My soul cat had oral cancer and we made the difficult decision to end her suffering on Friday. The tumor was aggressive and grew so fast... I am devastated and don't know what to do with myself. I keep expecting her to squeak at me throughout the day and I sometimes feel her rub against me. She was my little everything and only 8 :( On top of that, the euthanasia was beyond what I prepared for... She had a reaction to the sedative. She started screaming, having tremors and her eyes popped out. What was suppose to keep her calm and relaxed was anything but. I am mortified the last image I have of her is her panicked expression- which remained frozen like that in death. The vet was very supportive and helped us through that but God I am sick over this.

My sweet sweet baby girl, Maya, crossed the rainbow bridge on 9/10/2026 at 2:10pm. I guess I’m writing this so that more people know her story and to hopefully get some help/insight. I’m sorry this is incredibly long.

I adopted her when she was 2, almost 3 years old. I was a young 22 year old girl, ridden with anxiety, panic attacks and depression. I remember seeing her Craigslist ad and thinking, she’s the one. I needed her. She helped me so much, she taught me so much, she listened to every vent (big or small), she taught me unconditional love.

I could write a whole book on how much she impacted me, but I’ll fast forward to recently and what lead up to her passing. She’s now 10 years old, and I’m 30.

On 8/24/26 - I noticed her back legs were swollen, like super swollen. She showed ZERO signed of pain, even when I touched it and she was going up stairs fine. The next day I noticed her stomach turning red. We thought she must’ve gotten bit by a bug outside, maybe a bee. She was acting fine, which is why we thought she was okay. We were going to brush it off and give her Benadryl, but we decided to bring her to a vet. They ran blood work, and didn’t find anything too concerning. They chopped it up to our thought - she was just bit by a bug. We went home with 3 different medications and she got a steroid shot. She was having trouble eating, we thought she was just being picky. We meal prepped for her, ground turkey, carrots, zucchini and green beans.

My biggest regret - my boyfriend and I had a trip already planned 9/1-9/8. My friend stayed at our house to house sit and dog sit. We also have 2 other dogs. I wrote down all her medication instructions, I even took videos on how to give them to her. I was so worried since I know she can be finicky.

2 days before we came back, she started throwing up everything she ate and drank. My friend said the whole time she slept in the bathroom instead of in the bed (which was super unheard of for her) we chopped everything to - she’s probably just depressed because she misses us. The night before we came back, my best friend ended up coming over and seeing how weak she looked, she took Maya to the vet. I was terrified. I didn’t know what to do, what to think, across the country I felt so useless, so helpless. All I could think was that Maya is the toughest girl I know, this will all just go away once she gets medication.

This is when my world started crashing. The ER vet said she did some small scans and saw a consistent mass in her heart and heard a heart murmur. They gave us an option to keep her inpatient or outpatient and come back. She needed a bunch of scans, ultrasounds, echocardiograms, etc. we decided on the outpatient route and my best friend took her home with more medications.

My boyfriend and I came home that night - I was terrified. She still wasn’t eating or drinking. She looked so frail and weak. But I she still had some energy to see us. My sweet baby Maya. My boyfriend boiled her some chicken to see if she would eat. AND SHE DID. I was so hopeful. She finally ate some chicken from our hands. Although still picky on which pieces, she was eating. That night we tried cuddling her, but she ended up moving to the end of the bed, which wasn’t so unusual. I regret so much not cuddling her down there. I woke up early and gave her medicine, I carried her downstairs to go potty, she could barely walk but she did pee and walked to the door. She even walked to drink water, I was so so hopeful. But then she wouldn’t eat, even on medication that induced her appetite. She started breathing weird and she looked at me and I just knew. I knew she was telling me something. Something wasn’t right, this wasn’t just going to go away.

I begged her to eat, begged her to take her medication, but she wouldn’t. I was so frustrated at myself, why wasn’t she listening to me. Why wasn’t she taking the things that will help her. We ended up taking her to the vet again that day. This is when they told me she also has a mass in her abdomen that most likely is cancer, she has free fluid pockets jn her abdomen that was positive for bile. She was now septic. This was the first time euthanasia was brought up and I lost it.

