Ladies, how do you cope with pet loss? Putting down my dog tomorrow after 14 years together and never expected or experienced this kind of grief before.

I lost my first pet a few years ago. It was hard because I loved that cat. We had her for 4 years. She threw a clot that blocked all the blood flow to her legs. It was in the evening, just after dinner, and I found odd things like poop on the floor.... then I went to find my cat and found her hiding in a corner. She was foaming at the mouth and gasping for breath. She dragged herself around for a moment until I figured out that her back legs weren't working and cold. I'll be completely honest, I FREAKED. I was a crying hyperventilating mess. The drive to the emergency vet was horrific. I knew she was dying. Of course they told me that. Heart failure in combination with a clot at the legs. 1 2 punch. Sure, I could had tried to stretch it but really... the humane thing to do was to put her down. My poor partner and 4 year old. They had watched me absolutely lose it and rush the cat off. I brought them to say goodbye. We stayed thru the medicines putting our cat down... by her side, holding paw. It was super emotional. We hadn't planned for any of this. If I had the chance I would had taken one last nice photo, clipped a good chunk of hair, created some special last minute memories... things like that. Photos, videos, fur, a special toy they loved... all these helped us get thru the loss. It still hurts to think about. Imagining an extra 10 years of memories to part with... damn.

/r/AskWomen Thread