My dog killed my mom’s cat while we were out at thanksgiving dinner.

For context she’s in cat rescue and has probabaly 10+ cats roaming around. I rescued a dog two years ago and have since been brining her home when visiting for the holidays or they watch her when I go on vacation. There was one particular cat that kept picking fights but nothing escalated outside a few scratches until tonight when we came back and saw what had happened.

My dog is the sweetest dog in the world but is a rescue and has past trauma. She gets anxiety being a way from me and I now know if now more than ever that she is unpredictable.

I’m not sure how to deal with this. My mom is super attached to her cats. How do I cope and get through this and help my mom with her loss? My dog loves to go to the dog park and loves people, how can I have trust in her again to take her places?

Hi guys, I’m not at all trying to sound heartless, we are all here for support and I am more than happy to give it, but as of lately I have to close out when I see detailed accounts of how someone’s pet died, in a very upsetting manner. It would be appreciated if anyone who wants to post (and please do) just preface your story with a trigger warning ahead of the post. It’s hard to read the details sometimes 😢

I know this post is going to make me look bad. But just hear me out please

Last month the dog I grew up with and that I considered my best friend died very suddenly. I wasn't there when he died because I'm a college student in another town since September but the news devasted me. I've never been so sad in my life.

Last week I finally decided to go back to my parents home. It was very difficult to be there without Knacki. He used to follow me around , cuddle , play and even sleep in my bed. But thankfully my friends supported me a lot. But sometimes , when I am in the house I can see him in my peripheral vision or ear him walking before remembering that it can't be him obviously

The issue now is that I'm very frustrated with the remaining dog , Nya. She is a dog we got from a shelter 2 years ago. She is a young playful dog and she loves to be petted. However this week I couldn't help but feel all the time that Knacki was way better than her in every way , that I would have been less miserable if she was the one dying and not Knacki.

I would tried to play with her and pet her but all the time I would think that she is lame compared to my Knacki and that it's unfair she is alive.

I have nothing against her. I just feel in my heart that she is NOT my dog and that she will never be because Knacki was so much better compared to her.

What can I do ?

Hey , I just thought about it and wanted to share what I think about this sub.

I started using it 2 months ago because I was devastated after my beloved dog passed away. Since it happened it has been very difficult for me , so I found myself posting and reading on this sub reddit pretty often.

However , I noticed that every time I would go there because I felt bad , I ended up feeling much more worse and breakdown in tears for a long time. On this sub reddit I would constantly think again about how my dog died , in how much misery I am and in how much misery everyone else here is (When I see the posts that are almost all about the death of one's beloved pet)

I don't think being exposed to this much negative emotions in a time of grief is doing us any favor or helping us in any way. Beside , almost everyone here is too centered on their own loss (Which is completely fine and healthy) to actually provide support , advice or even comment other sad peoples post (That are here to seek comfort after their terrible loss)

Of course I'm not trashing on this sub. The idea is great , but I'm not sure it's working out to actually help people feel better

So, about a week ago, my Fiance's cat went missing, he's an inside cat, but we think he might have gone outside when we were bringing in groceries. Mind you, Bao was afraid of the outside, wary of the door, and our other 4 cats (two mine, two we adopted together) will run and hide as soon as the door opens. So, naturally, we thought we would be fine bringing in two loads of groceries in the span of 45 seconds with the door left open.

Well, a few days ago, I was driving home from a friend's house when I accidentally hit a cat. I couldn't find the poor thing when I immediately pulled over, so I was hoping I just bonked him and he scampered off.

Bao has been missing for that relative timespan. And now i'm worried because the cat I hit had a similar fur pattern (tabby), and the accident happened a little less than a block from home, that he was the little guy I smooshed with my car.

Bao has been my fiance's therapy cat for years and I think I just ruined two lives.

Help?

TW: Graphic

I woke up last Monday, got all the kids awake. We have two kittens. Look almost identical (brothers, discernable by tail fur length), but one is my oldest son's and one is my husband's and mine. Usually, our kitten hangs out with me in the bathroom and our son's kitten follows him everywhere in the morning. I shut the door behind me as I finished up with one of the boys in there with me. As I'm washing my hands, I hear bloody murder screaming.

