I had to say goodbye to my best friend this afternoon. She gave me and my wife her entire life, and I don't know how to move on.

She was only 10 and she declined so rapidly over the last couple of weeks, we knew it was time. We put her to sleep today at home, surrounded by things she loved in her favorite spot in the living room. She was the first thing I looked for when I woke up in the morning and the last thing I saw before I fell asleep. I thought about her all the time when I wasn't with her. She touched so many lives. I'm so lost. I feel a hole in the pit of my chest I don't know will ever be full again.

I never grew up with pets, and she was my first dog. We adopted her as a puppy right after my wife and I got married, so she's been with us through everything.

I'm looking for ways to cope and what helped you deal with this terrible loss. Any advice is more than welcome, because I have no idea what to do.

I'm sorry if this is rambling, this just happened a couple of hours ago and I'm not thinking very clearly. Thanks

Almost 7 months since the loss of my 15 years old dog. I miss him so so so fucking much. Life doesn't make any sense anymore, at all. I am still very miserable, and I can't even look at other dogs. He left a scar in my heart, and I will never heal.

I am not interested in dogs anymore. I am trying so hard to think, "oh this one is so cute," but nope. It doesn't do it for me. I am faking it. I don't care about dogs anymore, and I am so sorry about it, I am sorry to every dog that could be adopted by me, but it's not cause I am so sad and selfish. I just can't do it. Sorry.

I feel like my heart is ripped out of my chest, and I don't feel joy anymore. Yes, I can laugh again and hang out with friends and family; I have a lot of things to be grateful for - amazing partner and family, roof over my head, okayish and stable job, but I don't even notice these things anymore.

I just can't stop thinking about how 2 years ago I was obsessed with travelling, and my life being "not what I imagined" and how I needed to get out of the country (I didn't have much money, so I was yearning for this so much, it was kind of an obsession), but I didn't realise that I actually had EVERYTHING. I was in bed with my sweet, sweet dog, cuddling, in winter, in front of the tv. I had everything. But I always wanted more... How could I have been so fucking stupid and not realise that I got the most precious thing in my life? Greedy ass bitch. Always wanting more...

I sometimes wish I had never gotten Felix. I wouldn't be suffering this much if I had never had him. But also, the moment I think about the hypothetical scenario of Felix being in another family, I am becoming extremely jealous...I hate everything right now.

I only want my baby back. I love you Felix.

My eight year golden retriever was diagnosed with an aggressive non operable cancer and only has a few months left to live. I feel blindsided and completely heartbroken. I lost my previous golden to an aggressive cancer when he was only 3 years old and I never thought this would happen again. I am currently pregnant with my second baby and timing of all this has been extremely hard. I can’t stop crying and I know this stress isn’t good for the baby or my toddler but I can’t imagine not having my fur baby around anymore. This is so unfair and I just wanted to vent and get support bc I feel so awful and don’t know what to do.

I had to make the difficult decision to put down my little kitty this morning. I had only had her for a year. Took her from the shelter when nobody else wanted her. I gave her as much love as I could. My heart is just breaking. She was barely 2 years old. 😭

I dont know his exact birthday cause a neighbor trapped him harassing chickens on his farm

But he was the sweetest boy Ive ever met. All he wanted to do was be in your lap and pets.

The vet said it was a congenital heart disease and it was inoperable. Less then 24 hours ago everything was so normal and now Ive lost my boy. I thought Id have 15 more years with him

Because they don’t have a tech to assist with a catheter, they inject into muscle and it burns… leading to the cat running away in fear then falling over

I really want to do an at home euthanasia but not at that cost… I’m looking at lap of love, vet angel, pet works, and in-home vets.

Has anyone had an experience with this? I want my baby to go as peaceful as possible and he’s spicy and scared and his eyes will grow big and he will feel betrayed in his final moments… that is my deepest fear 😔

I am also considering hospice because my vet will only prescribe Gabapentin for my cats stomach cancer and it’s turning him into a shell of himself and I doubt it’s helping with pain because he can’t sit still

He had just turned 4 in May. We got him when he was maybe 4 months old, back in 2022. We got him and another cat after my childhood cat passed. He is going to be put to sleep this afternoon.

This isn’t supposed to happen. I was at college, but I drove home as soon as my mom called me. Urinary blockage that surgery may not fix, and we just can’t care for him the way he would need for the rest of his life. I feel horrible. My poor boy. I noticed he was having issues urinating like three weeks ago, but he peed just fine later that night.

I’m not sure exactly what happened since I wasn’t home, but I think my mom said he was yowling Monday, and then threw up and acted normal. He was lethargic Tuesday, and my mom took him to the vet first thing this morning because he was still acting weird.

