My bed is so empty, my house is so quiet, my head hurts and my best friend is gone. No one to greet me at the door and get excited when I walked in the door after saying goodbye today… does this feeling get better?

Hi, I just need to reach out to a group that may have gone through similar right now. My heart is so broken. My sweet puggle died at 10 years old Saturday night as a result of AHDS complications. My mom brought him in first thing Saturday morning before the hemorrhage stuff even started, prior to blood in his stool. They got him on IVs and they said he’d be good to go Sunday morning around 4pm because he was doing so well. The next day, we find out he died overnight. They said it was within 20 minutes, and they suspected his blood thickened from the AHDS and caused a clot to go into his heart or lungs. The vet even said she was in disbelief.

It’s so hard because I’m so far from home at college right now, it just doesn’t feel real. I’ve taken a few days off school, but I can’t help but cry, wish I said a longer goodbye last time I saw him, or even accept that he’s actually gone because I haven’t been home and not seen him there. When I was home before and during college, he always loved spending time with me, and it feels like I’ve lost my best friend. Our other dog, his littermate is heart broken too and my heart is broken for him. I just keep looking through pictures and videos and crying and missing him. It feels like he was gone too soon because he had no health issues at all prior to this, and he’s been so happy and healthy. It’s like I can’t even say he wasn’t suffering anymore or anything, because his death was painful and abrupt. You never think a freak accident will happen to you or your pet, and I’ve had him since I was 10. I was hoping just to have someone here in a way, or someone to unfortunately relate to this, as I feel so alone right now. The world is so cruel sometimes :,( rest in peace Romeo I’ll miss you until the day I die :(((

I recently lost my cat that I’ve had for over 15 years last night. She had intestinal cancer, and the mass had gotten so big that it pinched off part of her intestine, making her unable to use the bathroom. Now, my family and I have known she was on the downhill for the past month, and she was given steroids to help with the pain. I was in the room when she was euthanized, and it was the first one I’d ever saw. I had to take a day off due to being so emotionally distraught. I’ve had pet losses in the past, but none of them ever hit as hard as Sophie, (my cat), has. The other losses I’ve had were due to pets being handed down to me through friends or family and they were already very old, so I never got to establish a strong bond with them. I know I need to give myself time to grieve, but I genuinely have no motivation to do simple things right now. Doing work, eating, cleaning, the whole thing. I can’t afford to take another day off, but I do not have any motivation to get anything done. Does anyone have any advice? This is very new territory for me, and I have another cat who is Sophie’s brother, so I fear for him to pass from the same thing. I just feel so lost right now and miss my Sophie girl. Any advice is welcome with dealing with grief or finding ways to motivate myself.

I am putting my dog to sleep on Tuesday and I really don't know what to expect. He is 13 years old coming up on 14 and he has DM (degernerative myelopathy) so he can barely walk and he has struggled with incontience for about 1 year now. We took him to the vet because his eye had a bump and he had some sort of eye infection. Vet noticed a lump on his testicle which we did not notice and we found out he has a huge tumor there. To top it off, his fecal test deemed him positive for worms.

Anyways, long story short DM by itself is pretty much terminal so the rest of the things just piled up and the vet told us that its pretty much time to make a decision and she told us that he is not living a good life with this disease.

After a month of sitting on the feedback he has gotten worse and started drinking his own urine and eating his poop, which he had never done before! We understand he is not living a good quality of life and decided to pull the plug next Tuesday.

I am not sure how to deal with this and I do not know what to expect when we go in that room. Any advice?

My sweet Lenny, I adopted him 2 and a half years ago as a senior dog that came with a heart murmur, that didn’t matter to me, he is my soul dog, my companion, he’s everything to me it’s just the two of us and then it’s just gonna be me… I wish I could for him my heart, I can’t bare the thought of being without him, everytime I try to make arrangements so his goodbye is comfortable at home I just lose it, I can’t focus at work I feel like a zombie, I don’t know what I’m gonna do without my baby

How do you ever get over this?? I don’t think I can keep going without him

We had 4 Chihuahua fur babies. Two girls and two boys. We started out with our first, a girl, who ended up getting pregnant weeks before she was set to be fixed. She had two boys and one girl that we never had the heart to give away. So for 16-15 years we've totted around 4 Chihuahuas all over the county. They've seen every ocean that touches the US, ran through the snowy mountains of Ohio/Kentucky/ both Virginias, rode out multiple hurricanes in Florida/Alabama and watched the balloons go up in New Mexico. We always joked that we were going to have a whole pack of little old geriatric dogs and in a sense I guess we did. After losing our oldest, our first fur baby together, our last remaining little girl went down hill immediately after. The vet thinks a broken heart put strain on her already aging heart and she passed two weeks and two days later. We're heart broken and are trying to keep it together for our two boys, so they don't feel the heart break too but it's so hard. My husband and I were never able to have children and don't know what we'll do with ourselves when both our boys eventually cross the rainbow bridge. Although this pain is something I would never ever wish on anyone I am so grateful for all the memories, laughter and unconditional love we were privileged to experience with them. Cherish every moment and every day because it goes so fast.

