To be fretting about my dogs

[TheoriginalLEM]

i have two wonderful dogs. one is 8 the other just 3 or 4. They keep me sane and one in particular is my soul mate. He sticks to me like glue, talks to me and sleeps in my bed.

What am i going to do when i lose them? i know they are not children but i know i wont have my boys forever and it scares me.

i suffer from anxiety and depression and they have rescued me from myself.

my anxiety is bad just now. ive been working more which is great and i work with animals sometimes -again, great but it brings it home to me that they are just on loan to us and its breaking my heart.

im being pathetic

That's not at all pathetic! I don't suffer from anxiety and depression (any more than the next person but not as seriously as it sounds you do) and I dread the day I lose them. Absolutely dread it. I know they can't be replaced but I probably will get new dogs forever until I die.

Well, if you're pathetic, then so am I. My eldest (and first ever) dog is 12 now. Just thinking about her not being here is enough to set me off crying.

It's not pathetic. I've had my dog 12 years now, she's the only one who's 'been there' through everything I've been through. We kind of 'survived together', I feel we were both 'rescued' by my lovely partner. However, I know at her age it's just a waiting game. My last dog passed away at 16 (he was a family dog, more than just mine), the grief was as real as if I'd lost a person in my family. It's unfortunately a sad fact that we can only have them for so long, but we can always remember we were their world, and they were loved. You can't do anymore than that.

Its natural to love devoted dogs and grieve when they die. But there are so many looking for loving homes, you will have other dogs to love and protect you in future.