Post Your Pet

fohbros, sorry for the double, but god fucking damn.

Just got back from the grocery store. That's one of the hardest things i've ever done. For reference (and for Tenks, whereever that cocksucker is these days), I have fed my dog all raw meat and bones for 13 years. Every week for the last 13 years, I've bought 5lbs of pork necks, 7lbs of chicken legs, and a pound of beef liver. Aside from age related issues about arthritis and her bladder/bowel control, eyes a bit cloudy and definitely losing her hearing, she's in absolute perfect health. Powerful, great coat, good teeth. No tumors, no masses, no nothing. She's the healthiest 13 year old dog I've ever seen. The vet couldn't believe how strong she was when they tried to take blood a couple months ago and she had other ideas. It took fucking 4 of them to handle her.

None of that shit was in the cart this week.

And the worst part? The meat drawer in the fridge is gonna be empty when I run out of stuff in the freezer. She doesn't know, and she doesn't know why. I'm her best friend in the world, and this feels like such a betrayal. This is the worst thing ever. She's still excited and happy to get up and do stuff, but she can barely walk these days, and you can see that squatting to piss is taking everything she has left in the tank. Rationally, it's the right thing to do.

By every other metric, it's fucking horrendous. First dog I've had as an adult, so it's been 25 years since I've had one go. I don't remember it being this bad.

Kajiimagi said:

That truly sucks. Also this post caught me 100% in the feels. I'm not crying , you're crying.

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I am, and have been all day. I actually had a ton of shit to do today, but it ain't getting done. Just laying down with my dog and taking as much time as I can before that evil cocksucker Death takes his cut.

Cutlery said:

fohbros, sorry for the double, but god fucking damn.

Just got back from the grocery store. That's one of the hardest things i've ever done. For reference (and for Tenks, whereever that cocksucker is these days), I have fed my dog all raw meat and bones for 13 years. Every week for the last 13 years, I've bought 5lbs of pork necks, 7lbs of chicken legs, and a pound of beef liver. Aside from age related issues about arthritis and her bladder/bowel control, eyes a bit cloudy and definitely losing her hearing, she's in absolute perfect health. Powerful, great coat, good teeth. No tumors, no masses, no nothing. She's the healthiest 13 year old dog I've ever seen. The vet couldn't believe how strong she was when they tried to take blood a couple months ago and she had other ideas. It took fucking 4 of them to handle her.

None of that shit was in the cart this week.

And the worst part? The meat drawer in the fridge is gonna be empty when I run out of stuff in the freezer. She doesn't know, and she doesn't know why. I'm her best friend in the world, and this feels like such a betrayal. This is the worst thing ever. She's still excited and happy to get up and do stuff, but she can barely walk these days, and you can see that squatting to piss is taking everything she has left in the tank. Rationally, it's the right thing to do.

By every other metric, it's fucking horrendous. First dog I've had as an adult, so it's been 25 years since I've had one go. I don't remember it being this bad.

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Fuck, I was originally going to write a bunch of shit, but realized it probably wasn't going to help. So instead I'll just say how sorry I am you have to go through this, but it's the price we all know we have to pay one day. Try to enjoy every last second that you can and stockpile those memories to look back on in the future. It's sounds like you gave her an amazing life. I'm going to go try and kill whoever's cutting those onions, now...

Julian The Apostate said:

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“I don’t often eat mouse poison, but when I do I eat all 20 blocks”

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I admire her. No half measures.

Man, she just looks miserable. Doesn't make it any easier though. Thursdays the day.

I dunno if I'm just trying to justify it to myself, or whether I'm just past the emotional part and can see things clearly. Was talking with the ex today (dog was a birthday gift to her) and I realized she has had her tail tucked for awhile now. I don't remember the last time she wagged it. She's probably in an immense amount of pain and just refuses to admit it or show it to me. She stopped doing things for the kids, they literally have to drag he outside because she won't move unless I ask her to. I started to think that maybe I actually missed all this stuff and I'm doing this too late, but then I decided that bladder/bowel control is a really good dividing line between could and should.

