I have always owned a dog. When I was 10 yrs old my parents for Christmas that year bought me a dog, a beagle, that they named Bourbon. Bourbon was just a wonderful dog. He was playful, loving and just brought a sense of happiness to our home. When he was about a year old he developed a breathing problem that we just thought was allergies. He wouldn’t get the “hack” as we called it unless it got warm and the flowers were in bloom. My mom would go to the butcher shop and boil down the scraps that they sold for his food. He also loved table scraps. He would eat beef stew but not the peas. He would like every single pea clean of the stew gravy while leaving them in the bowl. He also ate Chinese food, but his favorite without a doubt was Italian. My mom would make spagetti sauce and he would get a small bowl with spagetti and sauce in it. He never begged at the table nor bothered anyone while they were eating. When my grandparents would come for Christmas my grandfather would bring ravioli and keilbasa. The minute he would walk through the door, there was Bourbon following him and the bag with all the “goodies” in it. He got some of each.
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I was standing outside my photo studio and heard a noise from above, and a cat fell into my arms. He had fallen off a seven-story roof of an office building fighting every inch of the way down.

The blood from his paws stained my shirt and I took care of him until his owners saw him and reclaimed him.

He was so loyal to me, at my feet every minute of the day, that it convinced me to to own my own cats.

I found two kittens from a litter of Manx and took them in. But, one of the fraternal twins was not long for the world. He was the most ‘spritely’ spirit . . . one of those rare cats who loved to play fetch. He died in my arms of kidney failure.

I am 6’6″ and 300 lbs, but the tears came like a broken faucet.

To this day, I take extraordinary care of his brother, Bubbah . . . and a photo of Boo-Boo hangs framed on the wall in my studio.

Christ came upon the mourners crying for Lazarus, but Jesus cried not for Lazarus, but the grieving friends and family. There is a lesson there.

Leonard from NM

This is a story of incredible love and loyalty. My father had a close friend named Russ. Russ was married for 50 years when his beloved wife died of cancer. This was the most devastating thing that could possibly happen to this man and he mourned her until he died. About three years after she passed, Russ had a stray dog show up on his porch. A scraggly looking mutt that he let in and fed. Well once you do that, you own him. So Russ and this dog, which he named Biscuit became very close and were always together. Russ had a vacation home in Baja, Mexico and he and Biscuit used to go there about once a year for a few months. Then, in 2001, Russ’s sister passed away and his family tried to reach him but couldn’t. They knew he was in Mexico so his cousin went there to find him. When he got to the house, he found that Russ had died and next to him was Biscuit, also dead. As it turned out, Russ had a massive stroke and had died on the floor of his living room. Biscuit had died of starvation. There was a bag of dog food on the kitchen floor that was torn open and there was still food in it. The dog had lost his will to live without Russ and had starved himiself to death, even though there was still food. He was laid to rest at Russ’s feet in his coffin and the urn with his wife’s ashes in his right hand. The headstone reads: Here lies Russ, Elma and Biscuit, forever together.

Ed from WA

Mark,
My most sincere sympathy goes out to you. Over the years I have had to put 3 cats down and it is a pain that cannot be described. There is, however, another way to look at this that might make you feel better. Our pets are members of our families, making this decision so very difficult. On the other hand, if this was a person you would be forced to watch them in pain to the bitter end with no chance of relieving their suffering. With our pets we do have the opportunity to close the book once they’ve lost the quality of life. It is a remarkable gift that we can give to our pets that we cannot give to our human family members. I hope this makes you feel better.

Paula from Ohio

One hot summer day, I pulled into the parking lot of a local restaurant and spotted a cute little dog sitting in the middle of the parking lot. The precious little dog was sitting by a car that was parked in the handicapped parking space. A woman was holding the dog when I walked up and I asked if it was her dog. She responded no and asked me if I wanted a dog? It was so hot outside, her fur was all matted, she had no collar and the parking lot was on a very busy road.

I said to my daughter, “I can’t leave her here. Put her in the car.” When we got her home, we realized she was covered with fleas and had to keep her locked up in the utility room even after we bathed her. We could not allow her near our other dog, Tasha because of the fleas.

We did not know what to do with her, but we figured she was abandoned. We had her groomed and dipped. The groomer told us she was a purebred Lhasa Apso.

We tried to locate an owner, but to no avail. We decided to keep her. In no time she stole my heart and soon, the hearts of my daughter and husband. My daughter named her Brandy.

She became the light of our lives. My husband adored her and so did I. She was full of life and loved to play with her toys and chase squirrels.
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I rescued a dog from a shelter she was about 2 and 1/2 she was very abused and we had her for about 7 years. She had the same thing that your dog had the running around in circles and thought it was a brain tumor. I decided to put her down to sleep that day and was so hard. My neighbor came with me. I held her in my arms and the vet just kept on telling me when to talk to her. I stayed a long time. It is two months now and I was very depressed didn’t want to do anything etc. It was so hard but she is not suffering any more

Doreen from NY