Oh, I am so sorry. We all know exactly how you feel-well, anyone who has ever had a pet knows!

You know, our latest rescues (my mother/son tag team aka galloping gardeners aka mongrel horde, etc) are the most wonderful dogs I have ever had and I have had 10 in my life before these two. Won't even go into the gerbils, hamsters, cats, mice...we also had a cat who adopted us-climbed the fence into our yard and sat on the kitchen sill watching us at dinner every night. Finally lured him in-took a while, but he finally stayed-we called him Freddie for Freddie the Freeloader.

Anyway, I am pretty sure I will be adopting again someday when we lose these wonderful pups in spite of my broken heart. There are way too many animals who are in need of a happy forever home. And it is people like us who can rescue them!

I'm so sorry about your DD's loss.

In answer to your question: honestly, no, although I have friends who feel the same as you.

Although I'm a very practical, down-to-earth person, a part of me believes that each dog comes into my life to teach me some "lesson" and that they're with me for exactly the time that's meant to be. Each of my Goldens has been so different and it amazes me how just when I think that no dog will ever fill the shoes of one lost, the next one does in ways that I never imagined. I can't imagine life without a dog or giving up the chance to give a dog a great home, especially seniors. Although I'll probably have fewer dogs in the future, I'll always have at least one so long as I'm able.

I'm always incredibly sad when I lose one and will still cry years later when I think of them. But the pain of losing them is insignificant to me when compared with the joy that they brought me, no matter how short their lives were.

I've known people who feel the same as you. I've experienced that deep loss a number of times, but can't imagine shutting the door on sharing my life with another pet. I'd rather be dead.

We've lost 3 cats in the past 5 years. After we lost the third cat, I said never again. I couldn't go through that heartache again. We now have cats # 4 and 5. I can't live without pets even though I know what will happen.

We have lost many pets along the way.When we lost our first golden, we couldnt imagine having another dog, but after about 6 months we each came to the conclusion that our lives were too empty without one. Now I think much the way Goldgirl does. I continue to be amazed by our goldens. Thanks GG-you gave me an idea- when the day comes that I/we am not strong enough for a young golden, I will find a senior that needs a loving home.

leafy I'm so sorry to hear about your pets passing. I lost one of my senior cats last week from liver failure and found out today another one is also in liver failure. She however is not as far gone as the other one was so I think she'll be around a while longer.

No matter how many I lose it never gets easier. My philosophy on getting more pets is I can't imagine my life without my animal companions. I'd be lost. My other thought is that if I'm able to give just one homeless animal a home then that's one less who may end up euthanized in a shelter.

When you have a heart as large as yours obviously is you can't shut it off from doing what comes natural and that is having a loving an animal companion.

When the one who really needs you crosses your path you'll know it's time to have one more.

I sometimes feel that way when I lose a pet but I've always gotten more. I've lost three cats and I have three cats. When the last one died, after two years of treatment for chronic renal failure, I was sure I wouldn't get another one. But after a while I thought about all the homeless cats and the fact I had capacity to take in one more (three's my limit) so I went and adopted another one from a shelter.

This might be the last one though. It kind of concerns me how old I'm going to be by the time this cat passes on. And also a little concerned about providing the care they may need when they're old and I'm also old - assuming I live to be old.

As others have said, when the loss is fresh and the pain palpable, it's hard to imagine another pet. But time and again, the pain is slowly replaced by a longing to fill a void. I believe that once you have loved a pet, you have created a space in your heart, your psyche, your life and nature abhors a vacuum - eventually it will nag at you to fill it.

I'm sorry for your situation, the pain of multiple (impending) losses and your reluctance to see the pain for what it really is - an indication of the tremendous joy that you've shared with pets. As for your daughter, maybe not right away, but this too shall pass and you will know when the time is right and she is ready to open her heart to a pet again. I'm certain it will happen.

Oh man....

Since I was a kid in the 60's, I s'pose I've lost a half-doz. dogs.
The loss of our 11y/o Golden, Sashi, in the fall of '09 was tougher on me than I thought it would be. I consider myself a "Tough-Guy", but not on THAT day...Uffda.