My dog passed away in the early morning hours on Sunday. She was battling kidney disease and dementia and on Friday she ate just a bite of food and still drank water and on Saturday she ate and drank nothing. By midnight the seizures began. I managed to get her to an emergency vet thinking they would give her an IV drip and hopefully some anti-nausea meds. I literally thought she was just dehydrated and nauseous (kidney disease does this). We arrived to the vets and while on the phone to my husband, she had a massive seizure. My husband spoke with the vet and vet said her quality of life is not good anymore. We made the call to let her go. I just don’t understand how she tanked so fast. I thought I had at least until summer with her. The way she passed was traumatic and not how I envisioned (not at a strange vet she was unfamiliar with).

The house is so empty. She was my world. My life ran around her and now my baby is not there. I don’t care what anyone says, I believe she is in Heaven now—pain free with no dementia and a totally healthy body. This is the only thing that gets me out of bed. My life feels so empty now without her presence in the house and the rhythm of caring for her. Last Thursday this time she was sleeping and I was reading on the bed next to her cage. None of this feels real.

on tuesday morning she went from otherwise healthy to critical, we tried everything we could but today she crossed the rainbow bridge in my arms

i just keep thinking how unfair it all is, she came into my life only 2 years ago as a small underweight kitten that climbed through my window and was became part of my soul, the hole in my heart she has left is immessurable and i feel like i will never get over this pain

i feel so guilty for all the times i didnt give her enough attention and i feel like this is all my fault, maybe if i had paid more attention or taken her earlier she would still be here with me, or maybe we gave up too early, but i didnt want to keep her in pain for an extra day for my own sake

i would do anything in the world for one more second with you cali, my fiesty spunky little girl, nothing will compare to the pain i feel right now having lost you and i long for the day we can be together once more, i dont think i will ever feel love like this ever again, all i can think about is how special you were and no cat will ever compare to you my baby girl, i almost couldnt walk into the house because i remember how you used to wait for me

Hi everyone. I currently have a 15 year old pointer mix. Her name is Lucy. Im just feeling like I don’t know what to do. My husband made an appointment to put her down in a week. For over a year she’s been peeing herself so she’s been on medication to help her not pee on herself. She has SEVERE mental issues. Very bad anxiety to the point she doesn’t even sleep at night. She’s had that ever since she was rescued but it’s now worse as she ages. Just within the last couple of weeks, her back end isn’t working right. She’s been walking all wobbly and she can barely hold up her back end. She’s not in pain, but it’s like she just lost ability to walk normal and stand up. When she squats to go to the bathroom, she can barely hold her butt up off the ground. She still eats and drinks just fine and she has some energy. She just can’t move the way she used to. This is the first dog I’ve ever put down. I’m at a loss because every other animal I’ve had growing up was super super sick when they were put down. And my Lucy is old… but I just don’t know if it’s time yet. My husband is certain that she needs to be put down and he thinks it will end her mental and physical aging and suffering. Has anybody gone through this??

We had to put down our nearly 11 year-old loyal companion this past January. He was a 75 lb humane society mutt spared the needle in Texas by bringing him to Colorado for adoption as a puppy. We knew he had inoperable cancer, but was doing pretty good through New Year's. He had a rapid downhill slide leading to that final ride to the vet on a late Tuesday afternoon. He still jumped into the back of our SUV on his own, but hardly made past the initial sedative injection before passing. My family was a mess, but we did clean-up his stuff that evening, including washing his bowls and collecting his toys/bones.

The next three days were too melancholy and quiet in the house. We made it until Saturday before heading back to the same humane society for a visit. Our new 3-month old super-mutt friend came home that Sunday. He just had his first birthday and is now 65 lb.

The best way to cure grief over loss of a dog is get a new dog! There are always deserving dogs available who need your love and attention. Our new pup is very "special" and a great addition to the family!

