Just put one of our dogs to sleep tonight

Angel, 13 years old... miss her incredibly. She was so healthy and deteriorated so quickly. It feels wrong even calling her a dog... she was/is a part of the family, just like anyone else. In fact, even better than any people I know.

 

Came home from China to be with her. I just didn't expect her health to deteriorate so much. I got so much stuff ready for her to make it easier for her at home, carpets over all the floors, carpets outside in the drive way, tons of harnesses and things to help her walking, beds, pillows, had custom boots made to prevent her dragging her paw on the concrete... even just a few hours ago I was looking at what we could buy her to make her more comfortable. I was prepared to spend anything for as much quality time as I could give her. It wasn't even just for me and the family, but because I honestly thought she would want to be around and with us as long as she could. She was so gentle and loving, and loyal. Even with the pain she was in lately and her lack of mobility, her eyes were just so alive every time she lifted her head and looked at us.

 

2 days ago we took her on her last trip. She got weaker and wasn't able to do much, so we didn't go far. She loved riding in the car though. She was so peaceful and comfortable in it. Riding in the car was better to her than even where she was going. We spent most of the time just driving. 2 days ago I brought her to the beach on Lake Michigan where we just laid in the breeze. It was a beautiful day. We fed her all her favorite food (pizza, hamburgers.)

 

She had a ruptured disc in her back that was preventing her from using one of her hind legs. Was going to have surgery tomorrow. Two weeks ago her vitals were good, all her blood work was good, she was healthy except for the back problem. In the last few days she couldn't walk much, was breathing hard, and only just yesterday stopped eating... I thought it was just the ruptured disc pressing on her spine causing all of it and all the medication she was on. We took her to emergency today because she seemed worse. She needed an ultrasound before the surgery, and we wanted they to see if they could keep her on a pain IV to help until tomorrow.

 

Her heart started to fail just a couple hours ago. We raced over to the hospital and held and pet and kissed her and held her as she died. We were the last thing she saw and felt.

 

I think the others will miss her. I feel bad for them too. One of them, Pipsqueak, had such a bond with her. In the car, Pip would lay onto of her (sometimes even her head,) and Angel would just sleep soundly. This morning, Pip laid her head on Angel's chest, and just kept it there, moving it up and down with her expanding lungs. She will miss her, I know it.

 

Even with 3 other dogs at home, and even though she was always very quiet, it just feels so quiet now. That something crucial is missing. I love all of them, but she was so unique. She was nothing like them, nothing like any dog. We adopted her when she was 1. She had probabky been abused. For years she was afraid of everything and cautious of everyone (she was still cautious of everyone,) but she responded to me and my mom. Only us. She was ours and looked to us for security and to protect us. She was only ours. She was so innocent of everything.

 

I am heart broken over this. I know it will get better (I've done this before 10 years ago,) and even though you always know that they can only live so long, you can't prepare yourself for it. It's just never long enough and they are never replaceable.

 

Angel, age 12, January 7, 2011

 

Sorry for your loss.

RIP Angel

 

Losing a pet is never easy, especially when you have a bond as close as the one you described. Always hard when it all happens so quick as well. Thoughts go out to you

I know how you feel. I have a Lab that will most likely not make it through the week. She has serious

kidney issues. She has been the best dog and is a big part of my family. I am spending as much

time with her as I can knowing her time is limited. I wish you the best in this very difficult time.

You are right our dogs are never replaceable but the time they spent with us will always live

on in our hearts and our memory and that will last forever!!!!

Incredibly sad, sorry for your loss. My dog, axle, passed a few years ago and sometimes I still see him running up the back porch after I get home. The last thing he saw was me crying my eyes out giving him all the love I had. My lab was never the same after his death.

Sorry to hear that.

I'm sorry for your loss Brian

sad

Sucks. Sorry for your loss.

Sorry for your loss. She was one very lucky dog to be loved so well.

Sorry for your loss

Sorry for your loss. Angel was lucky to have a person who cared so much about her, and since she was a rescue, I'm sure she knew it.

RIP

 

It sounds like you gave her the best home she could have ever hoped for for all those years that she was with you.

Brian, it is horrible, I went throught this 2 weeks ago when I put down my brother in laws dog Shelby. I am so sorry.

I have six dogs - Just realised all 6 will eventually pass away.

 

Shit.

 

Bad news - sorry Brian.

I hate these f.ucking threads

 

 

Sorry for your loss.

My deepest condolences, it's a hard decision and a terrible time to lose a loved pet. We recently had to put our 16 year old cat down, and it's a massive shift in our lives.

Very sorry Brian, I remember you saying in my thread that Angel was not doing well. I am very sorry and familiar with your loss. You are correct, it is hard calling them a "dog" because they are such a part of the family and you feel horrible not being able to do everything for them, But in the end it is better for them to not be in pain and suffering any more.

 

My thoughts are with you and your family.

 

Really sorry about your loss.

Thank you, everyone. Has been a hard week, and especially hard last couple days. Miss her so much right now, waking up without her. Having a hard time letting her collar and blanket out of my hand -- they both still have her scent. Losing someone who was always unconditional in love, completely innocent, and with whom I spent half my life and probably had around me more often than even my closest family.

 

The experience has done something good for me though, i think... i hope. Before it happened and when I told my mom that I wanted to do the surgery, she told me to think about how many other dogs I could help at the shelter with all the costs of these medical bills that might not help. The next morning I donated a large amount to the local shelter to make good on that, and also in hope of buying a little luck for Angel in surgery. She didn't make it to the surgery. I think I spent almost $15K on her in the past few weeks trying everything I could to help her and make her life better and longer, trying to make the most of the time I had left. I honestly thought that I was going to be able to buy more time with her than might have otherwise been the case if I was less fortunate, and buy better time too.

 

It really drove home the point that I've squandered the most important thing in life -- time, time with her. These last days were priceless to me and I would spend anything and everything for what I could have had for free during the days where I was just sitting around not doing much of anything at all. I took her to the beach and laid with her in her final days, when I could have been running with her on the beach just 1 month earlier. I think I'll always regret not doing all the things that I now desperately want to and wish I could, and fortunately my mom filled in for me those times, but I suppose now I'll get the chance to fix those mistakes going forward.

 

 

Truly sorrowful.

There is always good that comes from every situation. Even this one.

 

Your donation to the shelter will help so many animals that desperately need it. That was a wonderful thing to do. Very generous.

 

Good for you for finding the positive in this sad situation, and for acknowledging that our time is a precious, finite resource, and we should choose carefully how we spend it.