I just had to put my 15 year old dog to sleep and he was essentially my baby. I set up an appt with the vet because he was having troubles with his legs and asked my dad to take him in because I get emotional if there is any bad news what so ever. The night before- he was walking around perfectly fine and following my other dogs around. I really thought they would give him a shot of steroids and see how he did and if he wasn't better ina few weeks- reevaluate the situation.

At 9:30 am this past sat. my dad came into my room and woke him out of his peaceful slumber and I held him and kissed him over and over again and told him how much I loved him- just in case the worst happened. I was so convinced he was coming back, I started to drift off to sleep- just as I did, at 10:11- my dad walked into my room- crying and I knew- I started screaming and sobbing and begging Jesus that if my precious baby is with him to tell him how much I loved and still love him.

I know you are going thru your mind and researching the web and thinking, what could I have done differently- you sound like an amazing mother- and amazing mothers would not make the choice that you did without really understanding what a sacrifice they are making when they selflessly say- "I am going to put you before me- You won't be in any pain in the end- but I will be in pain for a long while."

The other thing I do know is that vets are animal lovers and they also make a profit off of anything they do to your animal- so if they thought that your loving dog had a better chance with some sort of procedure- they would have suggested anything they could think of. I have been to the vet with several other animals of mine that were ill and the last thing they have ever mentioned before this last weekend was putting the animal down.

Please stop reasearching and thinking of what you could have done or if such-and-such had happened maybe he could have pulled thru. Right now you need to obsolve yourself of any guilt and try to cry and cry and cry and know that no matter what, your baby is not hurting any more. I am praying for you right now because I feel your deep saddness and guilt hits me too- but that is not fair to either of us. Let me know how you are doing and I hope this helped and that you didn't take anything offensively- I would just hate to have you grieve your horrible loss and have guilt piled on top. What kind of dog did you have and what was his name? I pray that you will see him again some day, as do I with my own little joy- Hobbes (like calvin and hobbes- the comic book :o) God Bless you and keep you in his comfort. I am so so sorry for you.

My heart goes out to both of you in this horribly sad time. This is the worst loss you can suffer other then the loss of a human family member. Do not 2nd guess yourself. I will pray for you both. My prayers are with you.
Deb

I am so sorry for your loss but I am certain you did the right thing. If you search the net you could find a lot of stuff but how much of it is accurate? If the vet thought it was best he would have known best as he saw sunny and have had a better idea of sunnys symptoms. If you were terribly ill who would you trust - a doctor or what you found out on the internet? I know I'd put my bets on the doctor. Please don't beat yourself up about it I'm sure you did the best for Sunny and he's probably up there looking down being grateful to you (& wagging his tail).

Thank you all so much. It helps to know there are others who love their pets as much as I do. hairrocks, thanks. I know I need to stop searching the net. I can't bring him back and I am beginning to understand he wouldn't want me to unhappy. His name is Sunny, I named him that because that is what he was, all the time, sunny. Happy, smiling, playful and sweet. He even had a sense of humour. He did the silliest things just because he knew I thought it was funny and it would make me laugh or feel better. He was a beautiful collie mix.
The amazing thing about how I got him is...ever since I was a little girl I wanted a collie. In fact their was a childrens tv show that was giving away one of the original lassie's pups if you won a drawing contest. I made two drawings and sent them in. I didn't win 1st and get the pup, I got 2nd and got some little disney camera type thing.
Anyway back to sunny. I decided I wanted a collie for my daughter and myself. I searched 3 weeks in the paper. Every time I called on some they were gone. Then as I waited outside my daughters school, a lady pushing a carriage and pulling a puppy on the rope walked by and tied the puppy to a tree in front of me. Then she took off. She abandoned him! I watched not knowing what was going on and he got the rope loose and tried to follow her and was going to go into a busy street. I grabbed him and brough him into the car as my daughter was getting out of school. I saw the white of his eyes were all red and one was crossed, then I noticed he had a collar on him, so tight that I didn't know he had one at first. This collar was chocking him!All the fur was gone were it had been. Lord knows how long it had been like that.
We took him home, and kept him! He was the best dog ever!
Thank you everyone for your love and support. I am so glad I found others who love animals like I do and understand my grief at losing my wonderful best buddy. ((((huggs))))