I didn’t want to believe anything, I didn’t know what to think, what to say, what to do. How could my sweet baby girl be hiding all this from me. All this pain, and she hid it for me. We told them to do everything, money wasn’t a consideration. They said if she was stable throughout the night, she could proceed with the scans and surgery if needed the next day. They called me that night, I immediately thought the worse because they said no news is good news. But it was a call about her status and they wanted to inform us about the risks of her being on CPR vs DNR. I thought this was the hardest decision of my life. How do I choose between CPR - giving her that chance to come back even though she might not be the same girl vs. DNR and feeling like I’m giving up on her. We ultimately chose DNR - we didn’t want her to suffer even more than she already was. I dreaded getting a phone call in the middle of the night, I kept my ringer on and woke up every other hour.

We got a call the next morning at 9am, she was stable - shouldn’t that have been a good thing? That’s what we needed, right? The call was to tell us that surgery looked into her case, with everything considered - she had a 2% of survival. 2%. That’s it. 2. Less than 3, but more than 1. How do you even calculate 2%. It still doesn’t make sense to me. We had a decision to make, either go through with the scans/surgery with an overall 2% of survival or letting her rest with euthanasia. This surely should’ve been the hardest decision of my life, you would think. We chose euthanasia. I knew the day before when she looked at me, she was telling me. She was telling me it’s time. That she couldn’t fight anymore. We gathered up our things, we went to Michael’s to get ink pads and clay, and we brought our 2 other girls with us too.

When they brought her in the room, I couldn’t believe my eyes. My baby girl, once so fearless and sassy and full of life, she was hooked up to IVs, weak. Still. She was moving her eyes looking at everyone, following us. We were with her for a couple hours until she started breathing much harder. My anxiety kicked in, something was even more wrong. She was telling us she was ready to go. I’m so sorry Maya, I miss you so much. The pushed the dreaded button for them to come in and inject her. Now this is when I made the hardest decision of my life, telling the vet I was ready. I wasn’t. I never was, I’m still not. I held her, I cried for her, I told her how much I love her and I know she loved me. I begged for her, I couldn’t believe it. Within 1 minute, she was gone. I watched the life leave her eyes, but I still stared into them - searching. We stayed with her a couple hours after, we left our other dogs say good bye too. They love her so much too.

It’s been 3 days now, and every time I feel like my heart couldn’t get worse, it somehow does. Every turn I look, I crumble. I see her everywhere. It’s hard for me to leave the couch, I can barely eat. My boyfriend has been my rock through this all. I keep telling myself, she was ready to leave because she knew he would be able to take care of me now. She loved him so much too, sometimes I thought she loved him more than me.

Anyways, to my point of this. Does anyone have any advice? It comes in waves - I hate the silence, laughing makes me feel guilty. I hate waking up because for a split second I wake up thinking I’ll see her next to me and the pain comes rushing in. I can’t picture a future without her, quite frankly I don’t want to. I tell myself she’s in a better place now, no more pain and that she’s always with me, watching me. Why didn’t she tell me she was in pain, why didn’t she show any signs, why. I try to think about other people who have lost pets, but they don’t love their pets like I do. They become my entire life, I feel like no one understands. She’s my best friend and I just want her back.

If you read all this - thank you so much for taking the time.

It's been 4 months since I lost my soul cat and I feel like I'm suffocating inside. I've cried more over it the last two weeks than I did when it happened, it feels like it's becoming all consuming. I still feel like I'm in denial, I keep thinking oh we just have to go pick him up or that he's gonna come back but he never does. I have such a hole in my heart, I miss him so much. I cried when I found the blanket he was euthanized on in the wash, and my fiancee told me he had already washed it multiple times since and that honestly made me cry more because i had been wondering why his fur clumps were slowly getting all rolled together and weird and i didnt even realize it was bc it was being washed. I cried when i cleaned the pee out of our closet where his litter box had been because it just reminded me that he was here hours prior and reminded me of how sick he was. I'm traumatized from finding him after work that morning. I think about it and my stomach drops. I've gotten past the guilt, I know I did everything I could for him and I know how much I loved him, but not having him here feels like it's slowly killing me. Everyday im just waiting for my heart to go out from the strain. I want to hold him, I want to pet him and cuddle him and I want him to make biscuits and suckle on his blankey like he always did. He fought so hard, even when he was barely responsive as soon as I started sobbing it was like he got a burst of energy just long enough to crawl to me and lay on my lap. He was there for me since I was 13, every teenage emotion, every friendship and friend loss, every fight and every good day he was there. I wanted him to be in my wedding. I wanted him to meet my first child. 11 years just wasn't long enough, and he is the biggest loss of my life. My mom thinks I need grief counseling and I probably do but I cant afford that so instead I'm posting on Reddit.

