We lost our dog over the weekend

[2QUIK6]

Very true. Just look at the good life you gave Roxy. Another one is in need right now. In a few months, you'll be glad you did. We did the same thing when we put one of our cats down.

Yep, thats how we got the German Shepard which was the last dog I had lost back 20+ years ago. Our other dog Girlfriend was a stray we took in, for whatever reason people think dumping dogs in rural areas is doing the dog good but it did allow us to have a great dog. Althought she's nothing as affectionant as Roxy was, she is a good dog. Neither dog has ever peed or pooped in the house and we left them in quit a bit when we were gone, even ROxy as a pup.
Roxy, my step-daughter went and bought when she was 15 and brought home without me knowing, she was obsessed with having a std poodle...I don't know if her mom knew or not but I wasn't thrilled about it at first cause I knew it would end up being our dog cause when she turned 16 she wouldn't be around to care for it...didn't take long and we were in love with the puppy. She has since apologized profusely about doing that and putting us threw all those years of providing the seizure meds and making it a royal pain to go out of town due to that, but we would totally do it again.
Today was a hard day since I was home all day and no Roxy sitting beside me or rubbing up against me while I was working today...and no Roxy to chase the neighbors barking chiuhaha away like she used to do

Thanks everyone for all of the kind words and thoughtfulness, it has made it easier and I'm even having some memories that bring a smile to my face hearing some of your stories and rememberances of your pets. We still have a 15 or more year old dog and a cat about the same age to deal with before we get another one.

 

[2QUIK6]

I still think its odd that our regular vet has not called to see how she was since his admin knew we were taking her to the emergency clinic since the reg vet was out of town...maybe the clinic faxed back that they put her to sleep, or he's afraid he should have done a transfusion when he had her in his care Mon/Tues.....it really surprises me as he knew Roxy very well as always let her run around loose in his clinic. Maybe I will call him tomorrow and see if he knows already...he was expecting us to bring her back up there early this week to have another CBC test done for her blood.

 

[chopped39]

Sorry to hear about your loss. My good friend just put his 15 year old mastiff down.That is the worst thing about having a pet.I thought my dog Turbo was the baddest thing around untill three months ago. He came in from outside ran upstairs and went to jump on the bed and kinda cried. Two make a long story short he damaged a disc in his neck and three vertabrae were damaged We rushed him to an emergency clinic in northbrook il. By the time i got him there he was completely parallized.They did repair all the damage for $8,100Thank god for VPI insurance. They paid over half the bill . He is still with us but he still has nerve damage that they said will repair itself but not a 100%. I know how you feel and it sucks.Time is the answer.Best of wishes to you and your family.Take care

 

[2QUIK6]

I heard of several people's dog hurting themselves like that jumping on or off the bed. Roxy always jumped up in bed with us and I always was worried that someday she would hurt herself like that. My mother-in-law has several dogs, and she built stairs for them to climb up after having a boston terrier hurt itself that way too. Probably good insurance to build a set of steps if you allow your dog to come up on the bed. Good to hear he's recovering well.

Also, our regular vet did call my wife this morning to ask how Roxy was doing, the clinic had only faxed him her blood work after they did the transfusion, he had no idea. My wife said he sounded devastated when she told him what had happened while he was out of town. He said that Roxy was always his favorite patient so that made my wife feel better and knowing that he called to check on her as she was really concerned about him not giving her a transfusion. He suspects something else more serious was wrong with her than just a blood anemia.

 

[GNBRETT]

Sorry to hear.

 

[86brick]

Very sorry to hear about your loss and you have my sincerest sympathy. I know what you're going through because 2 weeks ago I had to put my dog and best buddy Max (Chow/Lab mix) down. Probably one of the hardest things I have had to do in my life, I was literally on the ground comforting him as best I could until he took his last breath. I cried like a baby until I had no more tears left that day and for a good week it was very tough for me to think about him without tearing up. It's still very strange in my house to not have him around, but I try to think about the good memories I have of him and those always seem to put a smile on my face or make me laugh.