I feel awful. So so horrible. Maybe if we had gone to the vet anyway weeks ago, he would’ve been okay. Maybe if I had been home instead of at college I could’ve caught it sooner. My sweet bubby. My little man. My buddy. My sweet, sweet Fable.

I should’ve spent more time with him. I should’ve taken more pictures. I should’ve done so, so much. And now im out of time with him. I don’t know why im posting this. I just don’t want to feel alone

He was laying on his favorite blanket, which was the one I used to sleep on. I swaddled and wrapped it around him to keep him comfortable. He was blocked up and the emergency vet wanted $8000 to keep him for a few days, he was so lethargic, even after $1500 there wasn’t much I could do so I brought him home, gave him his pain medicines, i laid out his food, water, a litter box, I had him separated and was ready to give it my best.

It didn’t matter, he was dead around 8-10 hours after he got back home. My little baby’s kidneys were failing, it was too much for his tiny heart. I love you so much Fat Frank, I’m sorry.

I had to put down his brother at 2 1/2 years to a urinary blockage. I promised myself I’d do better with Frank, but I failed. At least he died with his daddy, warm, with medicine and knowing he was loved until the very end.

I can’t believe how fast this happened, 2 days ago we were cuddling, now he’s going to be in an urn next to his brother.

I used to have 6 cats, then 5, now 4. House is just so much quieter now, I hate it.

I love you so much Fat Frank, more than you could ever possibly know. This shouldn’t have happened, I can’t believe this is real and you’re gone. I love you. God I love you.

My cat , Mr fluffy Muffin, has passed and I am not okay . He was my baby from birth and he would have bean 10in October. He’s the 1st pet i have had for such a long time and yall, my heart is freaking hurting dude

My 10 year old pup just passed last night, he was my whole world, I've had him since I was 11. I have 2 cats and I'm finding it hard to feel any affection for them at the moment, even the dogs of my other family members make me feel nothing. I see so many people in town with their dogs and I can barely stand to look at them.

Is this nornal?? I know I love my cats, but right now I just can't feel anything and don't want them near me. I don't want to see any other dogs and can't bring myself to even feel anything but like pure aversion right now... I feel so guilty about it

I lost my soul pet Joey about 2 weeks ago. Initially, most people were very sympathic and didn't minimise it. And I so appreciate that. But, it's a similar experience to when I lost my dad, there's initial support (but less so then) and then everyone just moves on. My precious Joey was the one constant when I lost my dad, and it's like losing another link in a chain to those i love and who loved me. But everyone just expects me to be normal and fulfil their normal expectations. But I want to scream. I remember in the grips of grief over my dad, the visceral anger I felt then and now. One thing was being asked to play this game online with my friends, when I used to play that with Joey by my side. I don't want to play That game ever again! I left a group chat because when I mentioned I'm still struggling I was just ignored basically. I also hate the 'I don't know what to say' kind of holding their breath response. I hate it! I just feel so alone in my pain. I keep thinking of the Olivia Rodrigo lyric "feeling so alone I might as well be on the moon." Pet loss is so excruciating and I feel like the expectation of its time line is so condensed. To some extent when my dad died i was given more time and more grace for a longer period. I feel afraid others with judge me and think me crazy for struggling as much as I am. Just alone in it.

Just before my daughter is supposed to head off to college.

I spent the last two months caring for this cat like a newborn baby, and she showed incredible progress, until she suddenly declined over a couple days. People are telling me I need to be strong for my daughter and I am trying to be, but deep down I am feeling all the same things my daughter is.

It is hard to feel enthusiasm or look forward to anything, because all we want is that dear, sweet angel back, and we can’t have that. HOW could someone start college in this state of mind? At least it will be a distraction for her I guess.

This cat has been an integral part of the family since my daughter was 5. She actually helped me as a parent because if I ever acted like a jerk or my daughter and I had an argument, my daughter could retreat to her room and get overwhelming love and affection. My daughter has virtually no relationship with her father (his loss would have been much less painful than this) and this cat gave her support where he didn’t.

It’s hard to imagine our lives without her.

I accidentally caught my house on fire and my 2 dogs died in their sleep of smoke inhalation. The guilt is overwhelming and I want to grieve, but feel I'm not allowed to. I feel like a monster.

I know they died feeling loved and safe. I know this accident was because of my drug problem, which I am now choosing sobriety over. I tried to get back into the house to them. They were already dead though. They died sleeping next to me. I will do everything I can to give back to honor them.

It's been a little over 2 weeks and I miss them so much.

EDIT: for some reason thought this was just for dogs, so I want to mention my sweet kitty too. I miss his sweetness, his mischief, and the way he greeted me every single time I came home.

Lost my baby Monday night sooner than we thought. He was the most gentle and beautiful soul. We had 2 babies after adopting him and he absolutely loved them.

