Death and denial

It always seems unexpected somehow. Even when you really DO know it's coming.
I knew when I took my dog to the vets, the chances of getting to bring him back were almost zero. He was very old and very ill.
That's why I took him to the vets after all.
It still seemed so abrupt, so sudden, and driving home without him felt wrong.
For days afterwords, I got these sensations out of nowhere like I'd forgotten him somewhere. Id feel panic, as though I needed to go pick him up and 'save him', protect him.
A second later Id come to my senses.
I didnt expect losing a dog to hurt this much.
Now I look at my other dog, a fourteen year old GSD, and I KNOW its coming. And I don't think I can handle it.

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dancingtongue · 80-89, M

It's never easy. We had to put down our last two cats, due to age and various ailments. I must say, as the vet began administering the anesthetics and lethal injection, each looked up at us with an expression that seemed to say "thank you for putting me out of my misery" which helped a lot.

Recently the much younger replacement cat managed to have a huge portion of his pelt ripped aside. Took him to the ER vet expecting a repeat, which would have been much harder given he was still young. But they saved him, although it took a couple months of recovery. While he hated the rides to the ER, the surgeries, and the pill taking, he seemed very appreciative of the effort and result. We do what we can, and imho they know and appreciate which ever direction it goes.

Vengabus · 36-40

I’m glad the vets managed to save your young kitty. What an awful thing to happen to the poor thing ❤️@dancingtongue

dancingtongue · 80-89, M

@Vengabus Well, he was well past kitten but still a young adult. Traumatic experience for all of us, although fortunately it looked more gory and serious than it actually was as the wound was not that deep, but a bleeder.