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When a pet passes away question..


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We lost our 12 year old beagle yesterday morning. Yesterday was a long hard day for all of us and I know there will be more hard times ahead. My 11yo and 8yo took it particularly hard. My first inclination is to run out and get another puppy to ease the pain but I don't want to do it too soon. We love animals so we know we will get another dog so it's not a "knee jerk" reaction type of thing. But I want to give us time to heal too.

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I'd give it a few weeks to really settle in. But I'll tell you that I'm the type of person who prefers getting a new pet sooner rather than later. I've never seen it as replacing one pet for another. Each is unique and I love them for who they are. DH, OTOH, needs LOTS of mourning time. I'm talking almost a year. He sees it as trying to forget about and replace the pet. We just cannot agree on it at all. Thank goodness we've always had multiple pets. I couldn't stand the idea of having a home with no pets. We would have been fighting for sure.

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First, I'm so sorry about your dog. Losing a pet is so hard.

 

I've found I need a little time after a pet passes to mourn and readjust before I take in another. However, I know I will never have a pet-free home. And because I love my dog so much, I know I will never be without a dog for more than a few weeks for the rest of my life.

 

If it were me, I'd give everyone a month or two to make peace with losing your beagle before opening discussions about another dog.

 

Again, I'm so sorry.

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Thanks guys. I know we could never replace him for sure but I do think I prefer sooner rather than later. We do have a 6 month old kitten and it makes sense to go ahead and get a puppy soon so she doesn't get used to "ruling the roost". She never had too much interaction with our dog since he was older and just wasn't interested in her. DH and I did decide that we'd get another beagle when the time is right but I don't want to feel like we're trying to replace our sweet Pete.

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It's an individual thing.

 

We lost our nine-year old beagle last November after a few months of nursing her through a terminal illness. Our other dog was 11 years old at that time. Our beagle's death was incredibly hard on me--in many ways she was a perfect dog. But as hard as her death was, I knew if something happened to our other dog and I was left completely dog-less that it would be beyond horrible. I haven't been w/o a dog in 33 years. Plus I'd known for years that our next dog would be a Shih Tzu, that I wanted a puppy (we usually get rescue dogs) and I had already researched breeders. All those things combined and some sheer good luck resulted in our bringing home an 11-week old puppy three weeks after our beagle's death. It was what was right for us at that time and we've had absolutely no regrets. After other pets' deaths I've waited longer. So IMO . . . . it really depends on too many individual circumstances for anyone else to be able to tell you to wait or not.

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We waited a year. Honestly, I wish we had just given it a week or two. Our healing really wasn't complete until we had our new puppy home for a few weeks.

 

:iagree:

 

We waited 3 months after our Great Dane died. I wish we would have brought our new puppy home sooner. In fact, our Great Dane died early November, and all I wanted that Christmas was a new puppy. Dh needed more time to mourn so he didn't get me a puppy. I was so upset that Christmas, but tried hard not to show my disappointment. We brought our new puppy home in February, and it truly did help ease the pain.

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We started talking about it quite soon, but didn't find the "right" dog for a while. I think every family is different, there is no right or wrong for this. You could always start talking about breeds, rescue vs puppy, shelter dog or breeder, etc., and just see if the right dog comes in to your life.

:grouphug:

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A couple of days before our kitty passed away (he had been very sick) a stray kitten appeared on our doorstep. It was obvious he hadn't eaten in some time. We checked the paper, asked around the neighborhood, but no one ever claimed him. He's been ours ever since. He really did help my kids through the loss of our kitty that we'd had for 15 years.

 

You'll know when the time is right for another pet, and if you feel that time is now, I don't think there's anything wrong with starting to look.

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Our golden retriever was hit by a truck right in front of our kids as we were preparing to go for a walk. :( It was very traumatic for them, he had passed before we made it to the vet, he died in my arms. We had to wait 3 months before we found a new puppy, and for him to be ready. It was a long hard wait, we didn't really start to heal until our new pup was with us, we knew our dog Sawyer would have loved him, and we felt like we had a little piece of him back in our home. :) My children were only 2, 6 and 8 and easily attached to a new puppy, truth is, so did I. Sorry for the loss of your sweet pup.