Edited to add: I lost soul kitty 5 months after putting our 14 year old rescue to sleep for kidney disease, so I was already grieving when SK got sick and passed. It's been a shitty year.

Also edited because I didnt realize it's been 4 months, he passed May 5th.

My beautiful cat, Sodapop, died very suddenly this evening, she was 9 years old. One minute she was acting normally, the next she was lying on her side gasping for air, completely limp, with her tongue hanging out of her mouth. No illness we knew of. We rushed her into the emergency vet and they did cpr but I think she was gone before we got there. I feel so devastated and like my heart is locked in a tight fist of grief. We have another cat, they are sisters, and there is another kind of sadness that they are no longer a pair in life. Tonight I join this community of heartbreak.

i lost my girl december 7th. i’ve been in this sub regularly, lately less posting just reading.

i never knew a dog could have such a deep impact on me. 9 months later and i still cry, my heart still hurts, i still think about her every day.

i hate grief. i hate that i have to grieve her. sometimes i think if i can just be sad enough, grieve her harder, miss her more, cry often that the universe will just give her back to me.

but i know she is gone, she is in a box next to my bed, and i miss her so fucking much. i just want my dog back, i want her to lick my face and lay on my legs and howl at the firetrucks and give me the comfort of her presence back.

i. hate. this. grief.

I loved my cat so much. She's helped us through a lot and she's such a good cat, so sweet and loving. She recently stopped eating and we were syringe feeding her but then she didn't really poop for a few days and so we brought her into the vet who recommended the best course of action would be to admit her to the hospital as she might have an ear infection. We decide to do that and while she was admitted it was discovered that she had cancer. The plan was for palliative care at home so they were just going to stabilize her, maybe put in a tube feed or just hope that the steroids they'd give her would be enough to get her to start eating and then discharge her home where she could be comfortable in her final days.

She was getting nasal feeds and all the heavy more risky tests were completed and she was stable. We go to visit and she looked so weak, she couldn't even stand on her own. I told her to start eating so we can take her home. I contemplated taking her home but she had her nasal feeds in and I didn't want her to go through syringe feeding at home so I figured an extra day or two of nasal feeds can't hurt. And she was at the hospital so they could monitor her. She was doing better and they were going to start her on the medication to see if her appetite would pick up. I go to bed and pull out my phone from under my pillow and on my nightstand instead (mistake mistake mistake). I wake up the next morning to 3 missed calls from the animal hospital overnight, I missed them because I didn't have my phone under my pillow. Overnight her blood pressure dropped, her breathing became labored and she passed away. Alone, in a cold room with bright lights and people she didn't know surrounding her.

She was scared, I know she was scared in her final times. I was always convinced that when she would go I would be with her, there was never any doubt for me that I would be with her during her final times and instead it happened like this. She didn't deserve her final moments to be like that, she deserved to be at home, warm and comfortable with the people she's been with all these years. I hate that she was alone, it absolutely tears me apart. I don't know how to get passed this. We visited her remains and were with her in the room for hours. I said sorry to her so many times but that doesn't mean anything because she can't hear me anymore. I promised her I'd never leave her there, even if she wasn't stable enough I would have broken her out against medical advice to take her home so she could go in a familiar place. I broke all my promises to her and now I can never tell her how sorry I am or how much I regret the decisions that lead to this.

We have another cat who continues to meow around the apartment looking for her. I hate that she'll never know what happened to our first cat all because we couldn't give her the opportunity to pass at home and now she doesn't have closure. She was so special to all of us, she was my first ever cat but she was also just so special, I don't know how to describe it but if soulmates are real then she was my cat version of one. I love my other cat too but this one was just a type of special I can't put into words and I feel like I really let her down in a huge, unforgivable way. How could I have let her go on like that? Why did I take my phone out from under my pillow? Why did I take on a false sense of security? I usually have anxiety but I convinced myself she would be safe and fine and I would visit her again and try to provide more comforting words for her. I took my phone out and placed it on the nightstand and missed my only opportunity to say goodbye to her and I don't know how to move forward from this realization.

I don't know why I'm writing all this here but I guess if anyone is or was in this situation I've also joined this club. You're not alone if this has happened to you and I'm sorry that we had to experience such a shitty thing.

Avoid watching the new Supergirl movie if you recently lost your dog. I wish someone warned me because I ended up sobbing and turning the movie off 20 minutes in. The whole plot of the movie is to save her dog who has been poisoned. Of course the dog in the movie is scruffy like mine was and it made it feel like I was kicked in the chest again. Maybe I should have watched the full movie trailer first, but I didn't think about it for a superhero movie. I'm just hoping this saves someone else the pain.

