Our Pug Passed Away While We Are On Vacation Options

[Puggins831]

My husband and I left for vacation this past Wednesday. Yesterday morning I got a frantic call from our pet sitter that something was wrong with our 13 year old pug, and it looked like a seizure. She rushed her to the emergency vet but she was already gone. While she was old and we knew this was coming in the next few years, we are stunned and heartbroken. She never had a seizure in the 8 years since we adopted her, and had no known health issues aside from arthritis. The vet was less than helpful and couldn't tell me what he thought might have happened.

We have a week of vacation ahead of us and I don't know how we're going to enjoy ourselves. I feel nothing but sorrow and grief and I feel horrible that I didn't get to say goodbye. Going home and her not being there is going to be horrible. We still have our three kitties who I can't wait to get home to, but we won't have Yoshi's wiggles to greet us with excitement like she always does.

This is the first pet that I've lost. I've lost family pets but she's the first one who was mine. How do you heal from this?

Does anyone have any idea what might have happened to her? The pet sitter said that she wasn't acting quite herself that morning. They were sitting on the couch together and she rolled over, yelped and seized for about a minute, making little yelps as she did so. She stopped moving and her tongue was sticking out. It sounds like at that point she was gone. I'll never get over not being able to say goodbye to my sweet girl. One of my biggest fears has always been that something would happen to our pets while traveling. It's going to be very hard to leave them again.

[moon_beam]

Hi, Yoshi's Mom, please permit me to offer you my sincerest sympathies in the physical loss of your beloved Yoshi. Losing a companion is never easy regardless of the circumstances or how long we are blessed with the privilege of their company. Losing a companion so unexpectedly and while you're away from home can intensify the grief.

Yoshi's Mom, this grief journey is one of the most painful experiences you will know on this side of eternity. It is a journey that is filled with many different emotions that can overwhelm us all at one time which is why it is frequently referred to as a horror roller coaster ride. Please let me try to reassure you that what you are feeling is very normal deep grief when you share with us "I feel nothing but sorrow and grief and I feel horrible that I didn't get to say goodbye. Going home and her not being there is going to be horrible." Even when we have precious surviving companions in the home the physical loss of a beloved companion changes the dynamics in the household. It doesn't mean that you love your precious feline companions less - - it simply means that your home has experienced a tragic loss of a beloved companion which now must be adjusted to. This grief journey is both emotional and physical, which is one of the many reasons why it is so very painful.

I am not a veterinarian or a vet tech, but from my personal experience with my own beloved companions seizures can happen at any age for various reasons. It is hard to speculate as to what caused your beloved Yoshi's seizure - - it could have been a stroke, a brain tumor, or any number of other causes. The only way to try to get a definitive answer would be to have a necropsy done (the same as autopsy in humans) but even then sometimes this leads to more questions than answers. I'm sorry the emergency veterinary care provider could not offer you some reliable explanation -- or even offer you comfort in your sorrow. You are entitled to get a copy of the emergency treatment your beloved Yoshi received and perhaps your regular veterinary care provider can offer you some insight as to what happened.

Yoshi's Mom, you ask a universal question "How do you heal from this?" Unfortunately there is no easy way to navigate this grief adjustment journey. It is a journey that can only be traveled one day at a time sometimes one moment at a time for you are now on a journey that is filled with all the "first withouts" and trying to reconcile all the "whys, what ifs and if onlys" that haunt and torture our hearts and minds at a time when we are so emotionally vulnerable. One of the most important things you need to remember is that you are not alone in your grief journey. Each of us here understands what you are going through and we are here for you for as long and as often as you need us.

The "good news" in the midst of all this deep sorrow is the fact that love is eternal - - it is not restricted to the physical laws of time and space. Your beloved Yoshi's sweet Living Spirit is always and forever a part of your heart and memories - - she is always and forever a heartbeat close to you.

Thank you so much for honoring us in sharing your beloved Yoshi with us. Perhaps sometime you will feel up to sharing a picture of her with us - - but only if / when you want to. Please know you are in my thoughts and prayers, Yoshi's Mom, and please let us know how you're doing.

Peace and blessings,
moon_beam