Yes that is what I did today, lost a friend, a companion, we lost someone who was very much considered a member of the family.
In this case it would be the furry four legged kind.
In other words this morning before I had to go to University we had to put our dog to sleep.

Everything has happened very fast but at the same time it feels like last week went on forever when he was sick.

He got sick last weekend, no warning signs, just out of the blue. My dad was walking in the forest with him when he just lost his balance and fell suddenly. When he got up again he was dragging his left rear leg behind him, it was not working at all, completely paralyzed.
Obviously he was rushed to the animals hospital once they got home again, and then they kept him in there for several days. The condition was very serious, and I can't really explain in english what it is....language barrier...
It has to do with the spine and such.
It's quite rare, and there's no explanation or specific reason as to why it happens, it just does. Bad luck e.t.c.

We pretty much decided to put him to sleep last week since he wasn't responding to medication. But then one of the vets convinced us that we should give him more time, try acupuncture and then bring him home over the weekend. So we did that, but over the weekend he wasn't getting better, well in one way he was, he learnt to move around on three legs with great speed, and his mood was his usual old self, since he was in no pain he didn't feel anything, since it was paralyzed and all.
The leg however did not improve anything at all, and over the weekend he also started to leak, meaning he couldn't control his bladder, he didn't feel it even. This showed that there was obviously more damage to the nerves than the vets originally thought.

So today there was not much else to do than to put him to sleep.

It was really tough considering his mind and spirit was as it always is, his usually happy self.
And he wasn't old either just recently turned 6 years old...
It's weird, when I worked at the animals hospital I saw so many animals getting put to sleep and all that....but still...it's something one does not get used to. And especially not when it's your own pet, that is very different. It's done so fast, just like that all the life that is in your animal when you bring it in there just disappears and you're left standing there with nothing but "the shell" left.

So these past few days have been some quite rough days...having him at home did not exactly make things any easier, having him look at you as usual with those big brown eyes, and you know what needs to be done the day after, what has to be done...it's like everything you do with him, you know is the last time you do this and that...horrible.

Loss in general is probably one of the toughest things we have to face, whether it's a relative, friend, beloved pet, and so on. As long as it's someone we love it's going to hurt so bad, and you'll just feel completely empty, drained...
I don't know, for me it also makes me feel scared, what the next bad thing waiting around the corner will be... Since I've experienced before that certain years get almost jinxed once bad stuff start happening. For instance, the year 2004 was a dreadful horrible year for me.
And I sure wonder how this one will turn out. Some of the things that happened already is that a close relative of mine got diagnosed with cancer which can't be treated, I pretty much lost two close friends, and here is yet again a loss...
Maybe it's superstitious to just wait for the next bad thing which will show itself, and one should definitely not think like that, even though it's hard not to at times.
Well it's a good thing we can't know ahead of time what will happen to us...thank god one can't see the future.

I guess it's important to try and live for the moment and not try to predict that bad things will happen, when they do happen they will anyway and we'll just have to try and learn what we can from it and deal with it.
I do believe that everything happens to us for a reason, reasons we won't be able to see or understand for years maybe...or maybe we never will. Still it's easy to say this, but it's not always as easy to understand why life puts us through some seemingly cruel things, why we have to be robbed of those closest to us. It seems very unfair at times...
But I suppose one just needs to learn to be able to pick up the pieces and try to move on.

Well this post turned out to be quite long, I'll just finish it up now with putting up a few pics of the little guy (well he was not so little) who was the reason I even started writing this post today...

Omg, that's so sad to hear I'm really sorry to hear that. To loose a such close friend and one you love that much is horrible. A dog can come so close to the family that loosing it like loosing a very close friend. I can't imagine how you feel and that's such sad news.