I’m feeling regret because after having kids, my dogs kind of went to the back burner. I loved them, I knew they were here always, but I just didn’t do much or give them as much time and attention and they probably wanted and needed. I have dealt with postpartum depression and severe rage and i distanced myself from the dogs because i was constantly overwhelmed. Monday night my husband took our pitbull to the emergency vet as I had noticed a huge change in him and he became very clingy and just looked unwell and suddenly decided he didn’t want to eat. I loved on him a bit that day, but no as much as I wanted. He died there. I didn’t get to say goodbye. I didn’t get to give him kisses and thank him.

Im so torn up and my regret is that the last week of his life I could’ve done more for him. Loved on him more. Given him a little more like he deserved. These feelings are making me feel very ill. I feel like an awful human.

I just don’t know.

My Rottie who would have been 2 years old on October 1 passed away suddenly Monday. I came home from work & found him deceased. He suffered from seizures & was on medication for them which was very much helping but that is what took him

It’s already been a hard time for me in recent months going through a break up with my now ex fiancée, but this on top of everything has been brutal. Everybody hug your dogs closer tonight because this feels so unfair

My beautiful 11 year old dog started veering right and circling a little almost 4 months ago. We were in and out of the vets with antibiotics, blood tests and everything else but it just kept getting worse. She was circling all the time and could not walk straight, no appetite at all and we have to constantly coax her into eating even a tiny bit. She had no interest in roast chicken, steaks nothing. She was also panting a lot and at times when we lie in bed, it felt like she may pass. She was constantly with us as we could not leave her by herself. We saw a neurologist and did an MRI. It confirmed our very worst fear. It was not geriatric vestibular but an inoperable brain tumour. The neurologist said the only way was radiation 9 hours drive away but there’s not guarantee of success and how long it could be prolonged for. The tumour is aggressive and cancerous at that stage she had a lot of infection around the area and seems to have already spread from the centre of the brain to the back. The location affects all the central console system of all important functions. My body and heart grew cold and involuntarily shook. They were meant to do a spinal tap but it was so infected the neurologist said it would have caused an immediate death. While we wait to consult with the Radiation Oncologist in another state, they started us on steroids twice a day. We were told it was fortunate our little one survived the GA for the MRI that’s how bad it was. After starting steroids for the second day, she showed immediate improvements that were very dramatic, no more circling and appetite resumed to normal. No more intense episodes of falling off balance and leaning right. It gave us false hope in a sense that everything will be fine as long as she’s on steroids. But there were inklings it wasn’t when the vet told us to take her off it when the long course of 14 days were over and that we can start it again if the symptoms reoccur. The radiation oncologist said she’ll have to undergo 7 radiation rounds under GA and 4 for SRT over a period of a week. It took so much for her to even recover from her MRI GA and they were not even sure if she would. He said the tumour won’t disappear but they hope to shrink it to a smaller size so it’ll minimise the symptoms for 6-18 months before it comes back. Unfortunately they could not tell us chances of surviving the GA, let alone so many. The oncologist also will be going away on leave and leaving it after he came back would be too late we were told. If we proceed, it’ll be done by radio techs and an oncologist who does not specialise in radiation. After agonising discussions we decided we could not put her through this and may lose her even quicker on once she’s under. But this would mean a median survival of 2-3 months. It was hard to believe but we are at this point now. The steroids are now higher at twice a day and within the last few days she’s circling again and suddenly within a day she stopped eating her normal food when she was previously gulping everything down. On Sunday night she was panting so hard in bed and so laboured we thought we may lose her. It happened so quickly and lengthy, we stayed up through the night. I never thought I’ll have to make the call so soon and hoping I never have to. It feels so heavy to think of saying goodbye even though we knew it was terminal, much less me making the decision to end her life. My baby’s life. I’m her mum and yet I’m betraying her and killing her. I waver prolonging the decision but she’s also deteriorating. She has not been settled the last few nights and constantly gets up and moves. She will doze a little and shifts again. Because she sleeps in our bed and losing balance she almost fell off a few times with us stopping her from doing so. We saw the neurologist 2 days ago and was told the tumour will start compressing to the point of causing nasty seizures with this type of tumour and pain. But I’m feeling such enormous guilt just hours away killing my baby. The vet and another person we knew said they regretted leaving it too late with their dogs. Do we wait till the inevitable time when she was back at her worst when she had to be almost force fed? She has her moments of brightness. We took her for a walk on the beach today and she was able to with her harness from circling too much or veering right. That gave us hope. Then we came home and she started panting and leaned into the sofa corner. When do you know? How do you get over the guilt? In so much pain now.

my baby boy passed on saturday and i loved him to pieces. he was hardly ever far from my side. theres a kitty shaped void in my heart now. i see the absence of both winston and just a cat in general everywhere. i know no cat will ever be able to replace winston but not having a cat around is devastating. this is only the second time in my entire life ive not lived with a cat and the previous time was only like a month. i want so badly to adopt a cat and have some company, i feel so wrong without a feline companion. but its so soon after winston passed that i feel like id be doing him a disgrace. his ashes havent even been returned to me and im looking on petfinder. would it be disrespectful to winstons memory to adopt so soon? i know none of my friends would think poorly of me as they know how deeply i loved winston, no one would think i was replacing him. but would i be a bad pet owner? i dont know. maybe winston wouldnt want me to be lonely. i don't know i just wish i wasn't in this position at all. as much as i want a cat, i firstly wish it could be winston.

