Heartbroken Newbie

[Lady2015]

I'm new here, but I need some emotional support from other Sheltie owners that have gone through the grieving process.
Here's my story..
My husband and I have 5 beautiful Shelties.
Our oldest, Lady.. we rescued from a shelter in 2010 when she was 9 years old. My husband always says that we didn't rescue her, she rescued us..
A few months ago we noticed Lady had some blood in her urine.. So many tests, so many antibiotics only diagnosis was a UTI. We switched vets and they did the same tests, it was so confusing because some samples showed cells, others showed something else, and some were clean. They finally did a culture of the urine. She has e-coli in the bladder and along with a quick ultrasound, also a mass. She had an appointment on the 21 of Sept to have a thorough utrasound to determine. Vet put her on Nitrofurantoin for the the e-coli and Piroxicam in hopes to keep the mass at bay. Might I add that this blood in her urine was going on for a good 6 months.
Fast forward to 130am on Sept 17 Lady was breathing heavy, but sometimes if medication doesn't agree with her she will get like that. I went to bed and my husband stayed on the couch with her like he has been doing... He called me maybe 30 minutes later saying she's foaming and having a stroke... While I was on the floor with her, I noticed her tongue didn't look right, it looked grey in color.. We immediately took her 45 minutes to the ER. They put her on Oxygen, took Xrays and found that she was in heart failure, lungs filled with fluid on top of the mass in her bladder, they also said her liver didn't look right.
My husband and I made the hardest decision to have her put to sleep..... They brought her in and from the Oxygen, she looked great.. I only stayed while they gave her the anesthesia to make her sleep.. I couldn't watch her stop breathing...
Please someone tell me that we made the right choice.. I keep walking from room to room looking for her because this just has to be a nightmare. The house seems so empty even with 4 others.. I just can't believe she's gone...

Someone please help me find a small amount of Peace. We miss her dearly.
I've attached a photo of her when she was in good spirits, but I don't know how so it might not be there.


https://instagram.com/p/7xHp_0sCXj/?taken-by=polishedpony

 

[take4roll10]

I'm so so sorry for your loss. Losing a precious pup is never easy. It sounds like you had 5 wonderful years. And at the end you granted Lady one last wish, which was to go peacefully.

Please don't doubt your decision. From what you described, there wasn't anything else you could do. My parents were in the same situation a few months ago with their maltese and made the same decision. Their dog's tongue was blue and she couldn't breathe. They took her to the emergency vet where she was given oxygen and told that she was in congestive heart failure. It was her time and they didn't want her to suffer so they let her go peacefully.

Hugs to you and your family. Take comfort in the wonderful life and memories you gave sweet Lady.

 

[Lady2015]

I'm so so sorry for your loss. Losing a precious pup is never easy. It sounds like you had 5 wonderful years. And at the end you granted Lady one last wish, which was to go peacefully.

Please don't doubt your decision. From what you described, there wasn't anything else you could do. My parents were in the same situation a few months ago with their maltese and made the same decision. Their dog's tongue was blue and she couldn't breathe. They took her to the emergency vet where she was given oxygen and told that she was in congestive heart failure. It was her time and they didn't want her to suffer so they let her go peacefully.

Hugs to you and your family. Take comfort in the wonderful life and memories you gave sweet Lady.

Thank you..
Is it common in the grieving process to regret the decision? I actually called the vet up and asked if it could be reversed. I knew it couldn't be, but.. I thought maybe..
How do you get past the pain ?

 

[maddiesmom]

So sorry for your loss. You made one of the hardest decisions but please never doubt you made the right one. Your baby is running and playing at the Rainbow Bridge waiting for the time you will be reunited.

 

[Lady2015]

So sorry for your loss. You made one of the hardest decisions but please never doubt you made the right one. Your baby is running and playing at the Rainbow Bridge waiting for the time you will be reunited.

Thank you...
It's so hard. Any tips fro grieving ? I miss her so much.