I too didn't want another dog. BUT...DD & DW won-out on that one! So, in Nov. '09, a little bouncing Samoyed, Callie, came to our house! She sure is a kisser!!!

Faron

I'm so sorry for your loss. I too have a senior pom that will be 15 in December. Although she is in good shape I know her days are numbered as she is getting weaker as the days pass. I have had many dogs but she has truly been my best friend an I don't know how I will make it without her. So sad!!!

I'm so sorry Leafy. We made the difficult decision to put our 16.5 y/o dog down about five weeks ago. We got him just months after we married, so he was with us for all of our milestones. I'm not ready for another dog, nor is dh, but my oldest dd keeps searching the local shelter website. We'll get to that point some day. We also have a 15 y/o cat who is still doing okay but I know the time will come sooner than we'd like when we have to make the decision with her too.

It's hard to think about getting another pet when you lose one, but I try to remind myself how much joy they bring to our lives and that joy surpasses the pain that one goes through when losing a loved one. While I can't imagine having another dog as awesome as our last, I do look forward to having another dog when we are ready.

leafy, It IS a very sad time when we lose a pet. I have lost a similar number of dogs, the last one being suddenly on 10/20/11, my sweet Joey, who despite having Cushings disease, diabetes, and had lost his sight, was a happy, loving boy. He jumped up in bed to cuddle with me the night before he died.

Like many folks above, I cannot imagine a life without pets, in my case, dogs. My other two are Sam, almost 12, and Jenny, approx. 9, but she is a rescue and I'll never be sure of her age.

They missed Joey as much as I did. I started looking at rescues again, and adopted Riley on 11/15. I have found that the rescues are SO happy and grateful to have a forever home, that it takes the pain of loss away a bit.

In this case, I was amazed to see how many things that Riley does, that Joey did - things my other dogs have never done. It's as if Joey is still with us, coming through Riley.

I know it won't be many years before I lose Sam and Jenny, and I tear up as I write this. There will never be other dogs like them, but there will be others that I will love, and who will love me, just as much.

Riley

Thanks all, for your kind words.

I've had terrible losses before and bounced back. I am (intellectually) sure I will again. We've always had a houseful of shelter pets and I really couldn't live in an empty house knowing that we could provide safety and comfort to a new set of critters.

I'm just discouraged, I guess, and not looking forward to the next few years of lots of seniors getting to that point. (In addition to the senior dogs and the cat currently in decline, we have another old cat and the oldest rabbit our vet has ever heard of.)

It's likely to be a rough few years, but I will try to keep the door open.

Aww, so sorry to hear of your trials Leafy.

I lost two of my BABIES, my cats in their prime to cars and I swore I'd never have another. The pain was indescribable, far worse than when I had to put down my very sick Rotty. To lose a pet in an accident is just horrific.

Regardless, I did end up with more. But we're going to be facing attrition here...our schnauzer is 16 1/2, I've got two cats over 13, one that may be over 14. Our labs are getting older, too, so in the next 5 years we'll likely be having a lot of losses.

I've still got a couple cats that are young, and as long as they never go outside, will stick around till I'm old (haha) and one dog who is only 3...so I'll probably keep it at a manageable level when we've got just a few pets left at home. I'll always have a pet, tho...probably cats, because it's too much work for dogs, but I do love them so much.

Leafy, I'm so sorry that you're facing the loss of more pets.

My last dog was a beloved little poodle that was in congestive heart failure for 5 years. That entire time I was so aware that her time was short and she was old before her time.

She died January 2nd, 2010. I cried buckets over her but my house just felt empty without a dog. Less than a week later we brought home a 7 week old puppy from the SPCA. It was just what we needed .... something young and full of life. That summer we also brought home an older dog (6 or 7 years old).

My grown-up kids have called dibs on the youngest should we die soon. LOL

ahhhhh, hugs to you.... It is utter devastation to me. And some have left a bigger hole than others. When my beloved Ash died, I physically felt it, walked around feeling as if I had the flu for over a week. Woke up each morning, and it was my first thought. I was so morose, so empty feeling for so long. But somehow, second by second, minute to minute, the days pile up into months and finally years, and the healing begins until it takes hold and sticks. As much as it hurts, you realize that you would do it again. Doesn't make it hurt any less though, hmmm?