I had a cat once that we had for like, many years, and he died of an illness. I even went to the veterianry when he died there. It was so sad I didn't know what I was going to do. Many days after. I thought and thought about him and couldn’t stop. Even at school I got problems and I had to go home because I didn’t think of other things.
But that past away when I got a new cat. And THAT was a wonderful cat. We had him for ages and he became one of my best friends. He was one good cat. But then one day, he just disappeard. And he didn’t come back. That was a really hard time for me, and I thought that I never could get a cat like that again. But now I’m sitting with my new cat and he's wonderful, but of course nothing like my old one.

Again I’m really sorry to hear that! To loose a dog is just terrible So I’m really sorry. Let him rest in peace

I'm really sorry to hear this Angie..
I don't have a pet myself, but I can imagine to lose someone you hold very dear to your life. It saddens even more that he was actually in a right state with his mind, but I guess this was for the better right?

All I can say is that you shouldn't let yourself down on these bad things. They are bad yes, but being afraid of all bad things, I think it'll just worsen things up.
So please, hang in there and may we hope to see your beloved dog is walking up in heaven.
Good luck..

That's horrible. I feel your pain. It's an awful feeling to have to do something like that, even when you know it's for the best.

We had to put our dog down a couple years ago, because she was begining to go mad. She was almost blind & almost attacked my oldest son, whom was the one who loved her most, I think. I still have a scar on my hand, from that night, as she came after me when I tried to distract her from my then 4 year old son.

I'll miss her forever, she was a wonderful dog.

Sorry to hear about that
I'm not much for words, but try to keep on the positive side of things.

and good luck with getting through this

Aww, I'm so sorry to hear that Angie. I would tell about my cats too, but it seems like Cec already did that. But I lost my hamster two days ago though. She was sick, and I only had her for about 5 months, which is a very short while. But then again, losing a hamster isn't as sad as losing a dog, as dogs are very loyal creatures, and can be one's best friend. I never had a dog myself, but I was really sad when my grandparent's dog died as I loved him almost as much as I love my cat.

I hope you will get over him. I know it's hard, and telling you to get a new dog won't really help as I know it wouldn't be the same.
I hope everything works out in the end, and I wish you luck with what you're dealing with at this stage. It's hard, I know..

A German Shepherd? We've had them too, and I know what it's like to have one put down. She was blind and deaf, and was getting very slow and always slept. She was old too, but we figured it would be best to let her go.

I'm really sorry about it. I've never really heard something like that to a dog... though putting him to sleep was the best thing to do. It's really painful when you lose such a loyal companion...

sorry to hear about that
i know how ya feel ive lost 2 dogs
but your dog is very cute and my 1st dog looked the same as yours

Aw im really sorry to hear that...
I know that you are feeling so bad...I have a dog too!And i really understand you when you say that he is like a family member...I just wish you luck to get through this...

oh, thats bad
im so sorry about that
i know how you feel.
i have also got the dog, but she is still little...
i cannot imagine that i would lost her.

Sorry to hear about this. I know how it is to lose a pet. I myself lost two cats back when I was in Serbia and a few months ago my sister's hamster also died. She was really sad about it and well the fact that she was depressed also had an effect on me that day as well.

I hope that you will get through this. I know it is very hard, but one has to find the inner strength to mannage through such difficult times.

Take care Angie.

What a cute dog...
I'm really sorry Angie.
I don't know how's it like loosing a dog, coz I don't have one, but I can understand how you can use to him.That's because once I was at my grandparents for about one month. They have a dog.For one month that dog looked like a best friend to me, and I didn't want to leave my grandparent's house... What about years?... He can really become a family member, and I can understand that... But what are you gonna do...? This is life... I'm not such good with words... All I can say is that I'm really really sorry but you have to pass it. I'm not saying that it's easy , but... ...(I don't have words )As other members said, that's such a sad thing, but you have to get through this...

ow my, that's so terrible
to see the pup so small, it gave me tears in my eyes...

i never had a dog, but i had 3 cats which i lost, and i had 2 mice.. al are gone...