In any case, at least I feel a lot more like this is the right decision. It also helps that I let her out at 6am, she peed, and in between then and when the GF got up at 7, she already had an accident/leakage. That's no way to live.

Unfortunately, the appt is between 1730 and 1830. I was thinking the other day that would be fine, we could pull her bed out into the back yard, all sit out by the pond and enjoy one last sunset with the dog. Then I looked at the clock and noticed it was fucking dark at 5:30 today, so that shits on that plan. Thanks Obama.

Obligatory photo, from better days.

Kitten update: after this past weekend, we’ve just been leaving Bruce permanently upstairs instead of down in the basement in the crate. He’s got everything he needs in his play pen so now he can be around us and sleep upstairs as well all day. Been letting him out to roam free upstairs for longer periods of time and just lightly supervising. The older cats are tolerating him but are quick to tell him to fuck off when he gets rowdy. He likes to go for tails…

I’m having a bit of trouble distinguishing play vs. dominant behavior, but I realize there’s probably some amount of overlap there. Generally if there’s no growling or obvious damage being done, I’m letting them do what they want, but if it’s clear either is going too far I’ll intervene and split everyone up. Been trying to get as much playtime with everyone as possible, but goddamn this boy does not tire out.

Next vet visit is today and think it’s about time to schedule his little snippy. Hopefully still doing good on weight, etc. Progress!

e: vet visit went well. He’s up to 5 pounds now and apparently they think he’s 17 weeks old vs. 11 based on his teef. Got him scheduled for his surgery in the next couple weeks. Poor little fuzzy balls.

Zelda until the end.



I took her down to the pond, past the fence. She never gets to go there. Out of bounds for her.

Immediately, she almost falls in getting a manky ball outta the pond, retreats back to the yard to enjoy her treasure.

At least I don't have to worry about whatever is on it killing her. I'll burn that thing later.

Couldn't have picked a better last day.

Easier than I thought it would be. She went super fast. Finally didn't have a reason to be strong and hide her pain.

My only regret is the wind blows towards my house in the pond, so I couldn't give her a viking funeral.

Kajiimagi said:

Wife had to take her mum's' dog to the vet today to be put down. She went from having seizures every now and then to all the time. As I said earlier, this whole mortality thing is for the fucking birds.

Also went to go waste my time trying to play Starfield but apparently I was too slow for the cat. All cats have weird issues, one of ours is every time he hears the ice dispenser being used he will haul ass to the kitchen and stand under your feet raising Hell because he wants an ice cube. Which the then ignores for 2-3 minutes, then starts batting it around the house like a toy.

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Arya is a notorious chair thief. She's fucking fast, too. I get up to just go put something in the garbage bin 5 feet across the room, turn around and you'd swear she's always been in that chair. I tried giving an ice cube to Bruce yesterday. I think he got scared of it because it's cold; batted it once and then ran away from it, haha. Sansa without fail will come sauntering on over whenever she hears us pull out a can of whipped cream. I know she shouldn't have any, but she begs so hard for the stuff, every now and then we'll sneak her the tiniest speck.

Haus said:

I've lost multiple pets in the last few years. And we've realized that it's worth it to have it done (assuming you can plan on when) at home. I just think about if I'd rather go in a weird place I didn't like around doctors I didn't like, or go to sleep at home surrounded by my things, my people. I know which way I'd want to go, so I figure out animals would probably want the same.

I'm truly sorry for your loss. Just today I saw @mrs haus in the living room tearing up because google was showing the "on this day in years past pics" and it was all ones of our long haired Dox we lost, taking on the day she had to go. Now I'm doing the same typing about it. It all truly sucks, but it's the price we pay for great companions.

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This was pretty good. I mean, I don't have anything to compare it to. Last dog I lost like this, I was about 10, and she had a stroke, so she hobbled into the house on her elbows, couldn't stand up straight. Parents took her into the vet, I didn't go with. The other dog died after I moved out, think she just up and croaked one day.