I am so sorry, Leafy! It is so sad-- no matter how many other pets you get, no pet replaces one that was lost.

I do subscribe to the idea of, "It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all," however. I think that any living involves risk, and the greatest risk is losing our loved ones, but it is worth it to me.

When my daughter was 5, her cat died. She said that she wished she didn't love her cat so much, because then it wouldn't hurt so much. She is 10 now and still misses her cat! She adopted another cat shortly after her first one died, and it is the strangest thing . . .the second cat is just as devoted to her as the first. DD had a "vision" of what the second cat would look like (I told her not to get her hopes up!). We walked into PetSmart and there was the exact cat DD had envisioned, with the perfect personality for her. True love a second time around.

Thinking of you and your family.

Although the loss profound, I just can't ever imagine my life without the unconditional love of my dog. My girl is 17, she probably will not be here much longer. My children adore her, my 2 year old son often lays in bed with her.

We will miss her terribly, and probably fill the void with another animal after she is gone. There may never be another "Belle" she is the smartest, sweetest, gentle dog I've ever known, but we will learn to love another someday.

It is so tough, especially when children are involved, but it is part of life. A hard lesson to learn, but one that is inevitable.

Yes. I lost two cats in a fairly short period of time. I cried and cried. Haven't had a pet since. Now, more than a decade later, I'm thinking I'd like another cat. DH doesn't like cats though and was a sweetie to tolerate the ones I had so I don't think I'll put him through it again.

Over the 40+ years we've been married, my husband and I have had many dogs and parakeets. We've never had less than 2 dogs at a time; sometimes we've had 3 and 4 - all large, rescued dogs, too. We've faced loss all too many times and each time we swore that we could never go through that again, but we do. As was mentioned above, although we can never replace the beloved dog who died, we know that the next one we rescue will return that love many times.

Even now, we are facing the impending loss of one of our senior dogs. Katie was diagnosed with advanced adenosarcoma almost 3 weeks ago. We thought we had lost her then, but surprisingly she has rallied and still seems to be enjoying life with zest and apparently without discomfort, so we are riding this journey yet. Even the vet was astounded to find out Katie was still with us when I called in for a new scrip.

We know that this journey will end fairly soon though, and we will have to figure out what to do next. A more senior dog to rescue sounds ideal...as all of us can be seniors together :-).

And now for proselytizing.....pet insurance is a life saver - in more ways than one.

Helene

I guess we can all be teary-eyed together on THIS thread!

It's hard to hear about all the losses here, but with each loss comes new Life for many of us in the form of new/rescued friends.

This may be kinda funny...I hope DW never loses her sense of balance! Our Samoyed, Callie, could pull out a tree-stump I think, when She gets into "Sled-dog" mode over something!!
(damn rabbits!)
I call it her "4WD" mode....DAMN she can pull!

Faron
(I miss you Sashi...)

Such sad stories my heart goes out to all that have suffered through the pain of losing a precious pet. Last July we lost our beloved Joey while he was getting his teeth cleaned at the vets. No chance to say goodbye until after he was gone.

We had still had 3 dogs, a 16 yr old maltipoo and her 2 11yr old "pups" to help us through the loss of Joey. You can imagine our devastation when our little girl Jessie only 11yr was diagnosed with a highly invasive aggressive spleen cancer in Nov. She died in my arms only weeks later.

Three weeks later her mother 16yrs had to be euthanized after some strokes. We expected to lose her soon due to her age but it was very hard after the other two losses.

I told DH I didn't want any more dogs...we still had one left and that was it for me. Never again I was done.
Radar, the one dog left, was very special to me. DH missed having the others so much I relented and we bought a havanese pup. This pup was a little hellion and after 3 wks of tormenting my Radar we went back to the breeders and bought the little devils' sister. So now we had the devil and the angel a calm, sweet little girl and they played so well with each other that Radar wasn't being harassed and ambushed at every turn. This was working well for all.

