Posted on 01/05/2022 10:09:28 AM PST by MountainWalker
We lost our dear dog, Sully, yesterday, and I'm absolutely heartbroken. He was our second recuse dog - the older one is strangely still alive and well. So, this was our first time going through the process. I expected it to be terrible, and it's worse than expected.
He was about 13 and getting pretty rickety, falling down a lot, had trouble going up and down stairs, had poor bladder and bowel control anymore and had some dementia - staring off into walls at times. But, he was still as sweet as he was the day that we decided to keep him after fostering him through the rescue organization that my wife has volunteered for.
He had cancer surgery right before Labor Day when he was starting to get a little wobbly and the surgeon estimated that we might have bought him another year or so. It was eye-wateringly expensive, but we did it anyway without a second thought.
His arthritis accelerated quickly, however. Toward the end of his life, his lower back would slouch down because his hind legs were too weak to hold him up, especially near the end of the day, and had trouble getting comfortable even laying down. We tried some pain killers, but that made him even more clumsy.
It makes no sense, but the sharpness of pain is as much as I remember feeling when we got my father's terminal illness diagnosis. Maybe time has only softened my memory of the pain compared to now, but it's definitely in the same ballpark. Watching a helpless creature whose life revolved around you and was by your side constantly pass away based upon your call is indescribably painful. He was sleeping wedged against me with his head on my pillow next to mine on Monday night and now he's gone.
Any prayers or suggestions for how to manage the pain are appreciated. Thanks, FRiends.
Everybody tells me it’s “the best way to go”, all sudden, without warning, and fast.
Maybe for the dog, it might be but for the person seeing it happen out of the blue, the feeling of shock and helplessness is a gut punch that never fades.
She’s the second Dobe I’ve had die this way and I went to the shelter and got a Staff mix.
No, she’s not the breed that owns my heart and soul and yes, she has some abuse issues, but she is also extremely unlikely to ever drop dead in front of me.
Maybe it’s just me, but if you don’t get to have that love-soaked goodbye where you tell them how much they meant to you, the wound never closes.
Honestly, within a minute of meeting that little shelter dog, I had already gone all “I’ll kill or die for you”.
/and “somebody” best not tell me “it’s just a dog” because I will go medieval on them
It just keeps digging that hole deeper.
The only words Boo spoke, in the whole book, were "Will you take me home?"
And MountainWalker, as much as it hurts right now and as much as you feel like it will never stop, go find some little soul to love, a soul who might not see tomorrow, without you.
I promise you, it does help.
“and a mini flame war erupted”
Sometimes I wonder if we’ve not been infiltrated by Mooslime dog haters.
All dogs go to heaven.
(How could they not? I mean just look at them)
We brought home a “BBB/three strike” dog, Nov. 12.
She was black, “bully” and kennel defensive.
She’d been overlooked and ignored so long, that when I went to sign the papers and pay her fee, they told me she had a benefactor who had already paid her adoption fee, *if* anyone ever looked beyond her frightened anger in the shelter and wanted to take her home, anyway.
Pretty sure that battletank was saying that literally no one, anywhere, would seek out a denomination full of merciless people like you.
Hopefully you will make it too purgatory and will be educated on The Truth.
So, do you know Matthew?
oh, and if you are Jewish,
being God’s chosen people, no need to worry about purgatory.
As long as you aren’t a Reformed Jew.
I understand. And I’m sorry
Only time I’ve ever cried as a man
We bond with them and dogs so need that
Their dna tells them to attach to a human they trust
Which is why it’s horrible when people betray that trust or love and are malicious to them
I’m no dog whisperer
I own big very dangerous dogs and I understand fear and firmness and respect
But not abuse
Losing a dog is tough stuff
One of mine is a very old chihuahua and I fear when that day comes
She is like a pilot fish to me 24-7
Me and wife
In car
On sofa
Sleeps on top of us
I look at her grizzled face and wonder which is us go first
My Rotts are fairly young
Early prime years
Today they are relishing out huge snow
Do you even realize what u just did Barb
The pain of losing your folks has damaged you with grief to the point you are projecting that pain and anger on a stranger rather than just giving simple empathy which cost you nothing dear
That is precisely what you just did and it was ugly and uncalled for and you should apologize
You should also seek a therapist
When our own grief stymies our ability to empathize with the pain of others because our emotional pain is “worse”
We might need some help
Trust me
If some one loses a child tragically or god forbid violently should they lose their empathy for others
Because their grief will damn sure ALWAYS be more justified
I worked with camp survivors in the diamond district of Manhattan in the 80s
Wrists tats the works
No question they knew life’s deep valleys like few did
Yet they were as empathetic and kind a people as I ever knew
Do you get my point
I’m sorry you lost your folks
My wife and I both lost ours long ago
That was very well done Gunga Din
(Better man or woman than I)
Every time I lose a loved one (furry, feathery, scaly), I feel like a hole has been punched in my heart.
I just noticed a large hard swelling on my boy Dobe’s hock.
It seems to be part of the bone, and that is a very bad thing.
I think I’m losing him, too and he’s not even 5 yet.
I will not survive this.
He’s all I have.
Post #154.
I may be losing my boy to bone cancer.
Vet appt. tomorrow.
Not feeling hopeful at all.
A great post.
As everyone else on this thread can see, you are one sicko creep. You are the LAST one who should try to use their religion as some kind of cudgel. Anyone who could make such an insensitive remark to a grieving person like you did has no business talking about any sort of religion with the other side of your snakelike mouth. Take your pseudo-religious utterances and shove them. Coming from you, they are divorced from any true religious meaning. Sicko.
Sully is now chasing butterflies across the Rainbow Bridge. If you think of him during the day, his sweet spirit will comfort you. You will see him again
I would rather lose a thousand parents than one dog.
do you still mourn your parents like you mourn a dead dog?
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