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I'm so sorry. :grouphug: We're beagle people here too. We lost our beloved at 12 1/2. At the time we didn't get another dog because we already had one... our beagle and lab had lived together 10 years. The lab was pretty old at that point and we weren't sure if a new puppy would be too much for her. She passed away just over a year later.

 

We made it about a month before we got our poodle. (We didn't get a beagle this time because my allergies have gotten so bad.) I still miss our other dogs all the time, but we love our fluffy guy very much.

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I am so sorry for your loss.

 

We just lost one of our guinea pigs 'Derreck',on the "official" first day of school. What a horrible day. Our one dd cried all day and didn't fall asleep until late in the evening. The kids dug the hole, they picked flowers for him, and laid them on his grave. They also drew, wrote on his box.

 

We haven't gotten another but I'm not sure if the other guinea will be ok.

 

I was just thinking that I really miss that little guy. :(

http://www.trueblessingshomeschool.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-passing-of-our-dear-pet.html

Edited by 5knights3maidens
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before kids, it was just me, dh and our cat Stormy. SHe died at age 5 months. Dh was gone 3-4 days a week for his job and it was so horribly quiet in the house without Stormy. Within 4 days we got Rocky and Patches..I was still sad about Stormy but my 2 new cats helped a lot. Fast forward, 5 years ago we lost Rocky and Patches within 3 weeks of each other. We had 3 other cats but my dc had been too young when they were kittens and did not remember being around kittens so we went to a rescue group and got 4 tiny kittens. They did not replace Rocky and Patches. We still miss Rocky and Patches, have pictures of them and my dc tell me all the time how sad they still are about the cats dying. But it did help to have the 4 tiny kittens to take care of and love. Each of our cats is def loved as an individual and none of them replace a lost one in our hearts. So obviously in our house we get new pets pretty quick after losing one, it just helps us to have a tiny one to love and take care of. We will always love, miss and remember the ones that we have lost and now love the ones that we currently have.

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Our beloved Kitty was 17yo when he died after an extended illness the week before Christmas 2009. He was 2 years older than EK and 2 years younger than ER, so he was like my middle child! We waited 2 1/2 years before getting another cat. We just got Weasley (an orange/red tabby, named for the red-haired Weasley kids in the Harry Potter books) at the end of May; he was just a kitten, and it has been so much fun watching him play. But I find myself comparing him to Kitty, and wishing Kitty was still with us. We love Weasley, and we don't regret getting another cat (well, sometimes I do), but it's still not the same. I thought waiting would help, but I don't think it really did.

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I forgot to mention that our vet was wonderful, she was so sorry got our devastated kids she made copies of sawyer's paw prints on cards rock and had his name written in calligraphy and fred one for each child, then, since the ground was frozen and we couldn't bury him, she gave us his ashes to sprinkle in our field. We buried his collar and sprinkled some ashes and plates a tree over it in the yard. The kids found it all really specisl, we also printed 100 pictures if him and made a scrapbook of him.

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Our sweet Dusty Dog had to be put down in July after the vet discovered an enormous tumor all over his snout and upper jaw. Removal wasn't possible without taking most of his jaw, too. It was incredibly sad, and we were all devastated. Strangely enough, this actually happened on the exact same day that both kids were (previously) scheduled to get new pets. DD was to go pick up her new baby bunny that afternoon, and DS's new kitten was already scheduled for his neuter after we had adopted him the night before. I have to say, it made for a crazy roller coaster of an emotional day, but I really think having their new pets really helped them deal with losing Dusty and gave them something positive to focus on.

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I am sorry for your family's loss. Losing a pet sucks big time.

