My large dog turns nine next month. The creeping dread is real.
I had to put my dog down 2 weeks ago, 11 years old, because of cancer.
It's rough
It’s pretty much as hard as you dread. I’ve cried maybe 3 times in my adult life (outside of the times I’ve drank a little too much and got emotional) and this one was by far the worst (and one of the others was also about the dog). I cried for a week leading up to it as she deteriorated and I had to make the choice, again the day of, and again the days after every time I was reminded of her, especially when I went to bed.
I got her with an ex, but for several years now I’ve been single and living alone with just my cat and dog. I also work from home and most of my hobbies are at home. So, literally, everything I do every day the dog was involved in. Wake up, let the dog out. Bring in a package or food, dogs sniffing it. I leave and come home, the dogs greeting me. Move from room to room, I’m checking where my pets are. Take a vacation, gotta make arrangements for the pets. Move slightly on the couch or, heaven forbid get up, the dogs checking what I’m doing. She used to lay outside the shower when I was showering. Making food, leaving the house for more than a couple hours, sleeping, eating, working, literally everything involved at least thinking about the dog briefly.
But I guess that’s the price for having that companion for the last 11 years.
Try pet rats. Super intelligent animals who live for a max of 3 years. I have like 10 graves in my back yard. They are heartbreakers.
Also, if you have cats, don’t get rats. :D
I have 8 graves in my flowerbed, 5 of them rats. I had to stop keeping them because the heartbreak was too much.
Are… are you not gonna elaborate on the 3 other graves?
Also if you have rats don’t put up strobe lights for a Halloween party. Dead and dead by the next morning. Oops.
This little guy is a feral who showed up one day and moved right in. He disappeared for half a year and I thought he was dead. Turns out a neighbor’s daughter took him in and moved him to The City for a while. When he reappeared I felt the polar opposite of what the image in the OP conveys.
That will suck, though for their sake, it’ll be better than the alternative. I knew a rescue cat who was rehomed after her original human died and she had low-level PTSD.
we thought our cat would die soon for about 3 years, 19 years and still going strong 💪
not if i kill you first - cat
“a little boop… aaaand now you have cancer. I just make the rules, don’t be mad at me.” -> “meow boop meowwwww meow meow, meow meow”
“aw aren’t you so sweet”
I don’t get it cause my cats are going to live forever!
I always said that too and then my cat got hyperthyroidism at like 16 and then she got cancer at 17 and my family kept telling me it was probably time to put her down through both of them because they’re shitty boomers who don’t care about animals. Needless to say, my cat turned 18 not too long ago and she’s still doing just fine, but it’s much harder to confidently say she’s going to live forever now 😢 I’ve settled for getting on the Wikipedia page for cats that live to be 25!