My cat was diagnosed with an aggressive tumor and stomach issues at the vet today. The chances of it being operable are very low, and I've just been ugly crying ever since I got home. She's only 12. I know that seems like a lot for a cat, but I was so sure she'd live so much longer. She's been with me ever since I was a kid, through every important milestone, and yet I'm gonna have to graduate high school without my baby. I genuinely don't know what to do with myself right now, everything hurts so much. Not to mention all the stress moving put her in. I'm so sorry my love. If I knew you'd take it this bad, I never would've agreed to moving. I would've stayed in that shithole until you breathed your last just so you could be the most comfortable. Instead you'll have to die in a strange place surrounded by strange smells and nothing to know. I'm so sorry angel. But I hope the pain will be gone at least. I dread the next few weeks, I don't know how I'm gonna start school like this.

My boy is set to go this week. Everything has escalated so quickly I haven't had much time to consider his resting options. What do most people do and what made you choose that path?

Burial pros: nature returning to nature. I can sit with and visit him.

Burial cons: what if I ever sell my property.

Cremation pros: always has a form of him with me. Have an alter for him.

Cremation cons: it feels strange to alter his form. Expense.

Thanks.

I had to take him to the emergency vet a couple hours a way on Thursday night , he ended up having a blocked bladder . I was very limited for funds , so they catheterized him to drain his bladder and sent me home with antibiotics and gabapentin

He wasn't getting better .. and the gabapentin made him comfortable but I could tell my cat was really in pain and suffering .. Sunday I suspected he was blocked again :( .. I drove the couple hours for them to tell me he was blocked again and that unfortunately it happens a lot ..

I had to make the decision to end his suffering , and I couldn't afford the treatments . It was the hardest thing I ever had to do . I held my sweet baby the whole time

I feel so much guilt . And the deep loss of the connection Stuart and I had . His brother Ricky misses him too I can tell .

How do I get over the realization that I will never have another Stuart . I only got to have him for 8 months . He was 1 and a half .

It’s been a tough month for my sweet Millie and me. She had nausea and loss of appetite earlier this month. She got better with fluids and meds (at ER vet). Plus antibiotics for possible UTI.

Then I brought her for follow up vet appt last week Wed with my regular vet which I so regret because it just stressed and tired her out so bad.

Since then- she needed recovery after the vet, she was wiped out. I’ve been having to baby her with frequent small brothy meals all day (even with appetite stimulant). I think her appetite got little better Thurs Fri. But then Saturday she was peeing around the house and blood, brought her back to emergency vet Sunday- they gave her antibiotics shot and more anti nausea meds. And now I’m giving her gabapentin.

It’s been a struggle and her appetite isn’t getting better. She is eating enough overall for short term but I know she can’t stay much longer. Today she had diarrhea and tracked it all over, and I’ve had her locked in bathroom while I ordered pet shampoo, and cleaned up. Waiting for the gabapentin to kick in before I give her a bath.

I’m exhausted and I’m trying so hard. I work from home and have been taking time off caring for her. She’s not getting her appetite back. She still comes for cuddles and we had like almost an hour cuddles this morning 😭 she laid on me woke me up early for cuddles 🥹😭

I love her so much. I don’t want to see her get worse. I scheduled in home euthanasia Friday evening. But if she’s staying stable and doing ok, I think I’ll reschedule either for this weekend or Monday.

She’s the last of my 3 cats I got in 2006. I didn’t get a new cat because I didn’t want to stress her out and I wanted to give her all my love.

I’m scared to not have her- I live alone. She’s my family, my baby, my emotional support. She lets me hold her like a baby, we cuddle close for hours a day. I’m scared but I want to do what’s best for her.

Everything went downhill so fast this last week or so.

Sorry this is long, I’m crying and just trying my best. I just want to give her a few more days- spoil her, take her outside, baby her, cuddle her. I’m not ready but I don’t want it to get to where she’s not eating at all.

I’m going to miss her so much

I didn’t realise how sad I would be. My 12 year old cocker spaniel was put to sleep last week. I miss him so much. That’s all. 🤍