My lovely dog was pts on Tuesday , didn't know she was ill. I can't stop crying

[pumpkinpie01]

Our lovely lab cross was pts on Tuesday, we literally had 2 hours to get our heads round it. Monday night we noticed she didn't want to sit on the sofa , chose the rug instead very unusual. Tuesday morning she seemed to be breathing in her back instead of chest. My Dh took her to the vets who asked us to get her to the nearest animal hospital for an ultrasound and tests. Turns out she had cancer and her lungs and heart were being crushed by all the fluid around them. She had been on walks at the weekend and the day before, we had no signs anything was wrong. She had to be put down a few hours later. We had had her since she was 6 weeks old and she was 12. I just can't forget her standing there with us all crying over her as she was pts. I loved her so much I just keep crying all I want is to be back down the woods with her playing with us chasing sticks, miss her so much. Not asking for advice just wanted to write it all down 😢I feel so sad.

I did leave it months to walk the local routes and only started again due to being restricted to local walking at the moment. The first couple of times were awful - at least I had sunglasses on so no one could see me cry! DH did go out and about from quite soon after as he wanted to get it over with. There’s no right or wrong way to do it, it’s all about what’s easiest for you. Our girl’s ashes will have to wait though, as we can’t go where we want to send her off (also a river, Labs love their rivers don’t they!).
I still have a little cry now and again. Goodness knows what she would have made of Lockdown as she would have missed the sniffs in the Lakes and up on the moors. She’ll always have a place in our family as our First Family Dog, even though we can now see through the fog to a time when we have another Lab. Or 2 Labs..... because life’s too short not to offer a dog a space in your heart if you have one.

This exact thing happened to my lab who was completely healthy at aged 10, apparently it happens quite a lot in labs. So sad :( hope you're okay, 7 years later I'm still just as gutted 😭😭

I am so sorry for your loss, my girl is 10 and the thought of losing her makes me cry.

How happy she looks with that gigantic stick in her mouth, I bet you got whacked many times.

I hope you are doing ok. to you and everyone who have lost their best friends

@ProfessorHasturLaVista and @Tbug thank you for sharing your stories. It's so hard going down the same route isn't it minus your little best friend , but my dad says you have to face your fears plus it wouldn't have been fair on my ds6 if we didn't go there as he loves playing hide and seek there. Was so strange and hard thou. @Tbug did you have no clue your dog had cancer either then ?

No, he was completely fine it was at Christmas then he started breathing fast like panting for a day or so, so we took him to vets and they found the cancer and he was PTS then :( ! Xx

We didn’t know our 10 yr old lab had cancer until they scanned/X-rayed him. He’d had a cough for a fortnight that the vets were convinced was kennel cough (I wasn’t). Looking back he’d slowed down a bit on walks in the few months prior, but we just thought it was age, he’d still hurtle round with our younger dogs.

We lost our previous lab about 18 months prior to that. She was booked in for an emergency scan the next day but died while we were out (still feel awful we went out, but we really didn’t know how bad she was). The vets now think she probably had a tumour.

So horrible losing them and getting used to the emptiness of them not being around. We’ve always had other dogs, so have had to carry on with walks.

I am sending all the hugs xxxx

Sounds like this has happened to quite a few labs 😢. Can't get used to her not sitting with us in the evenings and sniffing at the door when someone knocked. So many questions from my ds6 why didn't we give her cpr? Will grandma be walking her in heaven ? Where is her spirit ? Poor little thing losing his little play mate ( I have other dc but there is a massive gap ). Can't imagine having another dog but then again can't imagine going to all the nice places we used to go without a dog enjoying it too , does that make sense ?

Yeah I completely get that, my parents never got another one however I have another now and no dog will ever replace Archie but it's nice to have doggy company again. I could never have got the same breed though because I feel like id always compare xx

Yes, that makes sense. There’s a period of wanting to shut it all out and thinking you will never be able to have another dog because they won’t be The Dog.
Some people get another dog in weeks, some wait years or never. None of them are wrong. You’ll know when it’s time or not.
I genuinely thought I could never have another dog if that was the pain I’d feel when they went. But I know I will some day. How can all the things she taught us go to waste, for one thing - naughty Labradors are now a bit of a speciality
We went somewhere new in Feb and my word, our girl would have adored it! So there was a twinge of sadness she wasn’t there. The No Dogs sign on the rented cottage door pissed me off too, because I wouldn’t normally have even looked at it on the website if we couldn’t take her!
Tough questions from your DS.He might want to talk about her a lot, to process it. We did and we’re adults.
One thing we did was fill in a little book with memories of her, so we’d have something to look back on. As our minds were just full of missing her in the early days it really helped to write things down as it occurred to us. We’ll be able to match the specific stories to the many photos we have of her in the future.

This thread has made me cry. Sending everyone who has ever lost a dog friend a big hug. I know I will be very very down when my Springer Zinny leaves me, just thinking about it brings me to tears.

Sorry for your loss. Your dog had beautiful eyes (((. ))) hugs from Glasgow and licks from Joey my Greyhound x

@ProfessorHasturLaVista what a lovely idea doing a little book , I will definitely do that with ds a little memory book for him. Had my dad on Skype yesterday and just before he said goodbye he said ' well it's gonna be a very strange house without Cleo ' which made me cry ,thanks for pointing out the obvious dad !

I'm sorry for your long, sending hugs xxx