Losing a pet.

[Deleted]

To many people, pets are like family members.

Really inconsiderate response. Pets are family members.

I've lost two dogs and a cat. I've also lost all my grandparents, a father and a mother. If I could choose which one of those to bring back, it wouldn't be the dogs or cat.

But hey, that's just me. Priorities, am I right?

[Total Crica]

Is the question "how do you know when a cat is suffering?" because it can't be cured for whatever reason and you want to know when is a good time to end it's life of suffering?

My personal experience with well cared for indoor house cats that have no social problems or brain problems is that they tend to hide if they are suffering from illness or pain.

I don't know if your little ball of fur fits those criteria, but, if it does and it starts to hide, then you can be fairly sure it is suffering. At that point, I would personally choose to end it's life if I was unable to cure it for whatever reason.

I am sorry in advance for your's and it's suffering. I hope you have others in your life that will be there for you during it all.

[Jaylock]

Sorry to hear that man.

At least your cat isn't a human, or someone really close to you like your family.

[ComputerNerd]

Until they lose one.

With the experiences some have with family, that does not apply in the way you think it does all the time.

I've lost two dogs and a cat. I've also lost all my grandparents, a father and a mother. If I could choose which one of those to bring back, it wouldn't be the dogs or cat.

But hey, that's just me. Priorities, am I right?

Just you, that is the point.
And you are right to have the opinion on who you would bring back.
But someone else isn't you, and they can and will sometimes feel differently.

[ovm33]

I had a 15 year old dog; got him as a puppy when I was about 11 years old. He had been diagnosed with heart failure and the vet said he had about a year left to live. About a month later I get home from work and my dog was waiting at the door. He was covered in diarrhea so I grab a towel and wrap him in it and start going to the tub to wash him off. It was then I noticed how labored his breathing was so I just held him and kept saying he was a good boy. He stopped breathing and jerked a couple of times while I held him. He was perfectly fine when I left for work, ate his breakfast, went outside and did his business, barked at some cats, etc...

I've never cried so hard in my life. I called my parents wailing. I'm not sure my Dad could even understand what I was saying. Sometime later my Dad and Mom showed up. I don't remember much, other than my Mom held me as I was weeping while my Dad buried my dog. I ended up calling off the next few days from work. They actually gave me bereavement pay. My boss said I sounded like shit on the phone and he understood.

What people say about pain, that it fades in time, is true. But there will be times that will bring the pain right back to the forefront. That was over ten years ago and I'm crying as I type this.

It didn't hit me right away but he waited until I got home... he died within five minutes of me getting there.

His name was Chan.

[crakerjack]

I put down my last dog once he wasn't able to do what he loved. He couldn't go on walks, wasn't eating and not even treats got his attention. It was clear he was trying to stay alive as long as he could. It's hard it really is and there's no time table on loss, even if its a pet. It hurts because you invest all that time and love. The easiest way I've overcome the loss of a pet is to simply replace them. When my last dog died I didn't bother with getting a new dog until a month or so passed by and I had gone through the necessary grieving stages.

[Crackleslap]

This is something that bothers me greatly. My first (and current) dog is almost 14 years old. i'm only 22 years old myself and had her since 4 weeks old. So She's been in my life for the majority of it. She's still very healthy and runs around like a wild chicken all the time. But I fret that day where's shes not. Don't know how I would deal with it.

[belfpala]

Sorry, this is heavy. I know...but isn't it great to see a post not about politics? LOL

I lost my cat somewhat recently. She'd been with me for more than half my life, as she was almost 20 years at the time. I still at times turn in bed expecting her to be there.

"When" I decided? She would sit in my hallway and not move. She'd eat or drink if I put the offerings in front of her. Otherwise her movements were confined to a few steps and then collapsing again. I should have decided "when" sooner, in hindsight.

[Tommy T]

I've lost two dogs and a cat. I've also lost all my grandparents, a father and a mother. If I could choose which one of those to bring back, it wouldn't be the dogs or cat.

But hey, that's just me. Priorities, am I right?

Are you not allowed to grieve for a pet without some fool coming in and making one up comparisons about passed away relatives?
I'm sure your parents would have been proud of what you've become. Baiting someone that is upset about a loss of life.

[Deleted]

I lost my dog in March. It was totally heartbreaking for me, she was my first dog that I begged to have when I was 11 and she was a great boon on my family's life and even helped my mum through cancer by coming to get me when she needed help. She was 13, lumps started appearing all over her body. We kept saying as long as she was eating and seemed happy and moving around it would be alright. Then she started struggling to eat and the lumps just got worse very rapidly so we knew then.

