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.

 

[justinpeer]

After growing up with dogs, it was much later in life that I had my own. We have two now, 11 and 8 years old. The first one, I’m not sure I’ve ever loved anything as much as I love that dog, I’ve never had kids but I imagine this is what you must feel if you do.

I know in the next few years she’ll go and that thought fills me with dread but oh she has given me so much love and joy in our years together and I hope we’ve given her a good life here on the farm.

My heart goes out to you for your loss.

 

[selectortone]

I've had cats in my family since I was a kid. I'm 73 now but I remember them all.

One, who we named Henry, was a stray kitten a friend found in the road and phoned my wife to ask if we'd take him. They brought him round in a shoe box and he was a pitiful sight, a tiny little bag of bones, filthy dirty, covered in fleas and very sickly. But he was a tough little b*gger. We nursed him back to health and he grew up to be the happiest, most affectionate cat you could ever imagine. He grew up with my three kids and lived to the ripe old of nineteen. He was as much a part of the family as the rest of us and joined in with everything. We were all devastated when he passed.

I feel your pain Robin.

 

[Amplidyne]

We lost our dog in 2007. I don't think I felt any worse grief at the passing of my parents long ago.
We have just lost an older cat who had in the last couple of years "adopted" us. The "owners" knew all about it.
She was old. I still look for her, and listen for her little greeting.
It's all very sad.
So no, I don't think it's silly at all.