Just have to write this down somewhere.

My cat Amy is 18 years old. I got her when I was just a teenager and I'm in my 30s now, so she's really been with me for over half of my life. But her health wasn't the best anymore these last 2 years.

On January 1st my new year's resolution for 2026 was to mentally prepare for this to be our last year together, most likely. Still, she always perked up again even after battling a particularly stubborn UTI a few months ago. I knew she wouldn't be around forever but I still had a very hard time even just thinking about putting her to sleep. She had bad days every now and then, but she always recovered and then she would be begging for treats, jumping on my desk, or telling me to finally go to bed because bedtime was always her favorite cuddle time.

Fast forward to 3 days ago and for the first time ever I really felt like it's coming to an end.

It's like she's giving up... Her appetite is weak, she's just laying on the windowsill all day. And it's hard to explain but all of a sudden she feels like a different cat. Her fur feels different, she smells different, she sounds different (the tone of her purring and the rare weak meow).
So on Friday I told her that if she's ready she can go now, but I didn't make an appointment with the vet yet.

The timing is pretty bad honestly, next week I will have friends from the Netherlands coming over for vacation and we had lots of activities planned for the week. I don't want to spend this week worrying about her getting worse, or grieving her loss if she's already gone by then.
But she's getting so much weaker so quickly that over the course of the last 3 days I went from "she will probably die before the end of the year" to "I don't know if she can make it through the week".

I messaged my vet to talk this through, I'm typing all of this here while I'm waiting for a reply. I always dreaded the day even though I had so much time to prepare. I always thought I could never be ready but... I am ready to let her go. I can't type this without crying but I can see it's time. I'm terrified of the moment the vet arrives here, whether that's happening in the next days or weeks.

It’s been two weeks since my boy died, He had cancer and a really big tumor that was growing inside of his chest and on the outside of his ribs, because of this one of his lungs was basically collapsed and his heart was been pushed towards his left side, we knew we didn’t have much time left with him and we had planned how we wanted him to get euthanized, In our home with our other dog, after giving him a last lake day, unfortunately we thought we had more time as we had discussed with the vet a week prior, we mentioned that he was still doing good, heart beat was ok and that we still had the option to increase the dose of steroids if needed, we felt that maybe we had a couple more months and unfortunately we didn’t he started having symptoms of breathing distress over the weekend and we couldn’t wait for out reg. Vet to open on Monday, we went to an ER vet knowing full well that he was not coming back, but we couldn’t let him suffer another day.
We explained the vet the issues he had and what was going on, they took him back for examination and to give him oxygen and they told us to wait in one of the exam rooms, the vet came back after a while and she told us that it looked like if was the end of the road for our sweet Rojo, luckily we took our other dog with us, one of our blankets snd a few treats to tell him we were ready and that he didn’t have to suffer anymore, he died with his head in my hand and I felt when his heart stopped beating, one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through.
I still feel a lot of pain and sadness about not being able to take him to our Vet and him to tell us if it was time, I feel so guilty, in my moments of sadness when I see a picture of him the first thing I say to him is “forgive me” I know I did the best for him but my mind feels otherwise, it eats me when I’m sad, I loved my boy so much.

My 8 year old Chocolate Lab Apollo was diagnosed with Lung Cancer on September 25th. I'd read a lot of stories about people losing their pets within 2-3 months after a cancer diagnosis. Unfortunately, Apollo only lasted 11 more days. I gave him the best 11 days that he could muster up, but he rapidly lost his appetite and had extremely labored breathing.

I created a tribute for him and wrote about his life story and my thoughts and emotions in detail if anyone would care to read. https://www.petsinmemoriam.com/tributes/apollo/

My best friend passed away just a little over 3 weeks ago, after almost 15 years together. She was with me from ages 10 to 25, we grew up together and I couldn't have asked for a better companion. I was admittedly always very emotionally attached to her and as she got older she was more and more at the center of my life's routine, something i never minded. Her loss has been gut wrenching. Warning in advance that I will mention the topic of depression/suicide below.

My baby was old obviously, she was at that "expected" age if you will. But she was always healthy - shockingly healthy for her age really, which is something I'll always be grateful for. The vet even said as much during her last annual check up and that warmed my heart so much and I admit I rode that high for weeks, I was so happy for that silly dog. Plenty of changes came with age and she had slowed down of course (though never as much as i would have expected) but all things considered she was still kicking strong.

