When I was about ten, my dog was run over by a police vehicle and shot dead almost in front of my vert eyes. The whole family grieved over the loss for a long time. after that I never thought owning pets was a good idea.
Get a new one. 
Have her cremated at a Buddhist pet crematorium, take her home in a brown manila envelope and set her on the dresser for three years and counting until you can think of a suitable place to scatter her. 
Bawl like a baby, mourn for months, and then get a new one. That’s my routine. Any man who doesn’t cry when his dog dies doesn’t deserve to have one.
A few years ago, when I was visiting my mother, I had another accident. She had two doberman pups. As I was getting ready to leave in my car, I could see that something had gone wrong from people’s faces around me. One of the pups was sleeping next to the cars wheel and I rode over it’s head. It didn’t die immediately. Even now, I still feel awful about it.
Rinkals, neither of those cases was your fault.
I still remember the time I tried to catch a vole. I dropped it into a drain and watched through the grid as it swam in circles trying to find a place to rest. After ten minutes I had to walk away. I still have the occasional nightmare about that.
Having any part in a death is a horrible thing to deal with, but we just have to accept that an accident is an accident and be thankful that the animal’s suffering ended a long time ago.
When I came to Taiwan, I had a dog and my friends looked after him for me. The dog was a bit special…
He had no canine teeth and the other teeth were small and few and far apart. He also had no control of its tongue so it just hung out the left side of his mouth. Sometimes I had to wet it because it looked so dry, almost painful looking. Leo was also deaf and he had the constant shake. Aside from that(and it never bothered him) he was a great dog. I had him trained to do many commands only with hand signals since he couldn’t hear a thing. At the end when I left him, he would even sit and stay while I’m out of sight for up to 10 minutes.
6 months later, I still felt like crap about leaving him behind so I went home to get him. I had all the paper work in order, vet check ups and quarantine arrangements and all I had left to do was to buy a kennel and put him on a plane.
When my friends found out I was coming to get my dog, they then told me he wasn’t the same dog I had before…What a shock…
According to the vet, leo had brain degeneration from birth and it just got worse. Weird though because he was doing so well when I was in Canada. I still blame myself for leaving him behind because I often think the shock of losing me screwed him up.
The poor thing seemed to have lost it completely. It struggled walking straight, and its brain didn’t seem to work at all anymore. He would get stuck in every corners and he would be unable to turn around, so he would just stand and stare at the wall for like ten minutes until he started to whine. Then all you would do is turn his head and he would then start walking in that direction. He would always get stuck between the toilet and the bath tub unable to walk backward out this jammed position. What a sad sight it was…
We had to put him down but I couldn’t do it. I left Alberta and told my friends to do what they thought was right. That same week they took him to the vet and put an end to it. His condition kept getting worse and at the end the poor thing had no life quality left.
I have not wanted a pet since either…
bobepine
That’s so touching, bobepine. You just made me cry uncontrollably. Could be the hormones kicking in.
Thanks, I needed this spiritual cleansing today!
That was bloody sad. 
There’s something different about the loss of a beloved animal. I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s a very different but equally sad feeling when a pet passes away … or ends up in such a sorry state as Bobepine’s dog did.
Sounds like you’re a great dog ‘owner’, Bobepine. Let me know if and when you’re ready for another. I’d be elated if you adopted one of the deserving dogs in our care. Or you could foster, if you wanted. Sorry - I didn’t mean to hijack the thread; we just really need more owners who are as responsible and unselfish as you are.
Anyway, thanks for the moving tale. I think you’re pet suffered a lot less than it would have done had you not been the one taking care of him.
Sean
Hey Sean!
I really wish I could help you more in the ways you suggested but I have two cats now. One was adopted in Canada and flown here and the other one we rescued from a small island off the south-east coast of Taiwan. When I say “I haven’t wanted a pet since” it’s not quite accurate. I don’t want a dog because I’m an absolute dog lover and Leo really set me back…One of our cats, the Canadian one is very “scardy”, she wouldn’t deal well with another pet at all. When we adopted her, the vet. recommended her for a single pet family. Now she’s putting up with being constantly attacked by her small sister. 
You know, we live quite older than pets do so losing a pet is something that all pet “owners” have to deal with. It’s a short life for the little guys so helping making it a good one isn’t a bad thing at all. Something to be happy about even if sometimes that’s hard to do.
bobepine
My little sister sent me an e-mail today. She had to put down her cat, Mokey. Mokey’s been around so long, I don’t even remember how old she would have been. I remember my sister got her as a tiny little puff of fur when we were in high school. I think I was 14 years old. I think I mentioned this in the pics and names thread, but my sister named her Mokey because she was a smudge calico with a lot of gray in her fur and it was short for Smokey so I used to call her Smunky because she was a little monkey. I had hoped to introduce Isalu to his American cousin (a bit idealistic of me to think two cats to get along, huh? 
). I will definitely be cuddling my two kitties tonight for my poor sister. She’s not devestated because it was Mokey’s time and she had been getting worse for the last few weeks, but Mokey’s been around for almost half of my sister’s and my lives.
Poor Smunky.
We’re hand-feeding our oldest cat with baby food through a syringe right now. Every day we also have to stick him with a needle and hook it to an IV to keep him hydrated. We also have to force feed him medicine, but he’s still purring and interested, so we’ll keep doing it until he gives up. It’s really really hard though – I saw him being born and tore open his placenta for him. He’s about 14 now I think. This last week has cost us NT$10,000 at Taida animal hospital and he’s to go back tomorrow.
I never thought I’d be prepared to do this. Just goes to show. Poor little bastard.
I read that purring has a very strong healing effect. The frequency is the same one used by physical therapists to help people recover from injuries and that when animals were exposed to the same frequency as purring, they developed stronger bones. In addition to its communicative use to show friendliness, your cat seems like he’s trying to heal himself. That’s got to be tough. It was hard for me to hear about Mokey from my sister without having all those memories of her coming back to me. I can still hear her meow even though it’s been years since I last saw her.
What’s weird is that he’s definitely getting his appetite back – he starts his “feed me” routine as soon as I get up, and rushes over to his bowl, but then only takes a tiny amount.
And he definitely does not enjoy having strained chicken squirted down his throat!
I hope things continue to improve for your little guy. 
[quote=“sandman”]Just goes to show.[/quote] Yes, and it shows a lot… You are a wealthy man Sir, and I’m not talking about money.