our first cat died when i was 6 and my sister was 9, she got hit by a car and survived, but the only thing she could do was breathe, and it went very troublesome.. when the doctor came, it was already to late. my 2 other cats ran away,and the first mice i had, he had also some kind of illnes, he died the day before my birthday... was one of my saddest birthdays of my life,

i lost one of my best friends two years ago, he suffered from cancer, first it seemed like he was going to make it, making jokes with the hospital staff, always optimistic,lance armstrong was a great inspiration for him. he was almost alowed to breathe on it's own again, and then all of a sudden, all over...
still there is no day that i dont think about him...

the strange thing was that when i went to school today i was thinking about making some sortlike topic to talk about your losses, it's strange how everythings connected..

it is sad to lose some one you hold dear, but dont always think about the bad times, but also rember the good times you have had,

good luck angelina...

Thanks everyone, yes I would be lying if I said I was doing good.
Trying to focus on other things, but it's very tough. Right now I'm just very tired, upset, drained, have a headache....and so on.

Hoping things might feel a little better tomorrow if I manage to get some decent sleep...

I've been up since 6 am this morning so, I don't know what weird batteries I'm currently running on.

Been a long and straining day for sure, to make matters worse this was a day I just could not miss University. So straight after putting him to sleep, we had to rush him into the car and then I had to go straight to Uni where I was supposed to have a leading role in a project, well it's a show we're doing for kids, so today we had two performances, had a whole bunch of kids there in different ages to watch and take part in it.

Can't say I was in good shape at all going there straight after the event with our dog, so it took all my energy doing my best to put on a brave face acting as if everything was fine in front of those kids. Well I got through it at least.

*Sigh*, we have several pets in the house, but still it's so painfully evident that one is missing....they're all such individuals and they all have their special position to fill...in the house and in our hearts.

I'm sorry what you have go through Angie with your dog. Pets like that are like members of your own family. They are your family ,and it is painful loosing them. It hurts just like a family member that has just died.

I have suffered that lost myself too. I will tell you all about it ,because it is painful remembering it sometimes ,but I know that he is probably in a better place.


It happened about 7-9 years ago. You can tell my cat back then was getting older. You can tell he didn't have much longer left to live.

One evening I saw my cat in my backyard of my old house. He was walking away from the house ,and me and my mom tried calling him back to come. He didn't listen to us. I belive that he was preparing to die. It was getting dark when it happened.

I had that cat for about 5 years I belive before he died. What hurts is also that we didn't take any pics of him I belive. I wish no that me or my parents would have took a picture of him if there are any ,but it is too late.

Oh well, I currently have 3 cats. They are healthy to my knowledge.

Iâ´m not really good at those things, but well...

Iâ´m really sorry to hear that. It is very sad to loose such a good friend.

Sry to hear that. I know how it feels too. I lost my dog last year, he had epilepcy and I decided to put him down because he had over 20 seizures one day. He was a saint bernard and a really great dog, I miss him a lot. Losing a dog is definitley like losing a family member. Sry again Angelina.

I lost a dog of mine about 4 and a half years ago. For 2 years we could not replace her. It was just too sad. And I gotta say, our new dog sure isn't as good as our old one. I still love our new dog to death but she can't replace the one I once had.

I can't tell you to not worry too much about it and hopefully it will get better, because it doesn't work like that. And knowing first hand that it doesn't.

But I feel for your loss and hope that all goes well.

I'm sorry to hear that as well. But I'm sure he'll live on in your memories. Remember the good times you had together.

Oh Angie! You made me cry. I also had a german shepherd that we had to put down when he was just 6. Kidney problems with our guy. He was my first dog, and although this was well over 5 years ago, we've not gotten another one since.
I still remember my first pet rat. And my second. And all my little meeses before them. Cried over every one of them. I have 2 ratties now, but it took me a good while to get another pet after i lost one. Each one is so different, and that's one of the things we love about them.
It seems, Angie my friend, that life hasn't been easy for you of late. I could say 'be positive', but i know how hard that can be.
I wish you all the strength you need to get through these difficult times.