How many of you have lost your best friend?

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winchester73

Joined
Jan 6, 2008
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I lost my boxer best buddy about five weeks ago to mast cell cancer. it started on his face and the vet thought it was an animal bite. When it didn't go away, he wanted to do surgery. The report came back after surgery as a fast growing mast cell tumor. The vet said he would have 3 weeks to 3 months to live. He loved to walk and I walked him every day two and three times a day. He seemed fine Aug. the 4th as I walked him that morning. My wife played ball with him around 5:30 and as I was getting ready to walking him around 8:00, he went down throwing up water. We took him to emergency vet care and the on call vet wanted to keep him overnite to rehydrate him. When we went to the vets office the next morning, the tumor had come back on his face seemingly overnite and very large. In addition. the vet showed us the x-ray where the tumor from his face had spread to his stomach and was large. I had to play god which I didn't want to do and put him down as he was in so much pain. I had hoped when the time came he would pass at home in the surroundings he knew best but at least my wife and I were with him and I think he knew it. The doctor never moved him from the xray table as it hurt him so bad. It was terrible top see the shape he was in. He was in so much pain he only wagged his tail a little when we walked in; otherwise, no response. As odd as this may sound he was in good shape for his age.other than the cancer. He was 11 but had no arthritis.

After 5 weeks, I still long to see my buddy in all his old spots and for our walks together. I raised him from a pup. Farewell Nick my old buddy.
 
I lost my wife to divorce and she was my best friend. Took me years to get over that.

Sorry to hear about loosing your pet. I know how it feels to loose a pet that is an old buddy. Making that ultimate decision is really tough even when you know it is the right thing to do.
 
Sorry for your loss. You may be familiar with the poem the Rainbow Bridge. I read it every time I lose one of my best friends. Over the years that has been too many. It always brings tears to my eyes but also gives me comfort. They better have big couches in Heaven!

"When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.
All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.
You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together.... "
 
boxers are great dogs , we have had 2 . They are prone to cancer tumors , our 1st lived to be 12 he died of a tumor in his chest that we did not even know was there .
 
Thanks Shann. I had heard of the poem but never read it. Nick was my first dog since childhood. He was like Marmaduke but we miss him terribly.
 
winchester73 said:
Thanks Shann. I had heard of the poem but never read it. Nick was my first dog since childhood. He was like Marmaduke but we miss him terribly.
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You are welcome. It is always the hardest decision to have to make. Take comfort in the great life that you shared with him. Remember all those fun times. I still tear up when I think about some of the dogs I have lost over the years, but as time goes by the good things are what I remember more than the end.
 
I'm truly sorry for the loss.
I'm in my late 50's and over the years my wife and I have had to say goodbye to many great dogs.
You never forget them, no matter how much time passes. But as Shann said you start to only think about the fun times.
 
Sorry to hear about your loss. Next Tuesday will be one year since we put down our 14 year old Lab because of bladder cancer. She had a great life, probably better than most kids have!

I hope Rainbow bridge is sturdy; I'll have a bunch going with me!
 
Truly sorry for your loss. There is no greater responsibility than doing the right thing for the pets we love, and you did the right thing for Nick.
Time will allow you to cherish the memories of him, and hopefully save another friend you haven't met yet from the shelter.
 
Animals are better than some people. They love you unconditionally. I'm sorry for your loss. The only thing that helps is to know others have felt the same and that you are not alone.

Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk
 
Man, I wish words could take it all away, but I've been there too many times to think that. Time is good to our hearts, though. So sorry.

Just today I said my final goodbye to Duchess, my dad's a loyal, spunky, sweet mini dachshund ... that I promised him I would care for if he died. Dad died in 2010. The dog sort of came with the house 6 years ago ... and, flipped upside down on her back to sleep, she kept his lazy boy chair warm and to herself and her entire world in her unflappable time warp exactly as she chose - until today. Of course some pup sisters have come into the fold, like Tal, Dez, Kelsi (died in 2011), Daisy and Sasha - the sisters also inherited from a close family death ... but more siblings just made for more exercise and fun. Size certainly did not deter a one of her intentions. You could not see her galloping without a huge smile on your face at the ear action! Short legs and ear wings.

To begin with, Duchess was a lovely, small dog that I encouraged my dad at age 85 or so to take in because his dog 'Chocolate Chips' ie. Chipper had just died as an antique herself. Duchess had had several litters in a kennel and was not adjusting to domestic home life with any of several new adoptive families ... she always feared and barked at the men.

Dad gave her space and said she didn't come out from under the bed for a couple of weeks. From that moment of mutual trust onward though, Duchess was his trusty doorbell as he was very hard of hearing. She barked at everyone from the safe zone behind his lazy boy chair when she wasn't sleeping in it. That is how most people remember her .... the defender.

