Loss Of Shellie Options

[tobin]

yesterday i had to have my dog, my friend, shellie put to sleep. she had an enlarged heart and the doctor said he had gone as far as he could with treatments. her rapid heartbeat and breathing problems were worse every couple of weeks. i knew the pain i would feel would be bad but i did not realize it would be this unbearable. i got shellie 8 years ago whenshe was 9 weeks old, got her for my wife...when i lost my wife, shellie and my mother became very close...when i lost my mother, shellie and i became even closer. i prayed that god would make her well as i know he could but that did not happen. now what should i think? i did not want to come home today knowing she would not be there. people will always say, it will get better with time but that is not very comforting. some say it is crazy to feel this way, after all it was only a dog BUT to me shellie was much much more than that to me. i have not felt this kind of agony since i lost my wife and quite honestly, i just don't know what to do or how to function. let my feelings show and to heck what people will think, or bottle it all up. i am usually a strong fella but the loss of my 4 legged, tail waggin little shellbell has put me down. talk about being depressed....what to do? anyone have any thoughts that could be of help to me, please..

[ann]

Hi Tobin, I don't believe the chemicals from the swifter did harm to your Shellie. It doesn't seem long enough time to do damage like that. I'm sure it was heretity.(I think I spelt that wrong, but you know what I mean)..No one here tires of hearing about your feelings. It's a support group, we all help eachother. Until we feel we can move on again. It's totally OK..The more you talk about Shellie, the faster you'll heal. We all feel your pain. We all understand. As for getting another pet, only your heart wil let you know if or when it will be right. Yes the pain of losing them is overwhelming, but the happiness they give us while they are here is so worth it, so rewarding. That is entirely up to you and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Greive for Shellie as you see fit and don't be ashamed as to how long it takes.
I'll never forget when we got Arthur. Here he was this tiny cute innocent kitten. It had been 16 years since I lost my other cat. I thought I had moved on in all that time. I had this strange feeling like my heart was trapped around a wall of some sort. I couldn't love Arthur, I couldn't even call his name, I called him baby. But then I did fell for him. Point I'm trying to make is that we never really get over the loss we just push it aside and move on..It will get better...Hugs..Ann