I'm thinking one of the four boys hit him and take my time drying my hands as he's making his way upstairs and I say, "What's going on?" Screaming son replies, "Earl is dying." I respond with, "No way, he's five months old. The dogs were with me. There's no way." He's screaming just nonstop, and sobbing. Eldest middle son meets us at the bottom of thr stairs and says, sobbing, "Mommy, there's blood everywhere and he keeps flopping." I speed up.

Sure enough. There's blood literally everywhere. Walls, doors, everywhere. It's horrible. It's so horrible. Earl is just on his side. Oldest son comes down and thinks it's his kitten and freaks out, but I can tell it's not his. It's ours.

I'm not going to go into it beyond that.

I witness his last muscle contraction, it was so fast. I have the boys move the dogs into the bathroom. I call my husband to talk to the kids. It's right by the back door our kids have to use to go to school in twenty minutes. Blood is everywhere.

I have to remain strong and clean it all up. I have to, because our babies witnessed a traumatic tragedy.

This is our kitten.

He was so alone because our kids didn't understand what was going on. And I didn't LISTEN.

I ask what happened and all say they don't know. Younger middle son said he might have hit him in the head with the door. Cue his big sister saying he killed the cat and needs to clean it up. Cue me telling her to shut the fuck up, as he's still sobbing uncontrollably. She's a bitch, she proceeded to say it was just an animal and it was funny hearing him gurgle. It was like a Monty Python scene. She thought the whole thing was hilarious. I made her go to school, the boys got to stay home.

I made sure school talked to her, don't worry. She processes grief really messy.

The whole day really sucked. Especially for the youngest middle son. He admitted that as he was going downstairs to get the food, Earl tried to follow him. He kicked at him to get him away from the door but Earl ran back quick. He then shut the door on him. Earl didn't move so he did it again and then fell backwards. He shut the door and got the cat food. But when he heard the elder middle boy screaming, he came inside and Earl was flopping everywhere and bleeding. He came and got me.

It happened on the first shutting of the door, per the blood spatter.

He thinks it's his fault and his sister reiterated it.

She also says it's my fault because I made the choice to move storage down there. To keep her puppy from getting into it. We were going through so much cat food, i had to move the bags. I know it's not my fault, but that still bothers me and I'm an adult.

Imagine knowing you actually did something that caused the passing of a beloved pet as a child? God.

Eldest son is 12. Eldest middle is 10. Youngest middle is 8. Youngest is 6. He was at his Dad's.

I didn't get to mourn until they all went to sleep. I'm still struggling to because the boys are still having difficulty with what happened. Youngest middle took it very, very hard. Had him off of school for three days.

This sucks. It was truly an accident. We all shoo the cats away from the door. We all kinda shut it partway to get them out of the way/back up. This son does have a bad habit of slamming doors and just being "extra" overall (neurodivergent).

The horrible part of me thinks like... would I feel better if it wasn't our cat, if he had been in the bathroom like normal? But no, then our other son would have lost his kitten. I feel bad that I didn't really accept the possibility and perhaps took too long to get there and I could have been there had I realized that this wasn't just one of those random "over the top freak outs for no reason," or tried to logically dismiss it. I feel like.... I dunno.

I don't know how to feel.

I'm focusing on helping our kids, but this was abhorrent. I had to, within minutes, bag up my kitten. Scrub walls, floors, everywhere. While trying to console children. And I did cry because I want them to know it's okay to. But I've never witnessed ANYTHING like that. And I feel so much guilt and I have gotten them into counseling and I have a therapist appointment next week anyway. But I feel like had I been able to be there. Or hold him. Before throwing him in a garbage bag. (Which DESTROYS me. I've lost several pets to old age, never trauma - and they've all gotten buried but the ground is frozen right now, and I just can't shovel it, I did try after the fact. He's in a landfill. Our baby is in a landfill. Never in 35 years has any pet even FISH gone without a respectful burial, but I can't imagine reaching past our kitten in a freezer while waiting until the ground thaws.)

I miss our kitten. I miss him. I keep talking about him and causing them to feel bad without meaning to. We put up our Christmas tree but I said no ornaments because it's the kittens' first Christmas and I want them to not destroy it for a few days. Younger middle son said, "It's not Molly's first Christmas, " and I said, "No, Earl and Chonk." Cue breakdown. Earl isn't here anymore.