I burried him yesterday and i just dug him up (the vet that i took him to posted a video of him as a cute client not knowing that he had died that is why i lost it ) i kissed him many times and told him i was so sorry then i burried him back...

I hate my younger self for not understanding the capacity of an animal’s life, if I did then I wouldn’t have let my budgie die from neglect. I wished I had sooner stopped getting more cockatiels after losing one after another, treating them like expendables. The only way I can honour them now (to a small extent) is to keep their names close to me.

I am comfortable with never owning a pet bird again, I don’t want to possibly neglect an animal that I love with all my heart.

I hate myself more than anything now. It might just be my fault she died. She was amazing and got me through the worst points of my life and I let her down. She died overnight and I couldn't even be there to comfort her just because I was so delusional to think a visit to emergency vet would solve everything. I'm so sorry Cherry, I know I failed you and hurt you so bad like this. I should've seen your pain. I should've seen what you needed most right then was me. I should've never put you in such a stressful situation.

I lost my bestest boy unexpectedly 7 weeks ago today (friday in aus) and this grieving process has been a strange one. I seemed relatively ok for the first 2 weeks - pretty sure I was in a shock bubble. The next 3 weeks were awful. Didn't eat, couldn't sleep (still can't) a roller-coaster of emotions.

On the 6th of oct a close family member was moved into hospice care. I've been spending my days up there trying to put a brave face on and i guess I've sort of pushed aside grieving my dog and I'm starting to feel horrible about it. I try to be cheerful when I visit my family member as I want his last days to be good ones but at the same time I feel like I'm giving off the impression that losing my best pal is old news? It's like i can't grieve and dig deep and rally for my family at the same time or maybe I don't have the mental capacity? I'm not sure but I'm starting to spiral. Before the whole hospice dealie I wanted to be alone. Didn't want to see anybody and no interest to even leave the house literally any task was a giant mission. I guess I'm venting here to aee if anyone else has experienced similar? I feel so scattered. My brain is super busy and spinning, I'm like a ball of nervous energy or on the verge of a nervous breakdown Ned Flanders style

Hi everyone,

I had to say goodbye to my baby girl of 12.5 years on Monday Oct 12.

She started having symptoms Nov 2025 and I finally got her into internal med for consult and ultrasound in January. We started her on b12 supplements at that time. March she was scheduled for upper and lower endoscopy with biopsies. It came back as small cell GI Lymphoma and IBD. We started her on steroids. She was doing great on the b12 and steroids untill the end on June. She started vomiting and having bowel issues in July. Steroids were increased and MiraLAX then started with Cerenia as needed. She continued to have issues off and on through august. Sept 16 she had an echo that came out pretty good so steroids were Increased again and she started chemo pills everyday Sept 27. I had noticing her eating less for a while now and I would give her some Mirataz they gave me in July when I noticed she wasn’t eating as much. Well this past Friday she pretty much stopped eating and she was restless not sitting in one spot for more than 30 min, she seemed sad and totally not herself. So Monday I took her in for a quality of life assessment. In my head I knew there was nothing else we could do that the cancer must have progressed but my heart was saying there had to be something else we can do. She had lost 1.6 lbs from sept 16-Oct 12. Her regular doctor agreed that it was time and believed the cancer did progress.

I am now on day 4 and I keep reliving that day, I can’t stop crying and thinking about her. I also keep having the battle in my brain of was it too soon, could I have done more. I just don’t know what to do I am absolutely heartbroken.

My dog passed away yesterday in the early evening. He was 13yrs old. My DIL noticed he was breathing heavier than normal 2 days ago. We did an ultrasound, X-rays and bloodwork. All with no real information to glean. The vet thinks it was neurological. She prescribed pain meds to try to make him more comfortable and to follow up with her before the vet closed. There was no change after the pain meds. He was laying down doing this weird thing with his mouth and I called the vet. I was on the phone with her when he passed. He was in my arms, on his favorite spot of the couch and the pain meds helped him sleep and he just passed in his sleep.

I thought he was going to be ok. I thought the pain meds would take care of whoever was going on and I’m just devastated.

He’s my heart dog. No dog will ever be like him. He was the best boy. He’s in every photo from our wedding.

I took him to the company that does the cremation and picked out an urn (same as our other dogs who have already passed), a clay paw print and my mom bought me a beautiful necklace they had there and that will have a little bit of his ashes in it.

I really thought he was going to be ok.

Send me pictures of your border collies! That’s what he was.

We lost our 10 year old golden retriever to a hemangiosarcoma last weekend. This is cancer of the heart. We had her at the vet on Saturday and they diagnosed her and she died in the night. We are struggling so much as it was so sudden. Although she was 10 she was in relatively good health playing outside and going for walks. How could this have happened.