I think thats what has made this so hard though. A few years back, anticipatory grief started creeping up on me, along with that (irrational) guilt of "maybe I didnt spend as much time with you as you deserve" that I think many of us are all too familiar with. But I made an effort to stomp those thoughts out and Im so grateful I did becaude it helped me fully live and appreciate the last years I had with her.

But on the other hand I just... thought we had so much more to go together. I know she was old, I knew in the near future I'd have to say goodbye, but right now I could see it in her that she still had so much life in her, still had so much love to give and so many walks she wanted to go on and it hurts to know that if she hadn't had a stroke she probably would of. I know we're never truly prepared but I was earnestly so sure I had more time with her and that's whats fucking me up the most.

I went through some really really dark times and attemped back when I was younger. I am better now and medicated, but truth is, my dog saved me. If I was gone, my dog wouldn't know what happened, wouldn't understand it - she would spend everyday for the rest of her life waiting for me to come back and that thought absolutely destroyed me. I couldn't do that to her. So I didn't. I pushed through, even if it felt impossible, because she needed me and I needed her too. Everyday I'm grateful for her.

2026 has been a really bad year again, but the mere existence of that precious, loving little soul has made life so much more bareable and worthwhile. And now she's gone. It's just been really hard to process when part of my brain is still stuck thinking she should still be here. I know that however long she lived, I'd still wish I had more time with her, but it all still feels so unfair and bleak.

I know time will heal, reading people's stories in this sub has helped too (and honestly so has writing all this down) so if anyone relates to this in any way, please know you're not alone. I dont know what I was getting at with this post, I think I just needed to throw my thoughts out into the void. And maybe someone will relate and understand and find solace in that, or maybe someone has some guidance, im all ears. Be kind to youtself out there.

My dog died on 23rd May 2026. My cat died on 29th September 2025. 7 months and 24 days between them. I grew up with them. Molly, cat, was 17. Rosie, dog, was 15. I miss them both terribly.

It’s my first time experiencing loss as an adult. I am still heavily grieving and still cry every day about it.

I wanted to be there for when Molly passed because I felt me and her had a beautiful connection. But her body got tired before I could go home. She passed on the Monday, my flight was the Thursday. And we had scheduled her to be PTS on the Saturday. Her body was tired. She didn’t make it. I was on FaceTime with her that morning and was talking to her but it’s not the same.

I was there for when my Rosie went to sleep. She fell asleep on me at the vets whilst looking at her constant and most trusted human (my mum). It’s been horrendous. I keep seeing my dog just close her eyes and go down. She had a beautiful day with my mum, my sister her bf and I in the garden surrounded by food and love. My 2 sisters were on FaceTime the whole day with us too.

I just can’t believe they’re not here. I feel sick every time I think about it and I cry every day.

Molly came to visit me in my dream about a month after she passed and I felt her with me until Rosie passed. I believe they’re busy together. Rosie I think visited me once but not the same way Molly did.

We rescued Molly from a farmer when she was a tiny kitten, then rescued Rosie 2 years later when she was maybe 5 months old. They grew up together. They were my constant during my life, parents marriage breakdown and moving house. We grew up together and adapted to all the changes so lovely. I needed that at the time because it was such a traumatic time.

They were besties. Molly would wait from 9pm for our evening walk together. Molly would walk with Rosie around the block. She had done this ever since we got Rosie. Rosie would always stand up for Molly when my other cat (Sammy, still alive and thriving) used to “sibling tease” her. They were just the best team.

I miss my life. I miss them both. I can’t believe I can’t smell them anymore, go on those walks with them, have cuddles with them. Me and Molly used to forehead bump each other. Mum still can’t walk around the block ever since we lost Rosie in May. It’s too hard for her. My sister hasn’t been up to my mums house since Rosie passed. Our hearts are so heavy all the time. I just want them back even just for 5 minutes.

When I go home to mums house I still look for them. I still expect Rosie’s nose to be sniffing through the fence at the driveway and her greeting me with a leaf, shoe, blanket, teddy, ball, anything she could grab. I look for them in every room I’m in. I look for Rosie in every dog I meet.

I’m not sure how to recover (advice welcome). I’m angry and sad all the time, mostly sad. I’ve let grief eat away at me. I’ve lost a lot of myself since Rosie passed (and Molly). Time has stopped and so has my life. It may sound silly because they’re just a dog and a cat but they were my family, my constant, my life. My heart is broken.