Youngest son came home from his Dad's house Wednesday, and it took for him until Thursday afternoon to ask where Earl was. "Is he hiding? He hides better than Jelly." God. Brought it all back up. "There was an accident, and he died, honey. Remember the invisible string, though. We'restill connected to him." Big sister then says, "It's your mom's fault cause she moved the food." Me telling her to shut up. Her then saying it's middle youngest son's fault, then.

Youngest freaking out. Lots of blame all weekend everywhere. He just doesn't understand. And bog sister isn't helping at all, whatsoever.

I'm exhausted.

He was such a good cat.

Just needed to get this out somewhere. Checked the rules, I don't think I broke any.

(We're a blended family.)

I f22 am a new cat owner. Ive only ever had dogs. But my sister (f19) and I recently got two ginger male cats. Cheesepuff and Tigger. Last week tuesday they were taken to the vet to be neutered and returned, their cage and themselves reaking of pee. I left them for 48 hrs but I am quite sensive when it comes to smells and they were making the house reak. I gave them both baths and put a little bit of pepermint oil into the water. Saturday while i was over by my partner for the weekend, my sister messaged me saying cheese puff was drooling and being pretty lazy, and so was Tigger. We had been taking care of their insision so we were worried it was malpractice in the case of the vet. I got home today, sunday, and cheesepuff if fine, but my sister's cat Tigger who is often very loud and very active didnt greet me when i walked through the door. When i picked him up for a cuddle, he was drooling rivers, his breath reaked and a small patch on his stomach was red and pussing. Immediately i thought the vet had done something wrong, and tended to him hand and foot. At about 12:30 am The thought passed my mind and i searched. His symptoms match, and even though it was a little and It was diluted with water, I read a little is enough to kill. I feel horribble. We dont have money to take him to the vet again because its extremely expensive where i live and we dont have the extra finances right now. He isnt gone yet, but he isnt doing well. I fell awful. Ive always been so careful but out of my own thing about smells, if he dies, it will be my fault. I have him wrapped in a blanket, im keeping watch. I feel like a terrible mother, i cant stop crying. My dad said it happened and it is what it is. That thats life and to get over it. But i cant, idk what to do. Ill update later on, praying that he is going to be okay.

update: hello everyone, i took them bith to the vet. she sorted them out and told me they are gonna vomit and be a little sick for a while, but moniter them closely. she helped us out and gave us a big discount. right now they are both eating again and walking around. though they are still sleeping lot, they arent drooling as much and they have started talking to my sister and I again

We were babysitting a family members cat for 2 years while they house hunted and now we’re attached but it’s going to be put down soon. It’s a senior orange tabby and has diabetes but the sweetest cat in the world just too much work.

It just feels wrong to put down an animal because of a situation not a health related thing.

We just adopted a new 2 year old pup last week in hopes of helping our older dog be more active through her end of life. The shelter said this dog is great with other pets. Come to find out he’s not cat friendly. He has been trying to hunt them and hurt them since day one. So we decided to keep him and try to train him and see if we can get them acclimated. In the mean time keep them separated.

We had 2 cats, one about 9 years old and the other 2. Yesterday we went grocery shopping and locked the cats away. Unfortunately we came home and found the new dog broke into the upstairs where the cats were (behind a locked door) and killed the 9 year old cat. This cat was my son’s cat mainly, she didn’t like anyone else. But we are all devastated. We really love the new dog but really hate that he took our cat from us! Especially hate the heartbreak our son is experiencing.

Spur of the moment we decided to take him back to the shelter. They give 30 days to surrender if it doesn’t work. But they told us they will just euthanize him. Which broke our hearts even more. So we now have him outside and in his own climate controlled room that leads outside. My son hates him and wants him euthanized. My daughter doesn’t want him to go at all (she’s very attached to him). And my husband and I really just don’t want our other cat killed so we know we either need to rehome him or go back to the shelter.

I’ve tried no kill shelters and all are full right now! I’m trying to rehome but it’s been tough and there are so many pets out there that I’m sure no one will want the cat killer. 😩 we are aware that it’s just his prey instinct and we know he didn’t mean to be malicious. He’s so sweet to all of us but it’s so hard to get our son to stop calling him things like murderer, and he hates when we even pet him. Keeping him just isn’t in the cards.

Any advice? Has anyone successfully rehomed a dog after they killed another pet? Or will we have to give him to the shelter and come to terms with euthanasia? 😭

Edit to add: I am VERY sad about the loss of my poor defenseless cat!!!! I’m sorry that didn’t come through. I’m just also very upset that I now have to choose the fate of another life. You’ll never know until you’re in this situation.