 

[Hannah]

I'm deeply sorry for your loss. You made the best and kindest decision. Thank you for sharing the photo of your beautiful angel. Rest peacefully sweet Lady. Hugs to you

 

[Lady2015]

I'm deeply sorry for your loss. You made the best and kindest decision. Thank you for sharing the photo of your beautiful angel. Rest peacefully sweet Lady. Hugs to you

Thank you so much.. She was an angel .. So perfect in every way. I can't understand why her original owners surrendered her after 9 years.

 

[Ann]

I'm sorry you're joining us on the Forum at such a sad time, but welcome anyway. You will find an understanding and sympathetic group here. Most all of us have been through losing one of our precious furkids.

Regretting your decision is very common. I had to put my first Sheltie, Scruffy, to sleep when she got very sick suddenly from a cancer we didn't know she had. Literally from 3 p.m. when she had her first seizure to 9 p.m. when we put her down, it was over. I wondered for months whether I should have tried something else, even though my head said there was nothing and I did the kindest thing for her, my heart didn't agree.

The most important tip I can give you, having had and lost Shelties for 25 years, is to let yourself grieve. Everyone grieves differently and to varying degrees. Don't let anyone tell you "it's just a dog" -- you've lost a family member. Don't feel guilty about grieving as you would for a person -- these precious pups take up a huge space in our lives and hearts.

Grief doesn't have a time line. We lost Scruffy in August. We had two other Shelties at the time, and added a third in the following months. On Christmas day with the whole family at our house, we were looking at pictures and there was one of my son with Scruffy. I completely lost it. That was months later. I think I cried off and on for her for a year. The pain came less frequently over time, but it was still there.

Now, some 10 years later, DH and I can smile when we talk about Scruffy habits and traits that we see in our six Shelties now. It does lessen, and you will always miss Lady who, like Scruffy, was your first, but it won't hurt as much. Give yourself time. I'm so sorry for your loss. It is never, ever easy. Hug your other Shelties...they will help you through this.

 

[Lady2015]

I'm sorry you're joining us on the Forum at such a sad time, but welcome anyway. You will find an understanding and sympathetic group here. Most all of us have been through losing one of our precious furkids.

Regretting your decision is very common. I had to put my first Sheltie, Scruffy, to sleep when she got very sick suddenly from a cancer we didn't know she had. Literally from 3 p.m. when she had her first seizure to 9 p.m. when we put her down, it was over. I wondered for months whether I should have tried something else, even though my head said there was nothing and I did the kindest thing for her, my heart didn't agree.

The most important tip I can give you, having had and lost Shelties for 25 years, is to let yourself grieve. Everyone grieves differently and to varying degrees. Don't let anyone tell you "it's just a dog" -- you've lost a family member. Don't feel guilty about grieving as you would for a person -- these precious pups take up a huge space in our lives and hearts.

Grief doesn't have a time line. We lost Scruffy in August. We had two other Shelties at the time, and added a third in the following months. On Christmas day with the whole family at our house, we were looking at pictures and there was one of my son with Scruffy. I completely lost it. That was months later. I think I cried off and on for her for a year. The pain came less frequently over time, but it was still there.

Now, some 10 years later, DH and I can smile when we talk about Scruffy habits and traits that we see in our six Shelties now. It does lessen, and you will always miss Lady who, like Scruffy, was your first, but it won't hurt as much. Give yourself time. I'm so sorry for your loss. It is never, ever easy. Hug your other Shelties...they will help you through this.

Thank you so much Ann.. I don't even have words, I too am sorry for the losses you have had.. This is very hard. I'm usually not an emotional person, but I'm all over the place with this.

 

[Cazzmags]

I am so desperately sorry for your loss. I'm new to this forum too and posted about my beloved Archie who we lost to cancer in January, he was only 10.

In your heart you know you made the right decision for your girl but I, like you, tormented myself for ages about making the decision to let Archie go. Deep down we had no choice he would have suffered greatly had we not made the decision when we did and that would have been far worse to live with.

The pain of grief is tangible isn't it and I found myself really struggling to cope with the reality that my beloved boy was gone. I still cry for him every day but as awful as the pain of his loss is I would not have missed a second of my time with him. Grief is the price we pay for love.

Rest assured you did the very best for your beautiful girl and she is now at peace. Surround yourself with your other Shelties, they will help you in your grief and will be a source of comfort.

Take good care of yourself