Last night we lost a member of our family.  His name was Wolfie, a Welsh Corgi Pembroke.  He was 11 years old, and had not been sick a day in his life, until two weeks ago, when he was diagnosed with diabetes.  Then last week, we found out that he had 3 deteriated discs in his back and had lost the use of his back legs.  We took him for surgery, but he never recovered and we had to put him down.  I’m 64 years old, have had dogs my entire life, but this death has affected my wife and I more than all of the others.  He was the sweetest dog we ever had, and we miss him desperately.  I don’t know if this is because of my age and knowing my own mortality is just around the corner (figuratively speaking), but if there’s a heaven for animals, I know he’s looking down on us.

— James from Artesia, NM

This is a picture of my boy Wrigley. We really don’t know how old he was but he came to us 14 years ago from a college in Virginia where he was on his own. He was by far the best looking dog I ever saw and he was always by my side morning, noon and night. His best trick was he would smile if you told him to on command which was always a family favorite. Wrigley left us on October 31, 2012 and let me tell you it’s hard to come home at night knowing he won’t be there at the door. I hope one day to see him again.

— Gary from Stockton, NJ

Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror with disgust?  In January of 2002, I had the very unpleasant task of having to put my friend of 14 years down.  Murphy-Dog, an incredibly smart and very loving, Schnauzer who lived to play and wrestle, began having seizures two years prior and it scared my wife and I.  The vet had prescribed medication, but still the seizures came.  After each one, Murphy-Dog would have to re-orient himself with his surroundings and who we were.  That was tough watching him try to regain some sense of familiarity and yet, each time …he’d come through.  He also began drinking large amounts of water and that caused him to spot, which he really didn’t want to do.  We’d find these spots in inconspicuous places, which told us he was ashamed.  Such a great dog.  The seizures became more frequent over the next two years and then, finally, he started having them almost back to back.  The medication served no useful purpose and watching him became very painful.  Then, after suffering several attacks on one fateful evening, I carried him to our bed and tried to comfort him through the night.  Early in the morning, I awoke to a loud, but strange noise which turned out to be my friend, hard in the middle of a strong seizure, kicking the wall with all four paws.  I could do nothing but watch.  When he came out of it. I laid down beside him and just let him sniff me while I stroked his fur, spoke softly to him through my own tears and gave him as much love as I could.  It was time.  By 9am, we were at the vet’s office and I carried him into the room and that is where I let down my friend.  I couldn’t watch him take his final breath and retreated to the waiting area and broke down. It was quick. The vet came out and said it was over.  I retreated even further and rushed to my car where I spent the next half hour crying like baby. Understand something, I am hard nosed, truck driver which grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, fighting and acting tough all of my life and now, when my friend really needed me …I ran like a coward.

You see, two months earlier, we lost Murphy-Dog’s life long mate, Sophie, a beautiful white Schnauzer in a house electrical fire.  Our neighbor, who knew the dogs were trapped inside, broke down the front door and got Sophie first, but she had been taken by the smoke. He then went back into the fire and found Murphy-Dog and by the time he had made it back to the front door, he was on his knees crawling and the fire department met him there.  He also, was overwhelmed by the smoke but recovered as did Murphy-Dog.  Such heroism for two dogs.  And then …there’s me.

Losing Sophie and then Murphy-Dog in such a short time frame took a toll on me that I wasn’t prepared for.  The shame of abandoning my friend, in his final moments, stays with me and if I could take that back, I would give everything I have.  Here’s a lesson …stay with your friend in that moment and don’t spend the rest of your days looking at yourself with disgust as I do.  Learn from my mistake and love your friend, as equally as possible …as they love you.

— Tim from Plainview, TX

It is with heavy heart that I write this as my wife and I have come to the decision that it is time to put to rest our cherished family friend of 15 years.  She is suffering from the basic breakdown of a dogs body that occurs over what I would consider her extremely long life.  Since she was a puppy she has always been a house dog – curling up either next to our bed or in our bed when it was time to go to sleep.  A few months ago she started having extreme difficulties climbing the stairs to our bedroom so we made a bed for her downstairs.  She has been the most faithful kind loving dog that I have ever owned and my family will miss her deeply.  Thank you for giving me a forum to express my sadness.  Ruby RIP

— Greg from Riverside, CA

Buster kitty showed up on our doorstep.  He had a collar on him that was so tight his skin had grown around it. He was almost feral, but not quite.  He didn’t trust us at all, but he was starving.  We cut his collar off and started to feed him, outside. He filled out nicely, what a gorgeous tomcat!  Took him to the vet to get him his shots, get him checked out, get him fixed, and offer him a place in our home.

We found out Buster has FIV from his time outside.

Our vet said his future is unknown, but the choice was ours .  We would be perfectly reasonable if we were to put him down, but we did in fact have a choice.  We wondered why the Vet staff, usually so friendly, was so quiet when we came in to speak with the vet.  They thought they knew how this would turn out, and had all fallen for him during his stay with them while we decided.

(Dang the dust in here, making my eyes water up…)

With some very reasonable adjustments, Buster is now a member of our family.  He got very defensive when I brought the mail in one time (I was carrying a rolled up magazine) so I’m careful about that.  Can’t say what I’d do if i found out who caused him to have  that reaction.  I know what I’d do, I just can’t say.

He’s still trying to figure out showers – warm rain inside? What’s up with that???  15 pounds of Tomcat turning into loveable fuzzball is pretty cool.  He follows us around whenever we’re home.  Needless to say he gets lots of treats to make up for his year of living on the street.

Our favorite couch potato in training!!!

— Paulie from Madison, AL

We will do anything for our pets! In 2003, at 8 years of age, Babe, a Yorkshire Terrier, was a rescue from a breeding farm.  We cared for her and nursed her back to health. She was my buddy as we moved several times in the pursuit of jobs.  You don’t always have the benefit of having human friends, but a four-legged friend loves you unconditionally. Then four years ago, she developed an allergy to regular dog food.  After several vet hopping appointments, we found one who saved her life.  But at 17 years of age, she was in her decline.  For so long, I had tried to save her life that I had adopted a regimen to keep her alive which my daughter likens to hospice.  But in the end, my blind, Alzheimers affected, deaf Babe started to show signs that she was in pain and losing strength.  It is an agonizing decision but now I am at peace as she is, too.

— Teresa from Williams, IA