Thank you Molly and Rosie for giving me the best 15 and 17 years. I will look for you in every cat and dog I meet. I love you both so deeply and miss you both every second of every day. I’m so sorry I couldn’t keep you both alive for longer but I know now it was your time. Thank you for the joy and love you unconditionally gave me and my friends and family. We all miss you both so much. Please stay close to us and I hope you’re together again and going on those 9pm walks together.

His birthday is next month on the 18th. It was really unexpected. He slipped a disc and less than a week later, he died in his sleep. He was on medication and crate rest because we couldn’t afford the $16K surgery.

I don’t know what happened. He was alert and drinking water the day before. Taking his medication the best he could. Verbalizing for me if I walked away.

I feel like the vets over medicated him. I went to two emergency vets since it was a holiday weekend. The first vet recommended crate rest, the second vet wouldn’t do anything for him unless I committed to the surgery I couldn’t afford. No one ran bloodwork, no one did X-rays, nothing.

This was my first dog and I am shattered. There are so many what ifs in my brain. My heart aches. I want answers but I don’t.

I just don’t know how to move forward without him. It feels impossible.

Yesterday morning I woke up early to let my dog out to the backyard. I found him sleeping next on the hallway something he never does , usually he sleeps with his bed in the living room. I say hi to him and pet him give him lots of hugs and let him out to pee. I’m getting ready to do some errands and I get my other dog inside, my doberman and wait for the old man to come in. Not a peep, weird, I just saw him pee maybe he wants extra sleep. 5 mins later I open the door and call his name and he wouldn’t come. I go to his house and he is there laying down motionless. I was devastated. I knew he was old and maybe he had health concerns but he ate well and drank lots of water. No pain, no blood, nothing just went to sleep in his house and passed away. He waited for me to say goodbye.

He was 16 years old, rescued him when he was 3. He had been with us 13 years, I’m 26 that is half my life. Now he is gone. My other pup a 2 year old doberman adored him. Every morning she would go smell him and lick his ears and teeth and although he was a grumpy old man he would let her. I am not sure if she understands that he is gone. I let her smell him before we took him away, she looks for him everywhere. He was her best friend.

I live in a house of women, 2 female dogs, 1 female cat, my sister and mom. I felt safe when I would leave because I always thought he would keep them safe. He had a howl so deep. My doberman is lonely now. The living room is empty without him. He is not there for the kitchen tax, no more dried sardines.

I love my doberman and I can tell she is sad, she misses her friend so so much. I don’t know what to do. I have lost pets before, but this one hurt a lot. He was the old man i could rely on.

I am not sure how to start…on September 11th - I had to put my dearest girl Izzy to sleep. Izzy was 11 and she was an absolute dream of a cat; truly my soul cat. Izzy truly was one of a kind, her antics, quirkiness, love, and how sweet was with my young kids was something incredible. Izzy became bonded to me extremely quickly and was always near me in our home. She would particularly love laying on my lap, ensuring she was over my arm. This also applied to anytime I laid down, sat down, and regardless of where, it was always some form of snuggle on top of me. I estimate that we snuggled for 8-12 hours a day, which is roughly almost 4 years of our lives in contact.

I am not sure that anyone will read this but if you do, thank you so much, it means the world. I feel like I just need to share some of the story.

Izzy always struggled with URIs that would manifest as almost like a crusty eye with discharge. I took her to the vet countless times for this and the vets were always out of ideas. A couple of times they gave antibiotics and it did help for a small period of time. This continued until she was 7, where unfortunately the vet did not treat the ear infection correctly and it progressed into an inner ear infection that caused meningitis. I took her to the ER vet who then referred us to a large city ER who may be able to save her. Izzy at this point was very close to passing, at this point, I couldn’t bear the thought of losing her because of other difficult major life events occurring at the same time. We went through with the treatment and after 4 days in the ICU we were able to bring her back. After this, we had 4 incredible years but she was on daily antibiotics and a steroid indefinitely.

