Losing a pet

[RobinBHM]

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.

 

[Cozzer]

"Gut wrenching".

I truly feel your pain.
I wept more for each of mine over the years, than I did when my parents died.

Anybody without pets won't understand.
Anybody who's lost a pet will totally understand.

God bless you.

 

[Hypnotic Chimera]

I feel for you, mate, and it can be an overwhelming emotional experience.
And I agree that those without pets might not be in a position to be able to understand it.
I think this is partly to do with the way that dogs, in particular, give you all of their love and attach zero conditions to their loyalty, which can bring a more visceral loss than losing a human - because our human-to-human relationships often contain so much baggage.

Much sympathy.

We found that finding another family dog helped. In some ways. A bit. Not as a "replacement", because you can't replace that loss, but it does fill a gap.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I remember Peta, Heidi, Helga, Poppy, Daisy, Suzi, Pansy, Dolly, Lulu, Jezebel, Bella, Dagmar, Tonto, Minnie, Blue, Freddie, Cleo, George, Moose ................. fifteen of them I took to be put down. A little of me died every time.

 

[Hypnotic Chimera]

I remember Peta, Heidi, Helga, Poppy, Daisy, Suzi, Pansy, Dolly, Lulu, Jezebel, Bella, Dagmar, Tonto, Minnie, Blue, Freddie, Cleo, George, Moose ................. fifteen of them I took to be put down. A little of me died every time.

The most difficult for me and my Mrs was Zach the Staffy, because I was deployed to Afghanistan at the time, so Mrs had to deal with the logistics on her own, and the emotions that came with it, without support, while I didn't get to say goodbye

 

[Tris]

They are part of the family, we grieve for them just the same. Hurts like h*ll. Don't be too hard on yourself

 

[Blackswanwood]

It's a particularly grim experience - don't feel silly about it.

 

[niall Y]

Kipling sums it up all too well in his poem 'The Power of the Dog' - " Brothers and sisters I bid you beware, of giving your heart to a dog to tear"

 

[Sideways]

Our last to go was a 16 yr old cat. I was the one who had to take her to the vet. Walked there with her tucked inside my jacket and didn't feel ashamed to cry my eyes out in public.

I could wish for someone to help me go that quickly when it's time.

 

[Windows]

Dogs are people. We feel the loss when people who are important and familiar to us die. You’ve suffered a bereavement and you’re grieving. It’s only natural. I’m sorry for your loss.

I’ve been hit hard emotionally when losing our dogs and cats over the years. I’ve mourned their loss as individuals. I’ve also been struck by how each of them represented a different period in my own life and their loss also marked the end of that era. It’s a big deal. It’s good to acknowledge it.