ellen_griswold

Bonnie, i'm just now seeing your update. I'm so sorry to hear about your beloved trissie. I hope you're doing okay and i do hope you'll find a new fur baby to add to your family. Best to you always.

Rachel

My sympathies to you on your loss. It is so hard and devastating to lose a pet, and non pet lovers just dont get it. Snuffles and Peanut send their thoughts too. Woof, woof, Snuffles joined our family a bit more than a year ago wafter we lost our beloved dog very suddenly. He filled a big void in our hearts. His step brother came along a few months later when we couldn't resist him. Both are the best medicine we could have had for the loss of our dog.

Smokyboy

I remember my Mom's grief when she had to let go of her pet of many years and she has always said this helped:

If It Should Be

Before I grow to frail and weak,
And all that's left is peace in sleep
I know you'll do what must be done
To end this fight that can't be won.

I don't fear death as humans do,
So let me try to comfort you.
Come; let us take a quiet stroll
And share some quietness soul to soul.

No need for words twixt you and I,
No need to say a last good-bye,
We've grown so close in mind & heart,
It seems so cruel that we must part

But sure I sense the pain you'll feel,
without me walking at your heel,
The days will feel full of despair,
Your puppy simply won't be there

In time the pain will slowly wane,
You'll think of me and smile again,
You'll speak with love and pride of me,
Your extra special puppy.

Now take me where my needs they'll tend
And stay with me till the end,
Hold me close with soft good-byes,
'Till lifes bright light has left my eyes

The final sound I need to hear,
Is your soft voice upon my ear
Your loving face will fade and dim,
As the rush of Heaven closes in.

bonniebroad

Well, my good friends, it's been two weeks now since losing Trissie. We cannot get used to the quiet house, the empty spot on our bed where he slept between us for more than sixteen years, the fact that he's not at the door to greet us when we come home. We know, with time, it will get easier but much of the last two weeks has been a heavy, almost unbearable time.

Again, sincere thanks from my husband and from me, for all your kind words, prayers and poems. Bless you all for caring so much ... I believe that Trissie is whole and happy, on the other side of the Bridge, waiting for us someday .... that makes it a little easier.

Big hugs to you all ...

starrsville

topping - just in case this is the right one

ejcrowe

Oh, my. I somehow missed this thread the first time around and I find myself in tears reading it--in fact, I just went through my third tissue. Bonnie, I hope your spirits are somewhat better now. Dealing with the loss of my beloved pets ranks up there among the most wrenching things I've ever done, and I feel for you.

wow

Hi, ejcrowe: I am not Bonnie but I find your words comforting. We lost our beloved 12 year old Siamese almost 4 months ago & it still hurts so so much. When I walk through the door I still expect to see her beautiful little face & her welcoming meow. Tail up...biiiig stretch & a scratch behind the ear. I will miss her forever. She has a brother who is grieving & having a terrible time. These 2 were
"Siamese" in the true sense of the word...joined since birth! He is lost w/o his sister & still roams the house searching, in vain, for her. It's so sad.
I feel for you, ejcrowe, having lost your beloved pets & I feel for Bonnie who lost her Trissie & I feel for everybody else here who has had to travel this sad journey. We take comfort in the Rainbow Bridge. "Somewhere over the Rainbow..." all of our furry friends are munching on lemon drops!

cmcfong

For those of you who have loved a pet who crossed over the Rainbow Bridge, when you are ready check out http://www.petfinders.org, enter the type of pet in which you are interested, the zip code where you live and up will pop a listing of many of the rescue pets available to you. Help save a life, give all that love you still have in your heart and adopt a rescue. All of those who have gone before will thank you!

bonniebroad

Thank you, ejcrowe! We still miss Trissie awfully .... at the oddest times, I think about burying my face in his little neck, and the way he smelled ... and I cry again. He gave us so much joy, and he'll always be with me in my heart.

bonniebroad

Wow, I am so sad for you at the loss of your beloved kitty. These animals are, I think, the Lord's best work, and they give us more than we do them, I guess. Hugs to you, and I hope your sweet memories of your kitty will help to sustain you as we take it one day at a time ....

wow

Thank you, Bonnie, for your thoughtful words. I hope that you are doing ok. I think of you & Trissie often. And, thank you for creating this place. We all have found each other! And, there is comfort in that.

ejcrowe

cmcfong, that's exactly what we did after we lost our beloved Truman a couple of years ago. (It was horrible--we came home from vacation only to be told that that afternoon he had somehow beecome paralyzed--there was a growth that had sprung up immediately on one of his neck vertebrae. He couldn't walk, and for us to maneuver a 160-pound English mastiff outside to answer the call of nature was daunting, to say the least. we gamely kept him as comfortable as we could, since the surgery that could be done only had about a 20% chance of fixing it, and surviving the surgery wasn't much better, statistic-wise. We kept him comforrtable for about a week after we got home, long enough for us to prepare our farewell. It was utterly wrenching, not just for us, but for his companion Ike who is still soldiering on with us)

but a few months ago we decided it was time to bring another dog into our home, so we did go to Petfinder and found a mastiff mixed breed whom we adopted. She had a lot of beahvioral issues for the first couple of months, but lots of work, love, and gentle treatment have made a HUGE change in her. You wouldn't know her from the dog we adopted in February.

