Loss

My 15 1/2 dog was put to sleep on August 17, 2011. I have had her in my life since I was 9 years old. This was a hard loss for my family and I. Losing a family pet is such a different feeling than losing a close relative. Both losses hurt tremendously but I feel more upset and uneasy about the loss of my dog. I feel terrible because I wanted to console her and make her feel comfortable with words and tell her that her pain would go away. It was hard enough coming to terms with the decision to put her down. It was definitely the right decision but I hated this inability to calm and console my friend of 15 years.

It ended up being an even worse situation when the vet injected her with the anesthetic. He managed to get about a 1/4 into her vein and he claimed that "it burst". At that point she began struggling and whimpering. It was horrible. We had to wait for nearly a whole minute while he got another syringe and filled it. He came in and began to inject. Blood started getting pushed back into the syringe and he gave one final push. It all went in, her body went down, her eyes went from wide from fear to cold and barely open. It was over. The vet checked her vitals and pronounced her dead. My family cried, hugged and said goodbye.

 I will always miss her, this kind of pet loss has made me appreciate my other dog so much more. I really won't take these wonderful animals for granted.