Small but mighty.

The vet suspects nasal tumours as antibiotics were of no help. The second nostril also just became engaged and there the decision was made. Together we decided that scoping and x-raying an ancient dog's convoluted nasal passages was like prodding a 90 year old to absolutely no gain. Nonetheless, although I have cried over many of my pups' losses, somehow it does not get easier.

Heck, I am working on a bucket list for me ... and this whispering of "Good dog" at the end of my dog's life is still very wrought with pain and so tearful. I know I am a wuss.

Here's to being unable to resist laughing out loud for the floating, flapping ears of a galloping mini dachshund and living doorbell ... named Duchess. Remembering with love.

Hoping that you will in time come to smile at the fun memories when the raw grief subsides. Trust in time.
 
Sorry for the loss of your dog. Our 2 Aussies are like our kids. When they go they take a little piece of your heart. Helps you remember them as they are such an important part of our lives.
 
So sorry for your loss. We just had to put our German Shepherd Dog down two weeks ago. Totally gutted us emotionally. We're bouncing back, but it still hurts, and probably will for a while.

Condolences to you & your family -

~Chris
 
Losses like that are the most stressful and sorrowful things that can happen to a person. My human best friends are still here but I can't even think of my first dog without smiling and then crying a little. Losing your best human friend must be worse. My condolences and best wishes to anyone who has been there.
 
The past few years have been rough. My old boy Beau passed, 15 years, yellow lab chocolate lab mix, and he was horribly sickly at the end and I wish I had the chutzpah to put him down a couple years earlier. The fall of 2015, my Dock, 9 year old yellow lab/chocolate lab mix, was diagnosed with enlarged heart, fluid in his lungs/stomach/heart, mass in his stomach, all kinds of horrible things. He was my walking buddy. My other pups stop to pee, smell the roses literally, bark at other walkers/runners, and tack up and down the road like a sailboat, crossing here and there. My Dock was a big boy, fat although he lost a lot of weight before his diagnosis, and he was a lover not a fighter. He witnessed fights between my 15 year old and my now 13 year old, and would run around like the third stooge. He had no problem grumbling, and I miss that pup. The day he was put down, he crawled in bed with me, crying, and just snuggled with me for an hour. Little did I know that would be it, we put him down at the vets office.

I love my 13 year old Remington, and 3 year old Mack. Rem is a yellow/chocolate lab, and Mack is a yellow/black lab. Remington is the mad scientist of the bunch, has a rock collection that ruined his front teeth, and Mack is a gigantic baby Huey type that jumps at the slightest sound. After Dock died, Mack has reverted to his puppy ways. He needs a blanket to fall asleep, he grabs it in his paws and buries his head in it, sucking on it like a thumb, and falls asleep. He cries and mopes if it goes in the wash. Dock was the pack leader, although Remington didn't care and reminded Dock of that. Dock didn't take Mack under his wing like Beau did, but Mack still idolized him. Remington has no care for social standing, or graces for that matter. Remington puts up with Mack, but Mack desperately wants a pup to play with and he is taking to the social order of his "pack".

I still think about my old boy Beau and my walking buddy Dock, thinking about how I thought each would get better and healthier. I love both of them and miss them terribly.

After a really bad car accident in 2012, Jackknife on here told me "don't cry over things that can't cry for you". I had lost some knives and was complaining about it. I would give my whole knife collection for a minute with my all of my pups from when I was a kid.

Sunny, a stray golden retriever that was a saint that my father found on the streets of Baltimore; Rinny, a Siberian Husky junkyard dog mutt that my father saved from a certain death as a chicken killer, he was a mean nasty sob until a couple years before he died where he became a perfect gentleman; Nick, a yellow lab German shepherd mix that was another perfect gentleman; Moon, a golden retriever that was taken far too early, got out with Nick and was hit by a car, Rinny passed during surgery, Moon passed and Nick was at the pound all in one week, horrible time; Gus, a gigantic golden retriever, the Andre the Giant of goldens, all muscle, taken too early; Beau, who idolized Gus, and always went nuts whenever he saw another Golden, thinking it was Gus, another perfect gentleman except for when he smelled the ladies in the neighborhood; Dock, my fat pup that was taken too early by heart and cancer issues.

The best therapy for the loss of a dog is another dog.
 
Sorry to hear that. Its tough to lose a close pet. They're part of the family.
Lost my first boxer, a brindle named Dozer, several years ago to a snake bite while he was staying with my dad. It was tough, expecially since I wasnt there to see him before he was put in the ground. He was such a great dog.
 
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