The hardest part of owning a dog ...

is having to say goodbye

It seems to me that 2011 has been a very sad year so far for many of us on Dogsey who have lost a beloved companion.

It will soon be five months since I lost my Moss Not a day goes by that I don't think about him and miss him. There are also plenty of tears when I think about him, and I have actually buried his final moments in a place in my mind that I am not ready to go to yet Moss was the reason I am where I am today, and without him my life would have been so different, and immeasurably less rich. He was a character that is greatly missed, and will be for some considerable time to come.

We also had to say goodbye to our lovely 15 year old Meg in December. Her loss is slightly easier to cope with, as she had such a long and happy life, and we feel her time had come. I also think that the pain and upset of losing Meg was then overshadowed (for me at least) by the loss of Moss just two weeks later. Moss was "my" boy, you see.

So, this is just a thread for people who have recently lost their dogs to say a few words about them if they feel like it.

Life does have to move on, but after the loss of a good friend it will never be the same again.

Hugs to everyone who is hurting at the loss of a dog just now.

Hi Moobli, I think this is a lovely idea, I haven't really spoken much about the loss of my dog. Hugs to all of you too.

My princess went to the bridge last Tuesday I'd only had her for 2 years, after 2 weeks of having her she was diagnosed with HD , Osteo-arthritis , a knee joint missing aswell as other things. I had all the tests done, tablet trials etc til they found one that eased the pain in her joints, unfortunately she needed such large doses of it that they did say the tablets may damage her before her legs became real problem.

A week past Saturday I noticed she was drinking an awful lot, I booked her into the vets Monday 9am, they took bloods & sent us home. A phonecall on Tuesday gave me the news I had been dreading. There was kidney malfunction, liver failure, traces of tumours, high phospate, low sodium, anemia, internal bleeding. In a word my princess was dying.

It was the hardest, but the kindest decision I had to make to let her go the bridge. I'd never quite felt emotion like that before. At 10:30am 17/5/11 she fell asleep in my arms at the age of 6.

I cry for her everynight, even with another dog & a puppy, it just isnt the same, it won't ever be the same in here without her..

So, run free my gorgeous princess, I tried everything I could for you, now you are free from your pain...Enjoy life at Rainbow bridge. We'll meet again one day xxxx

I know exactly how you feel Gonna need some tissues for this one.

I had to have my 'old lady' Tara pts .. . . . wow 3 yrs ago now in september, and a month later while I was on holiday and a friend was looking after 'my man' Simba he escaped and got run over and was pts to end his suffering as he was too badly hurt to ever recover

Tara was coming up 18 and I'd had her from 3 months old she was my best friend, confidant and constant source of hugs one of the most faithful dogs I've ever known but her time had come, her age caught up with her. I know she had a fantastic life so as much as my heart broke I coped easier with her loss.

Simba however was only 2 yrs old, full of life and loving every minute of it. He was a force to be reckoned with but Oh so sweet and loving. He was quite poorly in his younger days until I found out he was allergic to something in dog food and had to put him on the raw diet, the change was unbelievable. I'd only had him sorted and well for six months before the accident exactly one month after Tara and it shattered my heart. I wasn't there for him at the end and that kills me even now that he had to go through all that pain without the one person who loved him the most.

It definatley overshadowed the loss of Tara and I still feel a guilty for it.

So to my 'old Lady' and 'My man' I love you and miss you both still and every day I wish I could just hug you one more time

The tears are flowing

Losing my boy in Feb, was one of the worst times in our life, I have lost dogs before and will do so again in the future, but for us all I think, we have that one specail dog , that graces us with their presence once in a lifetime only.

I find it difficult to talk about him (am crying now) silly little things will set me off, my hubby did not tell anyone for a few weeks after Bandit went, he simply found it to painful.

He was my baby , he had so many little mannerisms, habits, and I miss every one of them.