So, I'd definitely recommend Petfinder for all of you folks out there--and as Flannery O'Connor wrote, "the life you save may be your own."

ejcrowe

wow, I somehow missed your story up there about your kitty. Oh, I'm so sorry. I love my dogs wholeheartedly, but am first and foremost a cat person--I've got 4 rescue cats at home now and they bring me such joy. Heck, animals of all sorts bring me such joy, really.

GoTravel

wow, I'm so sorry about your siamese! I lost mine 1 1/2 years ago and still miss him terribly.

We adopted another kitty right away (he was in Feline Renal Failure so I knew for 2 1/2 years), and not only did she heal my heart, she stole my heart!

Another kitty for brother siamese may also help him. Rescue kitties are the best.

wow

Thanks, Go. My little girl also had kidney failure. For 4 months I hooked her up to an IV drip 2-3 times a week. But she became so thin that there was no place for me to inject the needle. She lost her battle in February. I miss her so much. I thought of getting another kitten but I do not think that my surviving cat(a very dominant male, very territorial & also possessive of my affection!) wld accept a "new comer". My vet does not think that it wld work b/c of the personality of my cat.
You were lucky that your little guy managed to successfully fight his illness for 2.5 years. I was hoping for a similar outcome when my cat was diagnosed in Sept but such was not the case. Did you do the "IV fluid thing"? How old was your Siamese when he died? Mine was 12. I thought my Siamese cats wld live to at least 20 so I was totally unprepared for what happened back in February.

cmcfong

ejcrowe, I love to hear stories like yours. Two years ago my dog, Charlie Boy, died unexpectedly. He received the six month heartworm vaccine, which was lethal for a number of dogs. Charlie Boy had climbed Pilot Mountain with me every morning for seven years and he was in fabulous shape. I was totally unprepared for it.
After about three months I adopted Catie (Catawba, named for her rescue group) off petfinders. She is so exuberant and fun, we got her a same age companion, Rocket Dog, also off petfinder. The two of them are hilarious. Our three older dogs just watch them go (yes, we really do have five) and it lifts all our hearts. I will never stop grieving Charlie Boy, but these happy new additions are great medicine.

ejcrowe

cmcfong, I love your story! I'm now a big fan of petfinder. We had a really rough road with Roxanne (she came with her name, as we adopted her from a family who could no longer keep her). It was clear from about day 2 with us that she had suffered all kinds of mistreatment. She became really aggressive at the back door when visitors arrived, to the point where we dreaded that we had made a mistake. We worked with a trainer and a behaviorist, however, who was convinced that Roxie did not have a loose screw , but just had to have her other behavior unlearned.

You mention Pilot Mountain. You live in the Piedmont? I lived in Winston-Salem for two years and enjoyed weekend trips hiking up to Pilot Mountain.

AnnMarie_C

Hi wow, our cat is 17 now and we've been treating her with iv fluids for renal failure since September but I'm beginning to feel as though she's getting too skinny, too, so I was relieved to read that I am not the only one. She had become very agitated with me giving her fluids and even nipped at me so I backed off figuring she's trying to tell me something but I've become very conflicted as to whether or not I'm doing the right thing.

starrsville

Oh, cmcfong, I am so sorry about Charlie Boy. Two years ago (this week) my Gracie died unexpectedly. It was less than 48 hours between first symptom and my telling her she could stop fighting to go. She was my heart - and I miss her every day.

I am a strong believer in PetFinder. I was on just this week and I often search for the name "Gracie" to see who (and what breed) may need a home.

I almost had a Catawba. A few years ago I fell in love with a Catawba puppy at a PetSmart adoption. Had no idea what she would grow up to look like, but it was the cutest puppy I had ever seen!

She would have been our 5th too. Yours actually qualify as a pack!

I still grieve Gracie every day too. There are some dogs that just trancend caninehood.

wow

AnnMarie C: Oh, my...Do I ever feel for you & your 17 year old cat. She will let you know....just keep listening to her & loving her as you are doing. Take it one day at a time. What kind of a cat is she?( some seem to be more prone to kidney failure than others.) In addition to the wonderful support I received from out Vet, I found a lot of helpful info on this feline disease simply by Gooogling "feline kidney failure".
I will be thinking about you & your cat.
Hugs to both of you.