I sad day at home today OT

[Captain Neon]

Sorry for your loss Don. When I lost my Irsh Setter, Red, I felt it more deeply than any woman that I have ever lost. He use to set in the back of my car with his head on my shoulder. Sometimes when I drive I can still feel it there. I'll bet you have a lot of similar memories and maybe they will ease the pain. It's all worth it. Frank

Without getting too weird, I could have sworn for at least two weeks after we put Sophocles down that I would see him duck around a corner in our house in Colorado. He used to sleep with us every night, after we all moved to Colorado. For two weeks after he said good-bye, I thought that he was still sleeping in his same familiar spot on the bed.

It's been almost a year and an half, and I still think about him often. He never did go any where in my P15. He enjoyed trips from Arkansas to Minnesota in my Neon, but never liked just going for a drive to the store or to get a bite to eat. He was always afraid that it was a trip to the vet for his regular check-up.

I still feel bad that I made him stick around too long while the vet tried to figure out what was wrong with him. It was either pancreatic cancer (which they said was rare in cats) or a thyrod condition that was causing him to seize. I didn't believe in the geriatric blood tests as every pet I'd ever had before then always got sick with something obvious.

Now that Gunpowder is at the verge of being geriatric (7 in a few weeks), I intend to have him take the regular blood tests once the vet recommends them. He hates going to the vet even more than Sophocles did, but had I been able to rule out a thyroid condition with Sophocles I wouldn't have kept him around for an extra day hoping that the oncologist would rule out pancreatic cancer.

It was a bad day on 11 November 2007. I had put my P15 up for the winter, and Sophocles had two seizures that night from what was discovered to be a diabetic coma from his pancreas, liver, kidneys, and finally intestines being eaten away by cancer. Seemed perfectly fine until that night when he had the seizures. I think he enjoyed the 3 months that he lived in Colorado.

Looking back, I now realise that his inability to gain weight despite eating and drinking regular, and his near obsession with sitting on laps and sleeping with us were symptoms of his cancer. The cancer used more energy than he could eat and he was always cold and needed someone to keep him warm. We just thought it was a symptom of being older, until that night. It was so sudden we actually thought that he had gotten into some poison.

[123.gramps]

Got to say been there. Had a bad time last year when my bud Murphy, 16 years old had to be put down. I am now afraid of getting another, I'm getting old and don't want to have friend that I leave behind with no one to take care of him.

[Joel Torres]

sorry for your loss

i lost my shanook a couple years back when he escaped and got hit by a car i was heart broken real bad i didn't want another one but my wifes persistence we went to see his kids that where just born and orig i didn't want any of his kids but i went to see them and i fell in love with his exact clone

i know it wont be the same but what if you adopted another of the same dog from the pound and save his life i know Mick Jagger would not get jealous

as long as you leave room for him on the bed too

here my boy when he was a puppy he was so evil lol

[55 Fargo]

Condolences to you Don. These Pocches become real members of the family........

[Olddaddy]

Add me to the list of those who share your loss and wish you all the best. I lost my old boy Buck last year at age 11, and Georgia, his mother is 14 and will not last out the summer. They've been better to me than I ever was to them and I miss him, and will miss her for as long as I live till I go to find them when I lay down for the last time.

[Johnny S]

My condolences on the loss as well Don .... one of the more difficult decisions one has to make. Our last loss like that was 4 years ago now but the memories remain. And, our 14 year old Springer .... Sierra .... was hurting pretty badly when the time came. In fact I think we really waited too long in retrospect. But, we jumped right back on the bandwagon within the first 30 days and now have a 4 going on 5 year old "Wonder Dog" female yellow lab .... who goes with us pretty much everywhere. Different dogs ... different personalities but both wonderful pets always.