So I had these 2 beautiful ginger boys: Herkules and Spartakus since i was 13 and i took both of them with me when i moved out of my moms place at 17

Ever since then both of them have been my entire life. Every day after work i was so happy to be greeted by both of them

Spartakus would always either wait in his cattree by the door or wait right before the door as soon as he heard me and he would talk so much. It felt like he would always tell me about his day and everything he experienced. And then there was herkules on the couch just observing and quietly meowing at me to tell me hello as well

And now its been 2 years and 16 days since my little guy Spartakus has passed. He was only 10 years old and for some unexplained reason his health deteriorated fast these 2 years ago. No matter to which vet or specialist i went and no matter how much money i spent i couldnt save him. It ended with him just getting thinner and thinner and not eating properly anymore and one day he collapsed in front of my eyes. I took him to the emergency vet straightaway on a sunday and the only thing she could do is euthanize him then and there which absolutely broke me.

I couldnt stop crying for months afterwards and i kept seeing him laying on that damn vet table just thin, frail and euthanized.

Tbh I still see that picture of him just randomly popping into my head quite frequently since he has passed.

I still have his brother herkules by my side and i give him all of the love in the world and i love him to death. There is nothing i wouldnt do for that cat.

I guess since its kinda the time of his passing in autumn / winter i got reminded a lot of him and had to get all of this of my chest somehow.

Thank to whoever may read this and may you find peace in whatever you are doing

Im gonna go cuddle with my cat now

So I was just showering. Everything was normal. Then I burst into tears out of nowhere. I sat down on the floor with the shower running to drown out those loud, hard sobs. It really felt like I couldn't take it anymore.

I just made a post yesterday about my soul dog, Indy passing extremely suddenly while under the care of her extremely loving grandparents while my husband and I were on a business trip.

We had been gone 4 days at that point last seeing her Friday and her passing on Monday/Tuesday morning.

Indy was my world. Truly my everything and an appendage of me and me, her.

While I know she is anxious while we are away, she does love my parents and their house has everything she loves to do surrounded by nature and a lake. She had a wonderful day of fun that day.

But how do I possibly cope with the fact that I was gone when she passed. I'm terrified she was looking for me even though she passed in less than an hour. How do I cope with not being able to see her or feel her or kiss her one more time. To have not been able to speak to her while she passed.

I'm simply absolutely devastated and shattered and don't know how to carry on.

Hi.

I got this new kitten back in July just two days before my first cat got sick. We spent the next month fighting his heart disease, but in the end, he still passed away. It's been 40 days, and I've been devastated ever since.

He was my soul cat, my whole world. I also have a dog who has been with me even longer than my cat was, but there was something about him that made him the most special soul in my entire existence. I don't think I've gotten any better since losing him, even though I'm still functioning and going about my daily life.

The problem is, I can't seem to connect with this new kitten. I keep comparing her to my boy, and everything about her seems to fall short. He was the gentlest soul, so calm and sweet, while she's a hyperactive little kitten who is constantly running around and getting into things. I even think that her meows aren't as sweet as his were.

I feel guilty because I was the one who brought her home in the first place. I wanted my boy to have a feline companion, a little sister, because he had grown up with my dog and had only ever really known life with me and my dog. I thought having another cat around would be good for him. But the timing was terrible. He got sick and passed away so quickly, before they even had a chance to build a bond. I never imagined things would turn out this way.

I'm grieving my boy and now I feel even more heartbroken because I can't seem to connect with the kitten. I know she isn't a replacement for my boy, but part of me keeps expecting her to be something she can never be. I know it's unfair to her, and I feel terrible about feeling this way. But I just can't seem to give her the love she deserves right now. All I can think about is my boy, and I can't help wishing she were him instead. Should I give up on her and find her a new home that can love her for who she is? I feel so guilty about not being able to love this kitten the way she deserves, but I also don't know how to stop grieving my boy. I don't want her to spend her life being compared to a cat she could never be, and I don't want to keep feeling this way either.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? Did you struggle to bond with a new pet after losing your soul cat, especially when you got the new pet just before your first one passed away?

I would really appreciate hearing your experiences and any advice you might have.

as the title says. My cat passed in 2023 due to someone taking him from me too early, I still am not over it. I keep thinking about if I had gotten there quicker maybe he would’ve lived, maybe he would’ve been able to see me go to college.

