Losing a pet

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I feel your pain, Rob. Let's NOT make it a miserable thread, but a celebration of what some of us have had.

I understand and respect your feelings, gone now, here is Bisto in a 'lighter' moment....Got any in a similar vein?


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Every time it happens my wife and I drive back from the vets bawling like two 5 year olds who've just been robbed of their ice creams - God knows what people at traffic lights must think when they look over :)

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Two of the best friends I ever had.

When they went within 18 months of each other my wife swore never again. I would've gone out the next day to find another, I've always had dogs and life is just too empty without one.

Took me 12 months, but I talked her around in the end :)

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Bearing in mind how the general public can be plunged into grief over the death of someone they’ve never even met by the media , I see no shame whatsoever in the desolation that can overcome you when you’re having to deal with the loss of a family member (and by that I mean furry ones) . When our last pooch shuffled off we were , emotionally in tatters and happening right in the middle of Covid really didn’t help at all not least in that the price of pooches shot through the roof as the whole world, it seemed, needed someone to snuggle up to. Wishing you lots of fond memories as you recollect all the happy times enjoyed with your fur ball.
 
Or more precisely, losing a dog 🦮

I don’t want to make a miserable thread :).

I lost my dog yesterday and I can’t believe how hard it’s hit my wife and myself….it feels silly feeling this way.

I wondered how other people found it.
We have had 2 Westies for over 16 years we lost my girl on June 12th and then on Sept 24th we lost our eldest. Losing my girl hit me like a sledgehammer for weeks. Being retired she spent so much time with me while my wife, younger than me, pursued her activities. We have got another Westie a boy now he will never replace our 2 girls but he is a disaster of distraction on 4 legs. Only pet owners fully understand and can empathise I think.
 
I completely agree with every response on this thread and I too really struggled when I lost my best friend at age 7 a few years back (she was 7, not me!).

That being said, I know I risk a huge backlash here, but I feel the need to say it nonetheless...

We do awful, horrendous, torturous things to animals by the many billions every year. I strongly believe all of us here feel different to the loss of an animal than we would an inanimate object. Why? Because we are able to build a stronger relationship with a living thing. Because we share so much with them - love, comradery, a whole range of emotions. We both recognise in them and share our sentience. Who wouldn't do anything to protect their animals, to give them the best in life, and - in the event of illness or death - to make it as painless as possible?

While these feelings of grief resonate strongly with us all as we think back to animals we've lost, how can we not recognise that that same respect and love should extent to all animals, all of whom have the same capacities for feeling as those we love and have loved? Knowing their characters and their experiences, both pleasurable and painful, imagine them out in the world if they had not come into your lives and been cared for. Imagine what they would have gone through. The suffering. The loss. The pain. The fear. Why do we value their well-being above other animals whose capacity to suffer is the same, but who have not been lucky enough to find a happy home with us, and all that comes with it?

The dog I had who died at 7 was a rescue. The effects of the trauma of her early life were obvious to see. At the same time there were other behaviours that many dogs exhibit, rescue or not. The upcoming annual fireworks are a common bad time. My dog would be petrified. At the time, I didn't give much concern to animals outside of my sphere. Through witnessing her capacity to experience fear (at this time and many others in her short life), and wanting to do anything I could do to lessen it, the light bulb moment lit up for me that all animals will feel the same, and worse.

To the OP especially, but to anyone else reading this, I am not trying to undermine the feelings of loss. On the contrary. I am trying to amplify them and utilise those feelings in the hope that they can be used to extend out from the personal to the universal.
 
We were devastated when our first dog was put down 10 years ago with heart problems.

It's going to be so much worse when the current one passes in the next few years.
I can upset myself just thinking of life without him.

The bond you build with a dog is impossible to explain to people who haven't had one.

'He's just a dog' is something we regularly say, both knowing it goes so much deeper than that.

Sorry for your loss 😢
 
Thank you all so much for the wonderful warm posts and all the lovely pictures.

Your heartfelt comments mean a lot.

This forum is a fantastic community, the deep feelings that we all feel on here in regards to our much loved pets makes me realise this is what really unites us, not the division and bickering of political division that goes on.


I’m sorry I’ve not responded sooner, but I’ve been watching the thread often and have read all the comments through a number of times………the shared experiences of others has been truly helpful.

I will post soon some pics of Tilly
 

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