Him, patrolling the garden every morning and last thing at night, before he would settle to sleep, me having to tell him 10 times to go out for his last toilet, and the disgusted look he would give me, as he walked past.

I miss the game of fetch, me throwing his ball, him going for it, and my pointless attempt for him to give it back.

I miss his back chats, his disobedience, his love . loyalty and most of all , beign able to put my arms aroudn his neck and tell him his mummy loves him........... and his look of disgust whilst I did it.

I miss you old man.

I understand completely I lost my meggy a year ago at the age of 5 after a year long battle with skin cancer. She was my first dog, I got at the age of 18 when i moved into my first home on my own. I enjoyed every single moment with her. Even being woken up at 3 in the morning thinking someone was breaking into my house when it was actually meg chewing the skirting boards

She was about 4 years old when i noticed a tiny pea sized lump on her leg, I took her into the vets and he said it was a fatty lump and at that moment it was no concern. i took her to the vets 3 times after that being told the same thing everytime.

anyway i had a holiday to cyprus booked and when i dropped meg off at my mums the lump was about the size of my little finger nail. About half way through my holiday my mum rang and said that she was going to take meg to the vets because the lum had grown considerably. I told her to take her to a different vet and to ring me.

She rang me after the visit to the vets and told me the new vet had booked her in for an op to remove the lump in two days time. I got a plane home the next day.

The lump had grown so much in so little time that they thought it was cancer and as a result of the last vet not listening to my fears and removing the lump the new vet could not cut away the 2cm margin of healthy tissue that he wanted to around the lump incase it was cancer and had spread.

A week later the results were back from the lump and it was skin cancer. I felt like my whole world had fell apart. I was told that there was a good chance that they had cut all the cancer out but was warned that that might not be the case.

6 weeks later she had a lump again in the exact same spot. Took her straight to the vets who did a biopsey and sent it off. He did say that it could just be scar tissue but a week late the call i had been dreading came and he tld me the cancer was back and that it had spread and that there was nothing more to do. He also said that when the time came for her that i would know, and i did.

She had helped me hand rear countless kittens and had always had good relationships with my cats untill the monday before she died and i came home to find one of my cats dead. There were no marks, no blood or anything and the vet couldnt find how she died.

The friday after i came home and found another one of my cats dead. I called the vet out and he confirmed my worst fears that she had been mauled. He checked all the dogs over (i had 4 at the time) and found that it was meg. The vet said it would be best to have her put to sleep and i had to agree.

I had other cats at the time including 4 hand rears that were 5 weeks old and harvey was only 4 months. The vet also said that she could turn on me also. I had her pts at home where she was surronded by everyone that loved her and the most heart breaking thing was she had a fit as the vet put her to sleep.

The vet took her because i wanted to find out if she had jst suddenly changed or if there was a reason to it and he confirmed that the cancer had spread and was in her brain and it was the kindest option to have her pts.

I still have her ashes and have pictures of her all over the house. I still miss her and still cry when i think about her. I miss the way she used to look at me when i spoke to her and the way she used to cuddle with me when i was upset. I will always miss and love her.

Run free my little meggy moose
xxx

So many heart-wrenching stories Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences, and perhaps it might even help to have a thread where we can remember and talk about them without the fear of boring everyone

That sounds like a good idea, im always remembering random things meg used to do and it would be nice to share

A lovely thread.

All I can say is I have this image in my head still of Ollie trying his best to walk normally. I cry at the slightest little thing even though I know what we did we had to do.

It brings back the memories of losing Max so young too and I hope one day soon my heart ache will ease a little. I am sure it will but just at this time it is as raw now as it was that day.

Big (((hugs))) to all.

just had a random memory of meg (told you it happens) of when i used to let her upstairs on a sunday morning for what i call 'the lie-in' cuddle. I used to hid under the quilt and call her really quietly and she used to dig at the quilt to be let in

Aww *hugs* to everyone - what a lovely thread Moobli.