 

[2QUIK6]

Very sorry to hear about your loss and you have my sincerest sympathy. I know what you're going through because 2 weeks ago I had to put my dog and best buddy Max (Chow/Lab mix) down. Probably one of the hardest things I have had to do in my life, I was literally on the ground comforting him as best I could until he took his last breath. I cried like a baby until I had no more tears left that day and for a good week it was very tough for me to think about him without tearing up. It's still very strange in my house to not have him around, but I try to think about the good memories I have of him and those always seem to put a smile on my face or make me laugh.

That was a beautiful dog. Each day is getting easier, saturday my eyes burned all day from breaking down at the vet and burying her..then everytime I thought of her wrapped up in that blanket with her little head and paws hanging out hauling her to the backyard to bury I would start crying and giving her one last goodbye kiss...I can now remember the good times and smile but still with a few tears. It's difficult feeding the remaining dog each evening without Roxy there since it was just me and the dogs each evening during the week.
What were the circumstances with your pup?

 

[Mac in SD]

Napoleon Bonaparte, on finding a dog beside the body of his dead master, on a moonlit field after a battle -

"This soldier, I realized, must have had friends at home and in his regiment; yet he lay there deserted by all except his dog. I looked on, unmoved, at battles which decided the future of nations. Tearless, I had given orders which brought death to thousands. Yet here I was stirred, profoundly stirred, stirred to tears. And by what? By the grief of one dog."

 

[86brick]

That was a beautiful dog. Each day is getting easier, saturday my eyes burned all day from breaking down at the vet and burying her..then everytime I thought of her wrapped up in that blanket with her little head and paws hanging out hauling her to the backyard to bury I would start crying and giving her one last goodbye kiss...I can now remember the good times and smile but still with a few tears. It's difficult feeding the remaining dog each evening without Roxy there since it was just me and the dogs each evening during the week.
What were the circumstances with your pup?

Thanks. You're right every day gets a little easier. Max was going on 9 years old and for the past two years we were treating him for Diabetes with insulin shots twice a day. Apparently it was a losing battle as he had a very bad seizure which afterwards he was never himself (deficating a lot, losing weight, etc.) and then his hips started to give out (pretty much had to pick his backend up to get him in the car to take him to the vet). Watching him seizure was very difficult and we always said we didn't want to see him suffer. I also suspect he might of had some sort of cancer (which may have attributed to his weight loss) as he had several lumps on different parts of his body and although I know some were fatty deposits a few of them he was very sensitive towards if you touched.

 

[BLACK6PACK]

Sorry to hear that steve!

Being that my dad was a vet, I grew up around a lot of this. My dad had pretty big dog at his clinic that he used as blood donor. I grew up with "moe", he was around as far back as I can remember. When I was around 15 I worked for my dad on weekends and after school. Without getting into a long story, Moe had a bad day and I had my dad put him down. I held his head in my lap as he slipped away. That was tough, so you both have my deepest sypmpathy.

Moe with another "office" dog. She was brought into the office in the back of a late 70's elcamino. They had played chicken with each other and both had wrecked grills.

Moe me and my brother in what looks to be the blizzard of '78

 

[2QUIK6]

That sounds like a difficult time. Some think that every step possible to keep a pet alive is the way to go, my step-daughter is kind of that way. But one thing people must understand is that a dog may not understand whats happening to them and may feel like they are being mistreated in some way when they become ill like this. Unlike humans, which we can communicate and normally understand why we are sick and what the road to recovery may be like, a dog does not....at least that is what I have to believe to make me feel she is in a better place now and is in peace rather than trying to keep her alive if in fact she was in great pain.

 

[BLACK6PACK]

2quick,
That is what amazed me about my dad, a pinch here, a poke there, look in the eyes and ears, and he could tell you what was wrong, granted he had to do tests sometimes, but it was amazing to see him work. The animals couldn't tell you what was wrong, but my dad had a 6th sense when it came to animals.

I probably kept my cat alive longer than I should have. He was comfortable most of the last month, but he could barely eat. I kept him alive cuz I couldn't let go, not because he wasn't ready to go. Its a hard decision to make.

 

[PaCemkr86]

sorry for your loss... i feel for you