 

We lost our 4yr dog last year in October. We hadn't even made it home from the vet when the first kid said "So when are we getting a new one?" In his defense, he was only 5. My DH was content on letting my other dog be a single dog, but she just got so depressed so we started looking in January (we didn't want to deal with a puppy over the holidays). We thought we had found the perfect dog for us at the Humane Society on the day he was turned over, but since he hadn't been neutered they required he stay there until he could go to the spay and neuter clinic before releasing him to us. They called the day he was neutered and brought back and told us we could come pick him up (this was about 6 days after we found him there). He wasn't acting right, but we chalked it up to the surgery. By the next morning we knew something really wasn't right and took him to our vet and he was diagnosed with Parvo and was put down that day. That was very traumatic. It took us another month of grieving before we were willing to try again. Now we have another dog that is also perfect for our family.

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I tell people it's wise to wait until you can look at new puppies without comparing them to your old pet. When it's a knee jerk reaction to fill that missing hole, often the new pet ends up paying because it just doesn't fill the void the same. Once getting a new pet becomes getting a DIFFERENT pet, then go for it. Some people need longer to hit that point than others. Some only take a month, some a year. You'll know when you're really ready.

 

I'm sorry for your loss. Losing a pet is so hard.

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Sorry about your loss. :group hug:

 

When my beloved German Shepherd died I was heart broken. A week later I decided to go to a shelter just to "look". There was a German Shepherd that had been found wandering the streets that looked identical to my dog that had just died. It was creepy. People did not even realize initially this was a new dog. We even joked that our other dog couldn't tell the difference. :001_smile: He was a wonderful addition to our family.

 

When our cat died (from a horrible disease with no cure) at only 5 years old I was devastated. I took her body to the vet and while I stood there crying they told me they had a cat that had been left at their doorstep (in a crate, with a note and her scratching post). I went home to get my son to come meet the cat. Later in the day we bought my daughter to meet the cat. The cat came home with us.

 

I always felt like these new pets were meant for us.

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I wonder if my husband isn't having a knee jerk reaction to our beagle's death. He's been looking for beagle puppies all day. I'm not sure what to think. Our beagle that passed had been a lazy old dog for awhile so it doesn't feel like we're replacing him with a puppy. They would be very different at this point and my kids never really got to know our beagle during his puppy stage. I don't want to jump too soon but it's too quiet around here. :(

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I wonder if my husband isn't having a knee jerk reaction to our beagle's death. He's been looking for beagle puppies all day. I'm not sure what to think. Our beagle that passed had been a lazy old dog for awhile so it doesn't feel like we're replacing him with a puppy. They would be very different at this point and my kids never really got to know our beagle during his puppy stage. I don't want to jump too soon but it's too quiet around here. :(

 

I'm so sorry about your beagle. :grouphug:

 

Is there a beagle rescue group in your area? Our rescue groups are always looking for fosters! If your foster is a good fit for your family, you can adopt. If you think the dog would be better in a different home, you have helped save a dog from being euth-ed.

 

:grouphug:

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We gave it about a month and a half after our dog passed. We intended to give it longer. In fact, we intended to let our other dog live out the rest of her life as an only and get a puppy once she passed, but the dog who died was "my dog" and I missed him. It's been over a year, and our new dog is a better fit for our family in so many ways, but we still miss the other dog. The kids talk about him and sometimes go out to his grave and talk to him. My son didn't cry about his death until 6 or 8 months after he died. Grieving is weird. Take your cues from your kids.

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We lost our 12 year old beagle yesterday morning. Yesterday was a long hard day for all of us and I know there will be more hard times ahead. My 11yo and 8yo took it particularly hard. My first inclination is to run out and get another puppy to ease the pain but I don't want to do it too soon. We love animals so we know we will get another dog so it's not a "knee jerk" reaction type of thing. But I want to give us time to heal too.

 

 

:grouphug: I am so sorry. Pet loss is terrible. :grouphug:

 

 

I don't know what I would do. I don't think I can be without a dog. I also don't think there will ever be a dog as good as my oldest dog. That girl is amazing. She is fierce, and has reared her head when she thought I was in danger.

 

I don't know how long I could wait.

Edited by LibraryLover
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