I think about how I wasn’t able to say goodbye to him while he was still here alive, I try not to think about if he was in pain, the vet told me he wasn’t but I’m not sure I believe that. When I did go see him to say goodbye in the vets he was so cold, he’s never been that cold, he was always so warm. The cold feeling has never left my hands, he was so cold, I tried to warm him up with his favourite blanket that I took with me, he was still cold. its been years and I still can’t get that cold feeling off of my hands, I still can’t get over him like my family has. he was my everything, an old friend got me a teddy that looks jus like him, it has his collar on. His name was Olaf, he did infact like warm hugs, he loved hugs.

We got a new cat recently, exact same breed, Looks exactly like him. I can’t look at him, he only reminds me of Olaf. I tried talking to my family about this but they just tell me to move on. How can I move on when my entire world was ripped from me. I miss him so much, The new cat plays exactly like him, meows like him, interacts with me like him. but he’s not Olaf. No one’s told me any ways I can cope with his loss, no one’s taught me its okay to not move on, no one’s taught me anything about loss. I’ve just been dealing with this entirely alone for years.

I don’t know why I’m making this post, maybe it’ll make me feel better maybe not. I don’t know if I used the right flair, I’m not really thinking straight right now. Cant figure out if i can put two flairs so advice is welcomed.

Hi this is my first time writing on here. I'm just trying to make sense of what happened. I 34 f, had gotten my dog Ollie 2 years ago. He was a half Australian shepherd mix so he was always filled with so my energy and always so happy to see me. He used to do this thing where he was get an item of my clothing to greet me when I get home. I truly loved him, so it makes what happened so much more heart broken. Whenever I hit home he would jump me and hug me, like literally wrap his paws around me. For context I live on the second floor of my apartment complex and the stairs are like a foot from my entrance door. I open my door to Allie jumping as usual, he was so excited and I just remember him flipping and next thing I know he's going down the stairs, body stiff, like he was having a seize moment, he gasped twice and next thing I know he was gone. All I could do was cry out his name, but I knew he was gone. I eventually got a hold of family and had his body taken to an emergency vet where I got one last moment with him. I feel so numb and empty and all I could think about is what I could have done differently. Or what happened. The vet said he likely twisted his neck when he fell. I'm so devastated and I don't know how to cope. I just really needed to get this out. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

This is the second time I've lost a cat, and I honestly thought I'd be able to handle it better this time. But I was wrong. I'm still a complete wreck.

The grief, sadness, and most especially, guilt are eating me alive. It's so hard to focus, even when I try to keep myself distracted. I still find myself crying out of nowhere, and some moments are just harder than others. I keep replaying everything in my head, going over every little detail and wondering if there was anything I missed, anything more I could have done, or anything I could have done differently to save her. I can't stop thinking about the what-ifs, and it's exhausting.

The first time I lost my boy, I felt like I was able to move on relatively quickly. I kept telling myself that my other cats needed their mom to be strong for them, and I didn't want them to feel upset because of me. Looking back, I think I just suppressed my grief instead of actually processing it.

Now, three years later, I've lost my beloved girl after watching her fight for her life at the vet, and the pain is unbearable. I can physically feel the pain, like there's a weight pressing down on my chest. She was only 3 years old. We were supposed to have so much more time together. It's just so unfair.

And seeing my other cats at home grieving, too, makes everything even more heartbreaking. I'm hurting so much, and knowing that they're hurting, too, makes me wish I could take all their pain away.

I know grief takes time, but right now, everything feels so heavy. I miss her so much, and I'm struggling to come to terms with the fact that she's really gone.

For those who have lost a beloved pet, how did you cope with the grief? How did you deal with the guilt and the feeling that you should have done more? How did you learn to live with the loss?

I'd really appreciate any advice or words of comfort. I just want to know that I'll be okay again someday.

Hi, I wanted to post some photos but I don’t know how.

Sometime last night my brothers little cat Maximus was struck by a car and killed. My mother found her on the way to work this morning, they had been looking for her when she didn’t come home the night before.

She was the funniest and most beautiful little cat. She didn’t like to cuddle unless she chose to, which made you feel so special when she came to you for affection. She was my brothers baby, and my dad’s favourite cuddle cat.

We had tried for the first year we had her to keep her inside, but she kept getting out and eventually once she was big enough we started letting her out during the day. Please don’t be cruel in the comments, there were a lot of reasons for why we let her out instead of keeping her inside.

I wanted to make this post because I don’t know how to help. Or what to do. I just wanted more people to know about Max, because she was the best. For the people out there who lost a young cat like this, how did you move through it?