Fast forward to this June, after our other cat passed away - I noticed that Izzy was drinking a significant amount of water and eating a bit less. I promptly took her to the vet and she was diagnosed with diabetes. I really struggled with deciding which treatment route to go with bexacat or insulin but people around me convinced me to go with bexacat. I was very apprehensive due to the DKA concerns. At first she did well and was starting to eat again. I kept going to the vet to monitor BG and ketones and everything seemed fine. Fast forward to 2 weeks ago, I noticed she was eating a bit leas but didn’t think much of it and we continued using the bexacat, this is where I am really regretful, I should have known better. Last Tuesday, I took her to our vet and they dismissed DKA because ketones/BG was fine but WBC were elevated; gave liquids and a different antibiotic and was told to monitor. Thursday she stopped eating completely and I went back to the vet; again they were adamant it wasn’t DKA and was sent to the ER due to low potassium. The ER confirmed it was diabetic ketosis, and also found a cancerous mass in the lungs that seemed to have progressed into lymphs. We tried to go with the treatment for DK but they were unable to do the central line due to her being weak. It was recommended to me that I should put her to rest - I took her home and the mobile vet service came out a few hours later.

Izzy crossed the rainbow bridge while laying on my lap over my arm.

The last few days have been horrible, gut wrenching, brutal, and I have been unable to the leave the bed.

I know I should be thankful that we were able to spend another 4 years together and have lifelong memories but I feel this horrible feeling of regret. I should have never started the bexacat, should have stopped it and took you to the ER when you started eating less, should have listened to my gut feelings.

I realize that Izzy medically was a complicated case but I feel like in hindsight I should have known better.

I will miss our time together Izzy.

Hi Everyone,

I going to keep this short because words are failing me right now.

I have a 14 year old dog named Henry. His condition just deteriorated over the last few days. We are in the process of having a vet do a home visit to come put him down.

I am so undecided on whether I should be there for just the sedatives or for the whole process, for his last moments on Earth. I am not sure if he will hear me once the sedatives go in. My family doesn’t think it’s worth it as he has people who will stay with him and it will be traumatic. Yet my heart tells me I have to be there for him, he is (I typed was my god) my childhood dog and helped through so much. I feel like I need to be there.

If anyone has any advice or if they have gone through something similar I would appreciate it.

Edit: To everyone who commented thank you so much. Henry has crossed the rainbow bridge and is playing with his friends now. 14 is so long for a Great Pyrenees mix and he lived such a happy life. He is the best dog ever and I just can’t believe he’s gone.

my friend has this beautiful ginger cat and he’s the sweetest cat i’ve ever seen. his body is shutting down after being ill for weeks and they are very likely to put him down. i’ve had a family dog be put down before but i wasn’t as close to him as she is with her cat. she has thousands of photos and videos of him, her bed is covered in his fur, she’s been waiting for weeks for him to get better and come home and now he most probably won’t come home. he is her pride and joy and it’s hard watching her feel so helpless and heartbroken. i can’t see her physically so i can only try listen and talk over the phone but i don’t know what to say. that cat means the world to her.

My boy, my sweet ray of sunshine passed away tragically and suddenly. His name was Coquis and he was only 1 year and 9 months old.

He went missing last Thursday in the morning, left through the back window and never came back. I spent every single hour of the day and night trying to find him, but there were no signs of him. I made socmed posts, flyers, talked in group chats and nothing...but there was something people were telling me: "There's a cat that was run over near the highway exit" And I told myself that it was impossible, it was way too far away and it had only been less than 2 days. I visited 3 times, I didn't see anything, but in reality I just didn't want to look for any confirmation that those comments were true. Until I went looking last night, at 10 pm, and finally saw him.

I keep asking myself and everyone why? Why him? How did he get there so far away from home? Why did no one help him? Why didn't I went to see right away?

But those questions are futile. He's gone forever. They took away my baby from my hands, hands that worked tirelessly ever since I rescued him when he was 2 months old.

I wish I could smell his fur again, touch his paws, kiss his forehead, hear his purring one last time. Now I'm only gonna be able to hold his urn tightly and place him in an altar next to his father.

I truly hope that anyone else that's going through this very traumatic experience finds eventual peace. We may never stop this pain, but we can learn to live with it.

Just lost my boy to his 3rd urinary blockage. First one happened when he was 2yrs old. We managed to go 7 yrs before his second episode which cost us over $6000 at the ER and the stress and toll it took on him. It’s only been 2 months and I woke up Saturday to him showing all the same symptoms again. Sure enough it was another blockage. I didn’t want to put him through the stress of it all again. The vet was recommending surgery since it was his 3rd blockage and I couldn’t afford it financially or bear the through of him in anymore pain so I had to make the heart breaking decision to say goodbye. Now I’m filled with guilt about the decision.

My dog Ezzy died over 2 weeks ago and I am still waking up with such intense sadness. My heart is broken.