One week after getting the second pup I found a lump in Radar's side. We rushed him to the vet.....he had a very large, inoperable tumour on his liver. All we could do was give him meds to hopefully slow down the tumour. He seemed the same happy boy he always was for about 5 wks but things changed and he went downhill almost overnite. We had him euthanized last week. I'm glad we got the second pup when we did cause I know wouldn't have been able to bring another pet into my home after 4 losses in less than 8 months. These were pets that were at the vets for yearly check ups and shots ate premium dog food and we still lost them too soon. Sorry this is so long.

Radaar, so sorry to hear about your awful eight months. I've lost old dogs and young ones and each one was awful in its own way. I am glad for you that you've got your new pups and that they have each other. My friend's Havanese is just about the nicest little dog in the world, and I can imagine that it is comforting to have two to snuggle with.

Just lost my 14 y o kitten in January. My last cat lived to be 22 or 23 so 14 seems so young. This is the first time I've been pet-less since I was 12. She had liver cancer and when she started feeling ill, all she wanted to do was to be on my lap.

I've had to change my routines, I don't sit in my corner of the sofa where I spent so much time holding her, and I come and go through a different door so I don't always see the little place where she would wait to greet me when I came in.

Dh is very allergic to cats, but for some reason Zeebie didn't trigger his allergies. I started researching non-allergenic cats, and was shocked to discover my stray zeebie looked identical to many Siberian Forest cats that are touted by breeders to produce very low levels of fel-1 proteins that they think are responsible for a lot of the allergic reaction . She had a lot of the other breed characteristics as well, the personality, hair texture, love of play and playing in water and the Siberian triple-purr.

But anyway, I do want another kitty, but am at a loss as to how to test kitties at the pound other than by asking dh to repeatedly see if they trigger his allergies, or to go get a Siberian breeder's $800 cat. That really makes me kind of down, because I know there are hundreds of pound kitties that need a home locally.

I am very sorry for your loss Leafy02. I made the difficult decision to euthanize my 12 yr old cat on Thurday. She had squamous cell carcinoma under her tonque and even with surgery, she was unable to eat solid foods. I have cried all weekend and I'm still crying. At this point I cannot fathom getting another cat. She was such a sweet cat with lots of idiosyncrasies (such an orginal.) I think you will know when you're ready for another pet. If you're like me, I didn't find my pets, they found me.

I am so sorry for your loss. I can certainly empathize
with you and all who have posted to this thread. It has
been four years since we put our "boy" Buddy down and it
still hurts.

I think Hoover (and probably others...) have a good nuance there...

I really do think they choose US!

Yeah...I WISH they could be with us longer. I s'pose it's maybe a way of telling us...
"Love pets while they're HERE. Love them WELL. While they won't be here with us forever, their LOVE will."

Faron

After we lost our oldest dog in 2010 I turned my focus to our other dog to help me get cope with the loss. When we found out in January that he has cancer my world caved in, this can't be happening to me...they're 6 years apart, they're not supposed to die that close together. Not enough time has elapsed for me to feel strong enough to go through it again. And there will be no other pets this time to help me get over him so I imagine it will be worse (and I was closer to this dog than the first). I dread what's coming, how will I be able to stand being in this empty house looking at the places where his dog bowl and dog beds once were? It's so emotionally draining, rushing him to the vets or emergency every week, not knowing what lies ahead. My last dog had such a long illness, it took a lot out of me. I'm not as strong this time, as worn out now after 2 months as I was after 2 years with the first. Beaten down, that's how it feels.

As much as I love having dogs around I'm gun shy about adopting again knowing how painful it is to lose them. It won't be the same, when I chose these dogs all I considered was appearance..size, breed, color. Now you could say innocence is gone. I'm going to approach it from a completely different angle. Not going to pick a dog whose breed ranks in the cancer top 10 or dogs inclined to go blind. Once is enough for me.

Flying Flower...I know exactly how you're feeling. When they have cancer and are living on borrowed time you want to spend every minute with them. It consumes your life and drains your strength and energy. Cherish the time you do have left and take care of yourself.
I know I wouldn't have got another dog after Radar's death but we had recently got two havanese pups after two of our dogs died within 3 wks of each other. Sorry to say but I have no interest in these pups right now as my grief is too fresh. Never in my life have I been able to resist puppies but I just don't have it in me right now.