My cat is 17 and still going, her mum (owned by my mums friend whom we got her from) had to be put down last year. I'm dreading when I have to let her go, but I'm just trying to cherish the time while she's still here.


Sometimes, your pet lets you know. We did have another cat, and he basically went up to my mum meekly with a lowered head and was not himself and hadn't eaten for a while. Normally he would've fought you to even pick him up, he didn't when we wrapped him in a blanket and took him to the vets, like he was letting us.


So, it's hard, but the decision is always up to the owner. It's the fine line of your happiness vs your pets best interests. If your cat only has a couple weeks left, is she suffering all the time until the inevitable? It may be best to let her go now before she crosses that line.

[Yunru]

There is only 1 cure:

[mittacc]

My 16 year old cat got some liver issues last autum and I did all do treat him, special food, medicine etc. He was fairly normal, just slower because of age, until the very last couple of days when he literally stopped functioning. He meowed in pain when I tried to carry him to a more comfortable place. Don't let it go to that point. Do it before all his organs just fail and don't be fooled, it happens quickly.

[TheEaterofSouls]

My cat is over 15. He's missing most of his teeth, but other than that, he seems pretty healthy and active for his age. Hope i have him for a while longer

[Rotted]

I really have no goal as to posting this here other than to vent a bit of my pain into a community, some of which may understand. I've had my cat for 10 years and rescued her as a kitten (found her wandering my dorm common room). August 2016 I feel a lump on her belly and October 2017 and 4 surgeries later it's metastasized to lung cancer and I probably have less than 2 weeks left with her. I love her, I'm not ashamed to say it or that losing her is going to hurt immensely.

I've lost other pets - I'm 30, there's no way I hadn't in a pet-loving family - this is the first time I'll have to choose "when". How do you know? Have you had to let go of a loved pet? How did you know? How did you do it?

Sorry, this is heavy. I know...but isn't it great to see a post not about politics? LOL

We had four cats all within a few years of each other. Only have two left now one of which is approaching 20.

The two we lost I have to say have been the most horrendous pet deaths out of all the animals we've had.

The first one was quite a large cat and he lost his appetite over a week, we assumed it was a tumor or kidney failure as he was 16. When we had a blood test run he actually had blood cancer. In hindsight we should of let him sleep at that point, but we opted for paying the treatment. No recovery chance, but the treatment was a injection a day and within 2 days he got his appetite back and started acting normal again. However our vets was 25 minutes away and he hated the car, after the first 5 days I had to fight tooth and nail with the vets to let me administrate it at home because it wasn't fair. They relented in the end. We had him for another 5 weeks with no issues then one night he waddled into my folks bedroom at 8am in agony meowing constantly. So we took him straight in to be put down. Like I said, in hindsight that 5 weeks of pain free / normal life probably wasn't worth the few hours he spent in pain at the end.

The second one hit me harder as he was my cat. He was the first and therefor the oldest. I was at college living away from home, when I came back one day I noticed he was looking thin, regardless mum was feeding him 4 times a day and a cooked chicken breast daily, so we took him in. After a lot of running backwards and forwards and me being adamant it wasn't old age; It turned out the little shit had hypothyroidism - His metabolism went into over drive and was burning more calories than he could take in. The pills were expensive and again daily, but within 2 weeks he was back to his normal weight. He was on these tablets for three years. When I was in uni my old man called us to say he started losing weight again and the vet said it might be a put down job, the following day I arrived home with my partner; at the same time my old man got in as well after being out for the day. This cat literally over night when from looking thin to being a skeleton. He couldn't support his own weight, once he got to the litter tray he would just collapse in a heap while he did his business. Dad was mortified and guilt ridden, hes an animal lover and he swear 16 hours ago he was weak enough to justify a litter tray in the house, but he was walking around, jumping on the sofa puring etc. Anyways, we took him to be put down after that.

