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The doghouse

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Original poster

Saying goodbye

132 replies

0hMy · 06/09/2019 19:47

This afternoon my parents put our family dog to sleep. We got him when my brother and I were teenagers and we’ve since moved out. I’m absolutely devastated but he was very, very old and it’s been a long time coming. I’m so glad he’s out of pain but he’ll leave a huge hole in our hearts. He was around for almost half of my life.
I feel a bit silly talking to my friends without pets about it; hopefully some of you will understand.

OP posts:
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LifeOfBox · 12/09/2019 21:26

And the cat .... 12 months old from the RSPCA. I still have cat carriers and all the paraphernalia in the garage.

Saying goodbye
dogsdinnerlady · 12/09/2019 21:30

My boy was PTS on Monday, aged 10 and a half. He had been in good health all his life then suddenly got ill, we think with an infected hernia which had not been picked up on scans. We had 10 mins to decide whether to have a 50;50 chance operation. It was going to cost £10-12K. But vet said he may not survive the op. Still guilty about the decision but it felt like the best choice for his sake.
My previous labs made it to 9.5 and 10 so fairly average I think.

Honeyroar · 12/09/2019 21:38

She's so gorgeous! In both those photos. And Pussycat!

A new cat sounds interesting. (I have a couple of them too).

My pic shows my choc, who we lost about 18 months ago, and the yellow boy who is poorly now. He aged virtually overnight when she died. They were joined at the hip and she died suddenly when we were out one night. We came back to him sitting next to her looking so broken hearted. He cried when we carried her out and sat in her bed for a week (with our other little dog trying to cheer him up). It was bad enough losing her, but watching him so upset made ir worse.

Saying goodbye
Honeyroar · 12/09/2019 21:42

Very sorry for your loss too Dogsdinnerlady. I think you made the right decision too. It must have been so upsetting. 💐

UrsulaPandress · 12/09/2019 21:49

Here’s my gorgeous boy.

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LifeOfBox · 12/09/2019 21:55

That is so sad Honeyroar. They are both so lovely.

My cats made it to 17, 18 and 19. Now XH didn’t like cats but I came with three! BoxDog loved them all, she was slightly scared of this one, the smallest (former feral) one who ruled the house with a rod of iron!

I don’t think my house will ever be the same home without an animal.

Saying goodbye
LifeOfBox · 12/09/2019 21:57

Ursula and Dinner Lady 💕

UrsulaPandress · 12/09/2019 21:59

Looking at photos on my phone and some are those that randomly move. Waggy tail and snuffly nose has made me sob again.

RedLipsAndRosyCheeks · 13/09/2019 07:09

I feel better today. I do miss the sound of her on the stairs but by now she'd have been panting and pacing and fussing while I got showered and sorted out the DC before going downstairs to give her breakfast and let her out again. I think I more miss her younger self than the anxious old lady she'd become.

Pic 1 when DC1 was a baby and pic 2 a couple of weeks ago.

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LifeOfBox · 13/09/2019 07:17

She is absolutely lovely Redlips.

I think it does get easier. On Tuesday I thought I would never stop crying. Today I really know that it was the right thing for my beautiful dog and I think that makes it easier to bear.

Euthanasia means ‘a good death’ I find comfort in the meaning of the word.

RedLipsAndRosyCheeks · 13/09/2019 07:20

I agree completely @LifeOfBox

UrsulaPandress · 13/09/2019 07:41

Time does heal. Or at least it puts some distance between you and the pain and allows a crust to heal over the wound.

We have a hospital visit this afternoon and are then driving straight to DDs new 2nd year University house.

Because I don't need to get home for the dog. Sad

LifeOfBox · 13/09/2019 07:53

I know Ursula. Tomorrow we have got a bit family lunch about 25 miles from home and instead of coming straight home for the dog we will be driving into the city centre to go shopping, have dinner and go to the cinema. Life is already much too different isn’t it.

UrsulaPandress · 13/09/2019 08:26

He was a really good traveller so we used to stick him in the car and take him most places. Get him out for a quick furtle then he'd happily snooze in the car until we returned.

He was such a good dog.

Hope my foster dogs are good.

FisherQueen · 13/09/2019 12:32

I said she was my friend dad, for fifteen years, a much lived family member for fifteen years I am not going to get over it in a day.

I don't know why but that made me weep Box, my boy was my friend too and I miss him so much. We scattered his ashes this morning.

And now we have to go home and start chemotherapy for our girl who has just been diagnosed with lymphoma. He hasn't even been gone a month.

UrsulaPandress · 13/09/2019 13:09

Just picked his ashes up.

FisherQueen · 13/09/2019 13:11

Do you have a place you want to scatter them?

UrsulaPandress · 13/09/2019 13:22

I’m not sure. I have two mares currently unscattered. I’m a bit of a hoarder.

LifeOfBox · 13/09/2019 18:00

Fisher that is so very hard.

I could never decide where to scatter ashes Ursula. I haven’t had them returned to me for my last four animals for that reason. I would just find it more stressful.

I have moved around as an adult and don’t have anywhere that feels particularly like the right place for ashes.

I always buy a piece of jewellery to remember them by. The horse of a lifetime for me died last year and I had her tail hair burned into a silver pendant by someone on Etsy - photo attached.

My piece of jewellery for BoxDog is going to be something with Labradorite from here. I have got some yellow fluff in a little silver box 💔.

Saying goodbye
UrsulaPandress · 13/09/2019 18:06

Oh that’s nice with the horsehair. Might try that.

Dd fancies a piece of jewellery from his ashes. Apparently.

He’s in a nice box and I feel slightly better now he’s here with me.

FisherQueen · 13/09/2019 18:30

It did help to scatter him - we've left a bit of him in Ireland (where he and I are from) and are taking the rest of him home to scatter in his favourite park.

The jewelry idea is lovely - we have some of his fur as well.

LifeOfBox · 13/09/2019 21:08

I think it’s really lovely to be able to gain comfort from something like scattering ashes. 💐

I wish it was something I could do but I don’t feel anything - odd isn’t it. It’s like when they go they have gone for me.

It made me think about the ethics surrounding the euthanasia debate - frightening amount of burden of responsibility.

Honeyroar · 13/09/2019 21:08

Last year when the choc lab died I had a paperweight and a necklace made with their hair in resin. The company had a little spare and made me a free keyring and palm heart (little flat heart that fits in your palm). She is buried at the bottom of our garden with two other cats and another dog. She has a Xmas tree growing over her.

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Honeyroar · 13/09/2019 21:10

What do you mean about the ethics LifeofBox?

UrsulaPandress · 13/09/2019 21:35

I think I know what you mean.

This life is all they have or will have so as long as their pain is under control ...

I had a friend in the horse world who used to wonder why we think animals can’t cope with illness.

With mine it was when he fell over and had a little fit that I knew it was his time.