Too Young To Leave Her Sweet Life, when a young beloved pet dies Options

[joyo]

Many years ago, when our sons were still at home, I saw a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. I had never seen such a beautiful face and tghe owner told me about the sweet dispositions and charms that come with the breed. I knew we would have one someday.

That day was less than 4 years ago, when Anna literally flew into our hearts, arriving by airplane. She was so excited to see us and get out of the crate she flew on. We were overjoyed to welcome her. Arriving from So. Dakota in the winter, she had never experienced the grass we had in PA. It was funny watching her jump in the air over the strange sensation on her little paws.

Anna came into the lives of my husband and myself when both sons had graduated from college and left home. She even attended our younger son's graduation. Because of "empty-nest" syndrome and her sweet, gentle personality (with a few crazy quirks) she quickly became our baby, even more than some previous well loved dogs.

We took her everywhere and found hotels that accept pets when we traveled. She loved the car and would grab a toy to carry in her mouth and bring with her on car rides.

She loved to eat and barked and twirled on the kitchen floor when we said, "do you want to eat?"

She was a great registered therapy dog on an adolescent behavioral unit and we could see kids calm down just petting her and she sat in their laps and "kissed" them.

But 3 weeks ago, at age 4, she vomited, stopped eating and became too quiet. We took her to our local vet who told us she had fluid around her lungs and in her abdominal cavity. We then took her the U of PA vet Hospital. There she was first diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease and put on steroids and hypo-allergenic diet. At first she did well and was almost her old self, except for not really being excited about the flavorless food. But a few days ago she started the original symptoms all over again and this time, after multitudes of tests, she was diagnosed with untreatable bowel cancer.

We were and still are devastated. The staff were wonderful and we held Anna on our laps and she licked our faces one more time before her peaceful end of life drugs were given.

We're experiencing waves of grief that wash over us painfully. I can;t believe she is no longer part of our lives. Her tracks in the snow in our back yard are still there. the last toy she brought to my car is still there. Towels i used to dry her after her bath are still by the tub, along with her shampoo.

But there's no wag of a gorgeous plume of a tail in the glass door when we drive up the driveway. there's no click clack of nails on the wood floor. Her beautiful beautiful face resides only in our hearts and memories and pictures. There's no Anna to take on trips and visit our sons. There's no Anna to walk in the park and greet other dogs and owners.

Our hearts are truly broken and will take long to heal.

She was much too young and our time with her was way too short. I know she knew we loved her and she sure loved us. I just want her back.

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[joyo]

You are so, so wonderful. words cannot express how grateful I am to you for all your understanding kind words. I have friends taking me out to lunch and I'll write more later today. I just listened to the sad, beautifyl song "Goodbye my friend" that one of the other mom's on this site wrote about. had a good cry. Just so you know my dog's name is actually "Anna". no harm done. your spirit is what counts.