blind, this was a huge adjustment but thankfully we had already built a solid routine, so aside from trying to re-learn the house she adapted mostly well. The click of her harness to let her know it was time to go, and her squeaky donut still served as a "time to go home" reminder. Eventually she stopped sleeping at my feet at my desk and rather a pile of blankets in her favorite corner of the house by the heat/ac vent in the floor.

As time went dementia started to slowly set in, and she started to respond a little slower and our walks got a little shorter. But she never gave up, she'd pace the living room after she heard me put dishes in the sink until we went for a walk. EVERY day, there were winter days where it was 0* outside and she still had to go, even if it was for less than 5 minutes.. she knew it was her time to play. Like she never gave up, we never gave up on her. We adjusted our lives to help her, I would sit on the floor and feed her dinner with a fork some days when she was having off days. I haven't cooked meat in over 20 years, but I re-learned how to make a decent cheeseburger to feed her from time to time as a special treat or on her low appetite days (I assume it was ok, she never complained).

In her last 2 years we took her on all of our vacations and it made us wish so much that we took her on more. She went to Colorado 3 times in 2 years and she was a different dog there, it was like she was rejuvenated again like a little curious puppy and I cherish those trips, my only regret is not taking more pictures. She had a "be kind I'm blind" bandana and was loved by everyone we encountered, folks would just stop and ask to pet her or offer her a treat and talk to us about their dog too, usually a pet that had passed, and we could see that petting Mad's and talking to us about their dog helped them in a way.

Last June my wife and I were finally set to be expecting a daughter, who was born in February 2024. Our little old pup, with degrading mental health, must have known because she started to sleep more by mom's stomach than up by my head at night.

Unfortunately, she passed in December, 4 days after her 17th birthday. She had some very severe seizures one night and it seemed to knock whatever mental function she had left out of her. We had to make the hardest decision, we spent the entire last night and day sitting with her on her favorite blankets, giving her all of her favorite treats and even got one last walk with her around the block, with her squeaky donut, before we had to take her to "Colorado" as we told her.

She never got to meet our daughter, and that will always hurt. But I can see bits of Madison in her baby personality. We still take our nightly walk, and she gets antsy if she hasn't gone for one yet. I still carry Madisons leash and often let baby girl hold it, and the way she looks at it is like she just knows. In fact, her middle name is Madison so our beloved pup can live on forever with her.

There are still days where I wake up in the night to reach for her to see if she has to go potty, or walk downstairs and instinctively say "hey mads" during my work day. Her food bowls are still in their place in the kitchen and I've still got a bag of her favorite treats in the cupboard to randomly stumble upon to remind me of her.

Thanks for reading, this was a tough one.

[superbowlpats]

We've always had yellow Labs since 1987. We had to put down Lucy, our 13 year old lab in 2020 during covid. She was the most wonderful, sweetest dog we have ever owned. She was an old soul even as a pup. but her rear legs went out and she lost control of her bowels (in addition to being nearly blind) and that's no way for a Lab to live. While she was on the table we continued to feed her treats until her last breath. She was happiest when eating and it made the process a little bit easier. Still miss her today.

[redir]

This little girl died in my arms at 10 years old, way to young for a cat. Her name was Rosemary. Every day I ride my bike home from work I plop my messenger bag down and she would sit on it or lay among the stinky shoes. I miss her, it was a year ago about now.

[ridethecliche]

Originally Posted by redir

What a gorgeous calico/tortie!

[2000m2]

Sorry for your losses.

We recently lost these two, one in December and one about a month ago. Great memories and they both will be missed terribly. The Rhodesian was the first to really struggle in the fall last year, around 10 yrs old, even though he was younger. The other gal, over 14 yrs old, went downhill pretty quickly after losing her brother. They were both rescues, so we don't know exactly how old. We're trying to hold off on getting another until after the holidays. SO many great memories.

[mdeth1313]

I'll join in - this is Priscilla. She showed up on my doorstep in an apartment complex in suburban Atlanta. All white w/ some Siamese traits, she was a tiny little spitfire, but could be tempermental. One second loving on you and then the switch would flip and she'd hiss. Moved back to NY with me. I met my wife and when our second child was born - he never slept. I forget the exact age where he started getting up around 5:45-6 AM and would go into the living room and listen to music on his ipod (I think he was between 3 & 4 years old). Priscilla was getting older and more and more affectionate and for whatever reason, loved my son. He'd come in, lay down and listen to music and she'd lay next to him and take as much love as he'd give.

Just shy of 20 years old, her body was failing, she had arthritis in her hind legs and it was time. She had something that drew everyone to her, and she didn't give her affection to everyone, but man did she fall for Jake and he fell for her. That was a sad day, but I wouldn't trade a second of our time together.

[reuben]

Mostly copied from a different pet thread -

When my ex-wife decided that the husband she chose wasn't good enough anymore, she got rid of me.

A few months later she decided that the dog she chose wasn't good enough, either, and she had the dog euthanized. Shadow was her dog - she picked Shadow out while I was on a different continent in another hemisphere.

Shadow was a good dog.



She'd run around out in the woods all night, come home tired and hungry in the morning, and crash. She loved to go on our walks, although she would often take off like a rocket, and even after I broke into a full sprint she'd still be dragging me by the leash, wanting to go faster. It was kind of incongruous since she, like many dogs, loved to stop and sniff everything and see what was going on. Maybe a turtle was here yesterday, a fox crossed the driveway last night, and O, man, do those rotting leaves smell good!!! Squirrels galore, deer everywhere. Every once in a while an osprey or similar bird would lose its catch, dropping it in our yard, and Shadow would be extremely proud of the fish she thought she caught.

