A little more than six years ago, as a birthday present to my wife who was depressed about not getting pregnant after a year of trying, I bought her a beagle puppy. We named him Mickey (for Mickey Mantle), and our older beagle, Ollie, just loved him. Aside from being a pain-in-the-ass with seperation anxiety issues causing him to pee in the house when we weren't there, he was the sweetest dog. The gift to my wife actually ended up taking to me--- he even slept at my feet under the covers every night. Last week, Mickey started throwing up blood. One blood transfusion and six-hundred dollars later, we visited him at the vet today. He was so happy to see us, & his tail went like crazy. He'd stand for a minute, & then have to lie down. At 5:00 tonight, the vet called and said the transfusion didn't help, and we should put him to sleep. We dropped the kids off at my parents' house (after calming down my 5-yr old son) & went to the doctors to put him down.
Last year around Thanksgiving I had to have my cat put to sleep. His bladder ruptured and the only way that he could possibly live was a surgery that cost $1,000.00 and he'd have to go back bi-weekly for maintenance on the surgery. The vet said that even in that case he would have a low quality of life. I lost my favorite cat ever and he was only 11 - I still haven't gotten a new pet yet.
I'm sorry for your loss...
Please get your pets high end pet foods if you can afford to get them such. It will probably save you and your pet some pain and many medical bills later on. My vet told me that the "name brand" pet food was probably to blame because they cause infection and blockage.
Not to paraphrase Bill Clinton, but I feel your pain, Chris. Our 6 1/2 year old Alaskan Malamut / Siberian Husky, Shadow, was put down on New Year's Eve after a 6 month battle with Lymphoma. It was a sad sad day for the entire family, and my mom is still not quite over it, mentioning him everytime that we speak. I am just glad that his suffering is over, and that the short six years that he had with us were wonderful and the best life we could have provided for him.
Time will heal your and your families wounds, and you might find some solace in the fact that he will live on forver in your heart and mind. My sincere condolences.
This message has been edited by rdemarco on Apr 5, 2004 9:45 PM
I am so sorry. Just rest assured that you gave him the best love that you could and that you made his life as wonderful as he made yours.
We took my puppy-boy to the vet today and had two tumors removed. One was the size of my wife's fist, but the doc thinks the pathology will come back OK. Hope she's right.
I am bleary eyed at your loss, so I can't imagine how you feel.
I was exceptionally blessed with my first dog. We got her when I was in grade school; she was a little mixed-breed that we gave the simple name of Curly. She was a wonderfully friendly dog, and was such an integral part of our family that we took her on every family vacation. None of us could stand the thought of boarding her!
I was 26 years old when my parents called to tell me they'd had to have her put to sleep. She was 18 years old!
I just had to tell my son that his dog, Dallas, has Lymphoscarcoma (sp?). Now we're waiting for the appointment with an oncologist to find out about therapy for her. He asks me if she will be okay or if shes die... and I have no answer.
I lost my Black Lab by the name of Bluto to Lymphoma as well. Toughest son of a bitch I ever had and the most loving. He wouldn't give in to the cancer until one day he could not stand. I had to carry him to the car (80 lbs) and into the Vet's office. I stayed with him while the Vet was going put him down. As the Vet was about to inject him, with the last little of his strength Bluto got up and went for a walk around the Vet's office. Stunned, I followed him around the office, when he had said goodbye to everybody in the office he returned to the Vet, layed down and went willingly. I hope I'm as strong when it's my time.
My condolences, Chris. Losing a pet under any circumstances is not a good feeling.
My wife volunteers one day a week at the local ferret shelter here in the Chicago area (Lyons to be exact). Of course, she fell in love with some of them, a group of 3 to be exact. The one "problem" was that one of them (Mugsey) was dying of cancer and adrenal disease. We accepted him knowing he only had, at best, a few weeks to live, but also knowing his 2 cagemates (Mr. Bobbers and Lee) would continue to have a home with us regardless. As it turned out, he lived 6 months after coming into our home. The night he died, my wife held him all night long knowing the end was near. He eventually died in her arms, but knowing he was loved.
I know what your family is going through. My cat, Emerald, was diagnosed with cancer a month ago. I had raised her since she was six weeks old. I can still remember her nursing on my earlobe on the ride home. Anyway, we spent over a thousand dollars and extra on chemo drugs. She got much better for a week. Then she stopped eating and responding to treatment. She died a week later, one week short of her tenth birthday. My wife and I still see her in unguarded moments roaming the house. I am sorry for your loss.
Chris...
