Our dog Lucia has been ailing for a couple of months. Several vet visits, lots of medication, and she's just been going down hill. Less active. Not finishing her food--really unusual, LOL, losing weight. Breathing loudly. We were goibng to take her back to the vet this morning and urge him to put her "to sleep." She spared us that decision. We were watching TV, on a channel that has weather updates at the bottom of the screen (wind, thunder and lightning, even tornados possible), and Lou was on my lap. Just before the thunder started, her breathing slowed and then stopped. She had a few spasms over the next few minutes.
Those spasms got to me! I wondered if my death will be like that. Having been with a few cancer patients as they died, I've been assuming that my death will be "easy", just like going to sleep. (Swear words!) Scary! This blasted cancer sure changes how we see things...it least it has for me!
We are dog and cat people and have lost several pets since I was diagnosed, but this was the roughest death by far!
Have others here reacted differently to a pet's death than before cancer?
We've had cats ever since we got married and had at least one ddog most of the time. I'm going to resist getting another dog because I don't want our kids to have to deal with that when we've both died! Sigh. But if one shows up, I won't turn them away! LOL
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PJBinMI
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Pets are family even if they have four legs. So sorry for your loss. Glad you were able to be with her in the last moments. Enjoy all those great memories you have of Lucia. Our Teddy died 2 weeks after my husband. I still tell great stories of them both even though that was 17 years ago.
Thank you so much for sharing. I had a beloved 5 year old cat die last autumn in a horrible manner…seizing as I drove at top speed to the vet ER. I am still not recovered.
Strangely, I observe in myself - since the MBC diagnosis- a growing callousness, a previously uncharacteristic ability to cope with the loss of humans with less pain. With MBC, there’s so much DAILY loss - loss of future dreams, goals, Loss of “yourself” (I am in chemical menopause) and the slow chipping away of my brain’s previous high functioning and energy levels from the CDK4/6 inhibitors.
Yet the death of my beloved cat simply undid me. Far more than recent/ post MBC diagnosis deaths of humans and/or relationships. I can’t make sense of it. I can’t even write this without weeping.
I agree with you, I cope with the loss of humans but in my case only if they’re elderly people. I’m very touched by the deaths of young people and pets. If I read an obituary of someone who passed away young or my age (I’m 55) sometimes I think about it for a long time even if it’s someone I’ve never met. I have five cats and I’m very worried about their future, I think it’s a burden I’ll leave on my husband.
So very sorry for your loss! I lost one of my two rescues a couple of months ago after cherishing her company for over ten years. It is definitely the worst part of pet ownership. My thoughts and prayers are with you. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🐾🐾
Very sorry to hear this. Pets bring such love and comfort to us. I lost two precious dogs one a few years ago and the other just prior to my MBC diagnosis. Both died peacefully. However there is not a day that I don’t miss them terribly. I would love to foster a dog, but the reality is I can’t at this time. It is hard to have a life without animals but that is what it is for now. Fortunately I have neighbors with nice dogs who I spoil with heaps of attention. Sorry for your loss. You will be in my prayers
so sorry to hear about the death of your pet. Our GS/husky jyst hasn’t seemed right recently. I’m hoping it’s just that he doesn’t like the heat. I feel your pain. Hugs Chris
so very sorry about Lucia. Pets are such companionship and become such an important part of our lives it’s so hard when they cross the rainbow bridge. ❤️
Dear PJinMI - I am so sorry for your loss. Dog deaths are tough. There is no denying it. It is hard to believe it but I still miss our family dog Rodney who died in the eighties. When everyone in the family was having an angry time of it, if Rodney came by, we would stop our shenanigans long enough to lean down and pet him.
Oh my goodness, please accept my deepest condolences. I understand how you are feeling about losing a beloved part of your family and seeing things through the eyes of cancer which can be a very new view for many of us. I too have lost 3 beloved dogs in the last two years.....one was very young from kidney failure, one was very old and he could no longer be the dog he was, and my last beautiful girl was playing with her rope with me jumping around and having a blast of a time (she just turned 7) and we came back inside from playing and she laid down on her bed and just like that....was gone in a split of a second from a massive heart attack. With each one's passing I told my husband, no more because I don't know how long I have......and I cried and grieved and just stopped doing things, anything, all things, and lost hope. And with each one, my husband showed up with a new pup a few months into my being lost in grief.....and my kids and husband promised me that they will take care of any and all of them and love them no less than I do so that I could keep living and enjoy my life rather than start giving up in anticipation of my losing my life. I'm blessed, our vet is a very close and dear friend to me as are many of the people who work with her. My two daughters and my husband will take care of my brood should I go first.....My fur kiddos have become the focus on my battles and this war with my own body and they give me the strength to get up and fight every morning. I'm so very sorry for your loss. You will be in my thoughts and prayers and I hope that if it is right for you and your husband, perhaps the perfect pup will show up in your life, because we only live and thrive when we allow ourselves to be alive and live each day to the fullest. Life is so fragile, fun and beautiful, wishing you the best of all of it! Take care......
I’m sorry to hear of your dog. They are part of the family. We had to put our Westie to sleep last year. She had lymphoma. When she just watched a squirrel walk across the yard we knew it was time. I had a terrible time. But the a little Sparky came onto our lives by accident and I knew he was meant for us. He’s the spark of my life, as I now don’t know what to without him. Again I’m so sorry for your loss. Hugs
Thank you to all who've replied! It's good to know I'm not alone! We're going to doonate our unused dog food to the county animal shelter and may adopt an older dog. The folks there all know my husband and they asked us to adopt Lucia about 5 1/2 years ago and I'm sure they'll find a great dog for us. Simething funny my husband has said about missing Lucia--he'll most miss her eating any food that falls on the floor. Now, he'll have to pick it up! Living in old bodies can be rough, eveen without cancer!
I am so very sorry for your loss. Losing a pet is very difficult. They become an important part of our family and love us unconditionally. We had to put our sweet dog down a few years ago and it was one of the hardest things I have done. I'm sure you have many wonderful memories and pictures of your dog. Hope those will bring you some comfort. Sending you hugs and prayers.
It's so sad to lose a furry family member. Last fall we lost our dear 16 year old cat whom we loved so much. Over time the loss, while just as deep, becomes less immediately part of each day. Hang in there ❤
I am so sorry for your loss. My Libby is 14 this year and I often dread the thought of loosing her. She is my constant sidekick and I know when she passes I will miss her greatly.
I’m so sorry for the loss of your fur baby. I have two rescues that are both around 4 years old now. My Mom loves her grand dogs and they have been great therapy dogs for my whole family. Your fur baby is flying free and will always be with you. They are family forever.
So sorry for your loss! I have two dogs that are 10 and 11, so we will be dealing with this, but hopefully not for a few years. We had two dogs that died before my diagnosis and that was hard but I think losing these two will be more difficult. They are such emotional support!
So sorry to hear. But I have to say I think it’s truly beautiful that you were with her.
I can’t imagine how it would be to lose my darling little girl. I just keep hoping I go before her. And thank you so much fo speaking about the death and dying of you! I am often found daydreaming about how that will be for me. I actually find it interests me more than most people here. I’m not so scared of the death part. Just the getting there.
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