Zel and I spent the whole day outside. About 40 degrees, windy as shit. Cold as fuck with all that. Perfect for her. She had a blast. We laid in a leaf pile for like 2 hours and watched the sunset, while I pulled cheese cubes outta every pocket I had. She started to get suspicious around cube 4, because I was nowhere near where cheese comes from. Goddamn she was a smart dog. When the vet called me to tell me she was on the way, she was crying. That's kinda how I knew things were gonna go okay. I asked her if she just did this shit for extra cash after hours, and she said no, it's her entire job. Just drives around and does this all day. I asked how she ended up like that, she said she was a vet at a practice for 13 years, and then realized how important this kind of work is. I gotta agree with her. Even though it sounds kinda psycho to just literally drive around and kill dogs all day, she isn't unaffected by the work, she just does it because it does a tremendous service for situations like mine. She said 5-15 minutes after the first injection to fall asleep. Took about 45 seconds. It's like she finally realized she didn't have to be on watch anymore.

We talked afterwards for awhile, and it really was the best thing. Dogs with 4 legs and good hips don't do good on snow and ice, and I'm just saving her the pain of another winter. It's just hard to let such an amazing animal go. I don't know how I would have made it thru my divorce without her. She died in her own yard, on her own bed, wrapped in her own blanket, being hugged by everyone that loved her.

My oldest fucked around and found out, though. I told her exactly when the appt was 4 days ago. She's been hiding in her room ever since, and came out as we were bagging up the dog beds (They're all covered in piss from the various leakage accidents over the last few months), looked absolutely shocked, then ran back to her room and locked herself in there. Well, you're learning an important lesson here - you can't avoid death. It comes for us all. And exactly zero people have ever said "boy, I really regret spending so much time with X before they died." Now she gets to live with that.

I'm glad I don't.

When she finally laid her head down, I had seen that look before. It was hanging off the bed, between her paws. She did the same thing the very first day I got her. She was exhausted from overstimulation and new environment and feeling me out and her little puppy body couldn't handle it, so she just fell asleep. She left my life like she came in. I'll never look at this picture the same way again.

Man. It sure is dusty in here.

In my opinion a person's treatment of animals and their feelings about having to let them go are a huge indicator as to what type of person they are. Even the biggest asshole, I can find some common ground with them if they are dealing with letting a pet go. Conversely, if they treat it like no big deal, or are just overall shitty towards animals, I will definitely think less of them.

I might have mentioned it here already, but I worked with a guy that was just a huge asshole anyway, but we occasionally had some conversations about his dogs (boxers) where I felt like we could at least have some common ground (I have cats, but still, pets). He's had to have dogs put to sleep in the past, and it was quickly coming with his latest dog, so when he was talking about it I genuinely felt for him and of course was being sympathetic, particularly since I've had to do it with a cat a few years ago. But then he mentions how much of a hassle it always is, so he found out that the vet will let them just drop the dog off and then leave and everything will be taken care of. I was shocked, and wanted to make sure I heard him correctly. You mean, you are just going to drop the dog off, let them take her into the back, and then just get in your car and drive away? Yep, and even worse, his wife was going to drop the dog off, he wasn't even going to be there, because it "takes too much time out of his day."

We got into a pretty big verbal fight right there at work about it. I just couldn't believe that this member of his family, basically, was going to be sent off forever and the last thing she was going to see was one of the people she trusts walking away and leaving her with people she doesn't know, or even worse, associates with painful memories from previous visits. It was absolutely horrible to go through, and just thinking about it still tears me up, but I made sure I was holding my sweet girl and telling her how much I loved her when she drifted off for the last time. I mean, wtf? Would you want to be lying in a hospital bed knowing your time was up, and no one but some random nurses and doctors were there to see you go? Or would you want family, friends, at least somebody you fucking know? Fuck. I had very little respect for that guy before then, but I lost all of it when I heard that.

Anyway, long story short, thank you for sharing your story Cutlery , I had no idea that was an option, and now I will definitely look into doing something like that when I need it in the future. I know it probably isn't quite the same for cats, but we all can agree that your Zel had the best send off that she possibly could have, and if I can get even close to that I will certainly do it.

I cannot imagine doing that for a job though. That would absolutely wreck me. I feel like I want to give that chick a hug just to thank her for what she does.