My Beautiful Baby Options

[Kristinak]

Last night, my baby was put to sleep....she died happy, eating from a bowl of treats before she just went asleep. She was a 14 1/2 year old Labrador Retriever. She had severe arthritis, she was taking multiple doses of codeine a day to keep the pain down. The past few months she could hardly walk, could hardly get up (she couldn't at all if she was lying down on a linoleum floor), and she could only stand for about a minute, because it was too hard for her....we had to carry her out to the backyard for her to do her business, because she couldn't walk there herself...and it was hard for her to control her bowel movements, so usually she would start doing her business while we were taking her down the stairs outside.... and the past month and a half she just stopped wagging her tail. I saw her wag it slightly maybe twice, since. And she was such a happy dog.

I miss her so much....I love her so much.... I had her since she was a puppy, and I have been through so much with her. and what hurts is that I even feel guilt, like did I do the right thing by putting her down.... is this normal? please.... please help me...I don't know what to do and how to cope with this.

[Sassy]

Last night, my baby was put to sleep....she died happy, eating from a bowl of treats before she just went asleep. She was a 14 1/2 year old Labrador Retriever. She had severe arthritis, she was taking multiple doses of codeine a day to keep the pain down. The past few months she could hardly walk, could hardly get up (she couldn't at all if she was lying down on a linoleum floor), and she could only stand for about a minute, because it was too hard for her....we had to carry her out to the backyard for her to do her business, because she couldn't walk there herself...and it was hard for her to control her bowel movements, so usually she would start doing her business while we were taking her down the stairs outside.... and the past month and a half she just stopped wagging her tail. I saw her wag it slightly maybe twice, since. And she was such a happy dog.

I miss her so much....I love her so much.... I had her since she was a puppy, and I have been through so much with her. and what hurts is that I even feel guilt, like did I do the right thing by putting her down.... is this normal? please.... please help me...I don't know what to do and how to cope with this.

Oh you beautiful soul,

I'm so sorry that your best friend is no longer at your side to snuggle with and talk to and Merlin is correct this is all very fresh for you at the moment, while I didn't realize it at the time, I think shock is the state we are all in shortly after losing our best friends.

Having lost my best friend Sassy 3 weeks ago I know what you are going through.

And while it makes no sense now and all you want is for her to be back with you, you made the right decision for her, because I am sure that any amount of time suffering was too long and you would have done and HAVE done whatever it took to ensure she was safe and comfortable and no longer in pain.

If the truth be known, we don’t want our friends with us if they are in pain, we want them with us only if they are healthy, because making them suffer so we can have them closer isn’t part of our love for them.

Each of us grieves differently, I was very open and needed to be surrounded by her things, I still carry her ashes from room to room so she is still with me, I sleep with a trinket around my neck that reminds me of her, many little rituals to get me through.

Take your time and do whatever you need to do to get through each day.

Post what you can when you can and tell us some stories about your little girl after 14.5 years you would have a tonne of great ones, especially a Lab Retriever a friend has one, cantankerous types!