Shadow was a good dog.

[donevwil]

This thread's a tearjerker. This is Shadow, our cat for the last two years of his life. He was originally adopted by my MIL in Seattle, showed up at her door one day in ~'08 or so. He was her right-hand man until cancer took her in '18. My wife had promised her mom that she'd find him a home, which was a challenge given his aggressive personality to those he didn't trust and his hate for other animals. We finally convinced my mom to adopt him as her cat had passed away a few months before, so now came the road trip north to pick him up and move him to Sonoma, CA. My mom was so happy to have permanent company and Shadow would be by her side until she passed from cancer in '22. My wife and I could tell our mom's deaths had taken a toll on him, he seemed extra weary of bonding with anyone. We knew we wouldn't find another home for him so he came home with us. We had to keep him separated from our cats so he got his own room, fortunately my wife's home office. The only people he adored were my wife, our mother's and my mom's caregiver. He tolerated me.

At an estimated 21 years old we finally accepted that it was (very likely well past) the time to say good-bye. We found out he was deaf (likely why it appeared he hated almost all things that moved), partially blind and arthritic.

I really miss him in a unique way. For both my wife and I he was a direct link to our mothers.

RIP Shadow.

[buddybikes]

Our 13 year old girl Lullaby has had a liver tumor diagnosed for 3.5 years, she has had occasional spasms which causes major pain, but very infrequently. We have her on a Chinese herb that supposedly inhibits bleeding from liver. This AM she had another, I doped her up on gaba, and she is sleeping it away, perhaps. She is comfortable, but not sure she will come around this time, tomorrow could be an awful day.
(smaller pup on the right...)

IMG_7421 (1).jpg

[mtb_frk]

This was a tough year for us. Our two dogs were getting up there in age, at least for big dogs. Leo he was 11, Emma was going to be 13 this year. Probably 2 years ago Leo was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and we had his parathyroid removed. The surgery was hard on him and we didn’t know if he was going to make. He bounced back from the surgery. Around the same time he was diagnosed with a degenerative disease that was slowly robbing him of the strength and control of back legs. It slowly progressed, eventually it got to the point he couldn’t stand up on his own. Got him a fancy harness, as once he was up, he was ok, not running around but mobile. Eventually that even became too much. Walks outside would be me or my wife holding him up so his rear legs wouldn’t give out. From there, he would fall and lose control of his bladder. We did diapers for a while, but in March decided it was time. It was hard, mentally he was fine, but his body gave out. He kept eye contact with me through the whole process, I’ll never forget it. He was a very demanding dog, type A, alpha dog. He loved me though, 120lbs lap dog. He had a huge personality, that dog would play catch for hours on end.

Emma, I would describe her as eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. Never played with a toy really, never saw her wag her butt, sheep dogs don’t have tails. We got Leo to try to help her be more out going or have a friend to play with. It didn’t work. We had her first, and it was like we didn’t even have a dog, just having her. It was interesting how different the two were. She was the top dog though. She could back down Leo and boss him around. Last year, I think, the vet found a tumor on her spleen. They said about 80% of the time it’s cancerous and has spread but wouldn’t know until they got in and removed her spleen. Turned out it wasnt cancerous, the vet was very excited to call and give us the good news. Usually that doesn’t happen in these cases. She recovered from that, and was seemingly doing good. Was going deaf, and getting cataracts, but was ok. Took her in to the vet for something and noticed her gums were pale. We had just taken Leo in earlier that week to say good bye to him. We were going to be leaving for Disney the next day, but decided to postpone our trip, as they thought she was bleeding internally. Turned out she had a blood cancer. So, she had her ups and downs. Eventually we were back to diapers and a dog that was too weak to walk, she would be ok, then have a few bad days, and bounce back. On her last day, we had to put her on a stretcher basically and take her in. So in matter of a few months we had no dogs. What a strange transition. Sheep dogs bark, they bark a lot and really loud. All the time. It is so quiet now. As much as they drove me nuts I miss them deeply.

Then this summer my cat Callie, 20 years old, started to lose weight, and going down hill. She was a great cat. I couldn’t take her, I had my wife do it. I couldn’t bring myself to do it, I kept putting it off well past the time that I should have. I had her since she was a kitten, she will always hold a place in my heart. I’ll have to post a picture of her as she was beautiful calico cat.

I would like to get another pet, but these last 6 months have been hard. I’m not ready yet. If we get another dog it will be a small dog. Taking care of two 100lbs dogs that can’t walk etc was a challenge.

[makoti]

Originally Posted by reuben

Mostly copied from a different pet thread -

Shadow was a good dog.

This is possibly the saddest thing I can think of, and it isn't uncommon. Animals put down because they don't "fit in" anymore. It just makes me cry

[fa63]

It takes a special POS human to have an animal put down because they don't want it anymore...

Originally Posted by makoti

This is possibly the saddest thing I can think of, and it isn't uncommon. Animals put down because they don't "fit in" anymore. It just makes me cry

[ridethecliche]

Originally Posted by mtb_frk

I would like to get another pet, but these last 6 months have been hard. I’m not ready yet. If we get another dog it will be a small dog. Taking care of two 100lbs dogs that can’t walk etc was a challenge.

The cat distribution system works in mysterious ways!