Like I said, most horrendous I've ever seen, what I've taken from these two and would impart on you, enjoy the time you have left. Treat her, spoil her. Is there anything she likes which shes not been given before? then let her have some. But if you get given a 2 week estimate seriously consider not running the 2 week course, let her go while shes happy and not on the verge of her body completely breaking down. As for how I did it? Or how you should do it? I hope I grabbed the wrong end of the stick, but with a injection at the vets, no other way is acceptable

[General Junos]

My very first pet was a dog named Rebecca. Got her as a pup from a nearby pound. I honestly can't remember how long we had her.. 15 years, maybe. She was getting on in age, but we could just tell something wasn't right. One day when I was at work (cashier at a grocery store), my dad comes in, comes right up to me and asks if I can leave early. Tears just start pouring out of my eyes 'cuz I knew what was up. I got home, and Rebecca was just lying on the floor. She hadn't been eating or drinking, was barely moving. We brought her to the vet, found out her organs were just slowly shutting down one by one (old age, thankfully, nothing more) and that it was time to put her to sleep because if she wasn't in pain, she would be soon. I remember bawling my eyes out when we went home without her. Fuck, I'm crying now. Damnit. >_<

Second (third, kinda', as second was considered my sister's) pet was a cat named Aya, Siamese-mix I picked out from a cat rescue 'cuz she had the bluest eyes I had EVER seen. She was a bit of a little shit (she -was- Siamese, afterall) but I loved her to pieces. I was in college when I got her, but when I graduated, I moved out of state, but didn't bring her. We had two cats at that time, and we all agreed separating them would have been mean. Not to mention, my mom didn't want to lose the cats, lol. Couple years ago, I get a phone call from my dad. Aya's got thyroid issues. They try different things, but it wasn't looking good. Maybe a week later, I get a call from my dad telling me they had to put her to sleep because she was in so much pain, wouldn't eat or drink or anything. I could not stop bawling my eyes out for days because I had felt SO HORRIBLE I hadn't been there with her. I originally planned on going back home to be with her, but IRL issues prevented it. I still feel bad to this day, because I could have done something to make sure I went back home to see her.

So, the second, the absolute second you know your pet is in pain, and there's nothing you can do, you do what's best for him. Like others have said, you know it as soon as it happens, even if you don't want to. It will be one of the hardest things in the world, but you never want your fluffers to suffer.

Excuse me while I go cuddle my cats...

[bmjclark]

Lost my golden retriever about 4 months ago now. She was 15 years old, I'd had her since I was 8. Literally couldn't remember a time without her.

She was extremely healthy for a dog her age. Extremely mobile still, always wanted to play, she'd run around and bite at me playfully whenever i tried to play with her. She just randomly 1 day decided she wouldn't eat anymore, got weak and she wouldn't even move after a day or 2. The vet didn't even think it was worth looking into what exactly was wrong, she just said she had to be put down. Took a day or 2, took her to the vet and had her put down. It was the hardest decision I've had to make even though she was definitely suffering and definitely not going to get any better, honestly even now it really hurts to think about. My dog was one of my vets first patients so the vet was pretty upset too, she let me stay with her for so long that she was starting to get worried that the drug they give them to make them go to sleep before they actually put them down was going to wear off.

It really sucks but you can't just let them suffer. If I hadn't of had my dog put down she would have pretty much laid in my living room until she starved to death, and that wouldn't have been fair to her.

[ravenswood]

With the experiences some have with family, that does not apply in the way you think it does all the time

Ok, but he said "many" people, not some. Yes some people have shitty families, nobody is going to try deny that.

[Worgar]

If losing a pet has you in shambles, imagine losing a family member or a loved one. You can probably look forward to that, too.

i think that really comes down to how much you like certain family members, i didn't care much when my grandma died and i probably give a shit when my brother dies as well(here's to hoping it's soon).

[Tasttey]

If losing a pet has you in shambles, imagine losing a family member or a loved one. You can probably look forward to that, too.

I have shed more tears for any one of the dogs I've lost in my lifetime than for every dead family member combined. People can be assholes but every dog is a good boy.

[Deleted]

I used to think that pets could not replace anything in life like children or a friend, but during my work for eldery people I have changed my opinion. Losing a pet can be more painful then losing relatives due to the fact that for those eldery people who live alone a pet is the last thing in their lives. I cannot vouch my experience without pulling in euthenesia for humans, because in my country we have rules for both human and animal.

It's a terrible thing to overcome a loss of a human being, but equally for a loved one like an animal or a stuffed doll for a child. It doesn't matter what it is if it means a lot to you. I wish you strength overcoming this pain, but sometimes a life is done when suffering to much. I try to think about all the positive things I've been through with all my elder cliënts before they pass away through euthenesia. Suffering isn't a life and you would be a terrible person if you would let someone suffer for so long just for your enjoyment. Think about the great things you've been through with your pet and keep this in your memory.

Through my past experiences I understood what it feels like for people to have a pet.