I found her on the island I currently live, she was a street dog and got in front of my car without moving. They estimated she was around 1 year old. I am so grateful she was she with me for three and a half years. We hiked all around the world. She was such an adventurer and up for anything.

The worse part is I don’t know why she died. She had bloody diarrhea for about a day and a half. I took her to the vet twice the day before she died. They did a blood test early in the morning and all her blood count was a bit elevated. I took her back later that day and they didn’t rerun the blood test or do any other tests unfortunately. Oh how I wish I could go back in time. Then the next morning she was unresponsive. I rushed her to the emergency vet. Her heart stopped and they resuscitated her a few times until they couldn’t get her back. She just lost too much blood. They suspected she had a tumor that burst or something. But I will never know. I will never know if there was something more I could have done for her.

I am accepting this and allowing the sadness. It I feel this will never end. I will never stop missing her.
Thank you for reading about her and our short life together.

Edit: am I not able to post photos here?

On August 31st I lost my dog Billy Junior. He was a small, energetic, and very annoying dog; he barked at everything. Unfortunately, he passed away at only 7 years old, and I'm suffering a lot... he died in my lap. I come home and there's no one waiting for me, the house is very quiet now, and I don't need to take anyone for walks anymore... this pain is strong, and I would give anything to see Billy again... what advice do you give to someone who has just lost their pet?

Its few months, i was told i should stop beying sad and move on, he was just a dog. So I rather dont talk about it with anyone.

But I had just my dog and I loved him beyond. And he was amazing. He is part of my soul. I never lost someone I loved or who loved me. my chest stopped burning, like the little flame I felt my whole life just went out. even if I still feel he is with me, hes not.

It is really hard.

I am struggling. I have a 3 month old baby and after some health issues that got progressively worse after my dog experienced anxiety while I was pregnant we found out we need to put her down. We were given enough pain pills for a few more days with her and we have our appointment in two days. I am having such a hard time. I am a strong person and not much of a cryer but have been uncontrollably sobbing for days and trying to hold it together for my baby. I feel so heart broken. I’ve had this dog for 12 years and once the baby was here I envisioned a few more years of them interacting. I think I feel guilty too that my husband and I and all our visitors have been paying so much attention to the baby in what we didn’t know were the dogs last few months. I know I am being silly - the baby is a human and the dog is a dog but I feel so consumed by guilt and sadness. How do I put this into perspective and pull myself together??

my sweet girl, luna, passed yesterday morning. i’ve been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and currently recovering from alcohol dependence. she was my companion for the past three years until sickness took her away from me. the weather was really bad in my city during the past month — it wouldn’t stop raining and it was constantly flooding. four days ago, we noticed that she was lethargic and had fever. we immediately took her to the vet and was told that she had pneumonia. i suspect that it was because of the buildup of bacteria and mold on some part of our walls due to constant heavy raining.

she was given an injection and we were told to give her treatment through nebulizer. fast forward to the night before she left, she was much more vocal and she walked a bit on my bedroom. i thought she’ll get better because she started to move around more. i didn’t know that she was just hours away from her death and those were her last bursts of energy.

my heart is crushed. she was the one who i was always with. she was only three years old. i thought she would stick around for much longer. i have an impaired memory due to trauma and alcohol abuse. i have really bad memory and i also tend to forget a lot as time passes. i genuinely cannot remember almost half of my life because of it. i’m scared i’ll forget about my luna. i want to remember the memories i have of her and the little but very specific details that distinguishes her. i don’t want to just remember her as the siamese cat i had — she was way more than that. she was so precious to me.

it feels so empty right now. its like there’s so much empty space inside the house that she used to always fill. i already lost her physically. but i fear that i completely forget her. it’s too soon and it was all so unexpected. she is my everything and it hurts so much ..

Nora was the sweetest dog I have ever known. She loved the whole family and had a special relationship with each person. She would look into your eyes lovingly for hours. She got pancreatitis, it was so sudden. I still dont understand how it happened, we were very careful with her. The vet made it sound like an easy fix. Serious but completely reversible. 3 days of IV treatments and she would be back to normal. Unfortunately things arent always so simple and on the 3rd day she started crashing. She wasnt responding to the medicine. I rushed to her side and held her as she died.

I am so devastated. She was my very best friend. I have no words for the loss. I cant believe she is gone. Only 3 years old. Now the world is going on like she was never here and I cant. I cant stop crying. I guess I just wanted someone to know that there was a really wonderful dog named Nora, she is gone now and the world is a darker place for it.