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Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,114
Registered: ‎08-21-2014

Took my girls to the vet today just for shots boosters and checkups. I sat in my Jeep and it was so sad and awful. I saw the van that picks up the pets for cremation. Then I saw 2 dogs that were obviously going in to say their last goodbyes. I was crying when the girls brought my pups out and I told them I don't know how they do it. I must have cried for an hour. The girls told me they've had so many of those today. 

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,824
Registered: ‎03-21-2010

It’s so sad when we have to say goodbye ... no matter how many times we go through it, it never gets easier... the only thing we should consider is that they have no idea what is going to happen🌹

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,613
Registered: ‎03-19-2016

@Lali1   In July I was took my 16 year old Jack Russell to the vet because he couldn't stand long. He had a bad back and wasn't eating enough. 
  They come to your car while the pet is examined also.

I knew he was really bad when my friend pulled in next to me. 
  I told her he probably will have to be put down and I can't be with him.

  She was in tears as she pointed to the back seat. Her 15 year old small service dog was sleeping. She was waiting for medicine. 
  After more tests and talking to two vets my Krypto wasn't going to get better. My vet said he could euthanized him and I could go inside to be with him. 
  I had to wait until they prepared him.  He was lying in a dark room and as I talked to him he passed peacefully. 
  He was cremated and they called several days later for me to pick him up. That was hard!  As the tech handed me his ashes she told me she wished she could hug me. We both cried. 
  On the way home I drove by the creek and did tai che and threw a penny in the water to let his spirit fly to the rainbow bridge. 
  Then I went home and hugged Snickers and cried as I placed Krypto's ashes they put in a carved wooden box near his photograph. He will be buried with me. 
  It was hard a few weeks later taking Snickers to get a shot. I waited and the vet came out. I thought "oh, no not again!" He said she had an ear infection and he needed to put drops in. I told him certainly and caught my breath. 
  Leaving our animals is very hard, not being with them. It's hard on the vets and staff also. But we all do our best for them. It's mostly happy, but often sad. 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 14,319
Registered: ‎03-16-2010

I sometimes wonder if it’s better not to have a beloved pet knowing the heartache you will go through when the time comes to say goodbye, or to have that pet for as long as possible and get the love and joy they give you? Is it better to have loved and loss, or to have never loved at all?

Honored Contributor
Posts: 13,912
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

It is never easy, whether it's your baby or someone else's. I have cried many tears, and so has DH. Years and years ago my late brother wanted to be a veterinarian. When he was 16 he got a job for the summer at the SPCA. One of his duties was holding the pets who usually had nothing wrong with them. After that summer he changed his mind, saying he could never handle that part of it.

 

@1Snickers - I'm glad you got to be with your sweet Krypto. (((HUGS)))

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 6,364
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

@Jordan2 wrote:

I sometimes wonder if it’s better not to have a beloved pet knowing the heartache you will go through when the time comes to say goodbye, or to have that pet for as long as possible and get the love and joy they give you? Is it better to have loved and loss, or to have never loved at all?


@Jordan2 

 

Always better to have the love they give you and the love you give them back. Grief is the other side of love; it is the price we pay for having them, but a price I'd pay a million times over to experience such joy--and, later, the wonderful memories of that joy.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 13,912
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

@Jordan2 wrote:

I sometimes wonder if it’s better not to have a beloved pet knowing the heartache you will go through when the time comes to say goodbye, or to have that pet for as long as possible and get the love and joy they give you? Is it better to have loved and loss, or to have never loved at all?


@Jordan2 - DH says this is why people don't have pets.

I can't imagine not having a pet. We got an older kitten as a wedding present! I can't even begin to describe the love and happiness they bring to our lives! 

 

 

I personally think it's very important to be there at the end. In the years DH has been a veterinarian, when I talk to anyone who is debating whether or not to be in the room, this is what I say: your pet will go to sleep seeing you, smelling you, feeling your touch, and hearing your voice. I have little patience for people who don't want to be there, unless they just can't handle it at all. But I always feel sorry for their pets. I personally have been crushed, saying goodbye to one of our babies when I was 9 months pregnant. DH's friend was with us, and he gave the shot, which was easier on DH, who held our beloved 18 year-old in his arms. I was sobbing loudly. But my heartbreak diminished when I thought that he KNEW we were both there. 

 

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Honored Contributor
Posts: 16,837
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

I am so glad that we can go into the Vet's office with our pets now.  Ava is still nervous around other people, and I don't know how she'd handle it if I wasn't with her.  

 

It was horrible not being able to go in when Frankie was so sick.  I had to take her to the Vet several times, the ER and finally the Vet School for her brain tumor diagnosis.  I will always be grateful for the Vet at the Vet school who brought Frankie outside to a quiet place with a bench to put Frankie to sleep.  I couldn't have stood it if I couldn't be with her.

 

It is always better to have had the love of a pet even when you have to let them go.  I can't imagine life without a pet.


The Bluebird Carries The Sky On His Back"
-Henry David Thoreau





Honored Contributor
Posts: 14,319
Registered: ‎03-16-2010

@beach-mom wrote:

@Jordan2 wrote:

I sometimes wonder if it’s better not to have a beloved pet knowing the heartache you will go through when the time comes to say goodbye, or to have that pet for as long as possible and get the love and joy they give you? Is it better to have loved and loss, or to have never loved at all?


@Jordan2 - DH says this is why people don't have pets.

I can't imagine not having a pet. We got an older kitten as a wedding present! I can't even begin to describe the love and happiness they bring to our lives! 

 

 

I personally think it's very important to be there at the end. In the years DH has been a veterinarian, when I talk to anyone who is debating whether or not to be in the room, this is what I say: your pet will go to sleep seeing you, smelling you, feeling your touch, and hearing your voice. I have little patience for people who don't want to be there, unless they just can't handle it at all. But I always feel sorry for their pets. I personally have been crushed, saying goodbye to one of our babies when I was 9 months pregnant. DH's friend was with us, and he gave the shot, which was easier on DH, who held our beloved 18 year-old in his arms. I was sobbing loudly. But my heartbreak diminished when I thought that he KNEW we were both there. 

 


I have only had two dogs in my life, one when I was young another when I was in my twenties. One dog lived to be 16 and the other 14. They were what my mother called educated mutts. When the first dog was going to be euthanized ( he must have had a stroke, he couldn’t stand and lost control of his bladder), I couldn’t handle it, my mother and brother took him to the vet and stayed with him til the end. In those days maybe cremation wasn’t that popular, it was never brought up to us, I regret I don’t have him with me. My other dog Casey was cremated, he is in a pretty container and sits on a table with his picture next to him.

Valued Contributor
Posts: 559
Registered: ‎05-19-2014

What's hard for me right now is that I cannot afford to take my cats to the vet.  My oldest one doesn't really need to go but my younger one, Sal, should really go in. I suspect he either had diabetes or a thyroid problem because he drinks just tons of water. But he always has. I did mention this the last time I was able to take him in and they ran tests (except for diabetes!) and nothing was really wrong. In this small town there is only one vet clinic and they are extraordinarily expensive. You can't get out of there for under $100 (that's for OV and shots)  and I know with tests I would be looking at $200 or more. I know that by not taking him I could be shortening his life but I just can't afford it.