Please accept my sympathies. My Beagle, Ajax, is in the next room. I've had him since December and if anything were to happen to him it would absolutely kill me. I remember how much it hurt to put my Lab to sleep when I was in college. I grew up with her, which is something every kid should get to do.
When my wife and I were still dating, the dalmation she got when she was 13 died. She was inconsolable, and I wanted nothing more than to help her make the pain go away. Unfortunately, due to my mother's severe allergy to pet dander, I had never raised an animal other than a fish. I had also never experienced the loss of a close loved one in my life either. In most cases, this would be a blessing. In this one, however, it prevented me from helping the love of my life cope with a tragic loss.
So, since I had no idea what to say to her, I turned to someone who did know. During Next Men, JB had written a beautiful column about a cat of his that had died. I remembered reading it, and despite not being a pet owner at the time, being incredibly moved. I gave it to my girlfriend to read, and she broke down in tears. "This guy gets it" was all she could say.
So, Chris, I'm very sorry for your loss. If you have that particular issue of Next Men, read that column. It might help you through this, too.
And, JB, belated thanks for helping me make the woman of my dreams feel better.
I almost didn't post a reply, because my login name is ''fatbeagle''.I chose that name as tribute to the dog I had in childhood(and i needed a name for my email address).Let's just say, if Superman was made of ham,then God would have made sure Lex Luthor was a beagle.I rememer how insulted I was, when I read that the beagle was ranked as the tenth dumbest breed of dog.I then realised, that the passing years had clouded my memories,so that even my dog's faults were remembered fondly.I always smile when I see them using beagles, at airports, to sniff out illeagly imported meats.
Thank you all for the kind words and your own stories. We're still waiting to hear the autopsy results (the vet wanted to know why he died), and I've dug a grave in my back yard. I'm hoping we can still bury him today, but I need to go teach lessons in a few hours, so I'm not terribly optimistic about it.
Sorry about your loss. I understand how you feel. I cried when I read your post tonight. It was back in April 1993 when my family had to put my cat Smokey to sleep. I grew up with that cat. He had cancer. My father said he was almost 22 years old so he lived a very happy life with me and my family.
We also had a few dogs (Bonnie, Emma and Trixie) over the many years. I still miss them very much. Trixie passed away back in July 2000 all of a sudden. It was a total shock to all of us.
I've got my parents-in-law's beagle Chloe sleeping next to me on a futon. We're watching her until tomorrow evening. Chloe is a part of our family as well as my wife's parents' family, and I don't know what we'd do if we lost her.
Our next place we move into will have to allow pets, because we're getting a female beagle puppy of our own.
Well, Mickey had some sort of undetectable anti-immune disorder, & had been bleeding internally for a while, including around his heart. I was able to bury him today, and in the next few weeks, will finish his grave with a stone border, some mulch, and some flowers all over. We'll be putting a little sign in there & calling it "Mickey's Garden" or something like that. My son, Nicholas, "helped" me dig the grave, & I guess he's doing OK. Now I'm just worried about my 13-yr old beagle, Ollie. He smelled Mickey in the box I brought him home in, & then saw him when we opend the bag up & wrapped him in a blanket. Now he seems depressed. I've read that we just need to play with him more, & he, too, will recover.
Thank you to everyone for your stories. If anyone else has any to share, please continue.
Chris
You have my deepest sympathies. I certainly understand the love that you speak of. I went through a similar experience with my cat Petey. And I never want to go through that again. I hope that your grief is repleaced with good memories.
Pets do grieve, so Ollie will likely be out of sorts for a while. They grieve for lost masters and for lost brothers and sisters, but they eventually go on like the rest of us. Glad you are making such a nice resting place for Mickey.
This message has been edited by greg_cordier on Apr 6, 2004 11:50 PM
Chris....my condolances to you. As I type this, my cat Boo is sitting on my lap, as she sometimes thinks she is a dog. We have had her for about seven years now, a gift from my daughter, who at the time was living in Key West. She was working in a gift shop, and a cat had gotten into the attic space and had a litter. A ceiling tile gave way and the kittens fell through. Connie brought Boo to us on her next trip here to VA.
Simply put....Boo is family. She knows the sound of my car and greets me at the door when I come home from work, knows when I'm making a turkey sandwich (and begs for turkey), sleeps UNDER the covers in the bed with my wife and I, and I swear she can talk. And to this day, she will sit on my lap, find a fold of material on my shirt and "nurse" on it. I'm a softie when it comes to pets. I get sad when I see a cat or dog that has been hit on the side of the road, and I find it hard to watch Emergency Vets on Animal Planet, as it is difficult for me to see people told that their pet is gone. I hate to think about the day that Boo is gone, and I can only imagine how you must feel. My best to you and your family.