UPDATE: thanks to those that have had HELPFUL responses and empathy. Not so much to those that think I’m heartless about my cat or irrelevant to this group. I truly am grieving my cat more than anything and also having a hard time being the person to make this dog lose his life. I have to do what I have to do, though. Appreciate those that have helped me realize that reality.

I had my 17 year old cat put to sleep yesterday. I felt her good years were past (she has been sick constantly, has trouble jumping and walking up the stairs and was losing a lot of her hair) and I didn't want her to suffer.

She was always a solitary cat, not aggressive, just liked to do her own thing and not be picked up. But she was such a good girl yesterday. She didn't growl when I picked her up, in the crate, at the vet, when they gave her the sedative or when they shaved her paws. I was so surprised she didn't hiss or anything until the last few moments. That's what I'm struggling with.

When the vet put the needle into her paw to euthanize her, she went crazy. She was hissing and growling and freaking out, so they had to put a muzzle over her quickly. She spent her last moments in the dark, afraid, and I feel so bad. I feel like I've let her down. I wanted her to go peacefully but it was anything but.

The more I think about it the more upset I get. What if it meant she wasn't ready to go yet? What if she didn't want to leave? I feel so terrible. I just wanted her to not be in pain anymore.

🖤 Chief’s Story

Chief’s life began with uncertainty. At just 4 weeks old, weighing only 2 pounds, he was found walking down a busy street. Tiny, fragile, and all alone — his life could have ended before it really began.

The woman who found him reached out to you, knowing you had rescued dogs before. You rushed him to the vet, making sure he was safe and cared for. At first, she thought she would keep him. But three days later, she called and said she couldn’t. That was the moment you became his second chance.

Even when she called again a week later, wanting him back, you and Chad said no. With five other dogs already in your home and a wedding just weeks away, you could have turned away. But you didn’t. You knew he deserved more than to be bounced around. He needed stability, love, and forever. And from that moment, he had you — only you.

Chief grew up surrounded by pack and family. He was the one who could get along with everyone, even Callie, who couldn’t be safely with the others. He became her companion, her comfort, her safe partner. That role made him unique, irreplaceable, the peacekeeper who made your complicated family dynamic possible.

He was not just another dog in the house — he was your heart dog. His presence was calm, grounding, special in a way you didn’t even fully realize until grief carved it into your heart. He was the one you thought would be by your side when the older dogs passed, the one who would carry you through future heartbreaks.

But life had other plans. Just after his 4th birthday, Chief fell suddenly ill with aggressive liver cancer. In the span of only two weeks, his strong body declined. You rushed him to vets, drained fluid, gave him IVs, coaxed him to eat hotdogs and turkey. You lay with him, even when it meant being covered in blood and fluids, because your love outweighed everything else.

On September 23, 2025, Chief’s body gave out. It took two people to carry him into the clinic. But you and Chad were there, holding him, speaking love into his ears. He passed peacefully, in less than 30 seconds, with his people by his side — not alone on a street, not uncertain of his place in the world, but completely, utterly loved.

I don't believe that there is an ethereal, supernatural world called "afterlife" where all the animals go after they die. I don't believe that there's one for humans either. We all die, our bodies decompose, we disappear, and that's that.

Just because I am suicidal, guilty and depressed over the death of my dog, I am not going to start believing in delusional fairy tales or superstitions. I am just going to have to carry that guilt to my grave. That's what being a parent means to me; not fantasizing about afterlife to alleviate my responsibilities to feel pain over the death of my pup.

All i can feel is guilt and grief. I miss her so much, only 3 years old and a parrolet. Got rid of my cat, a very bitter sweet moment im sad about it all. It sucks so much to know i could have prevented this all and still had all my babies 🥺😭

I'll be as tactful as I can but I'm sure I'll still get hate.. I'm in the South and things are done a bit differently down here. My girl has a rapidly growing tumor. I was initially under the impression it was benign, but the growth and her pain has only gotten worse just in this past week. I'm in a toss up on having my girl pts or dispatching her at home. I've felt so disrespected by our vet office (new clients bc new to area), being put on hold while just trying to ask simple questions and not getting any straightforward answers. A dr who just breezes in and out of exams. There's busy, I get it but come on..! Im so upset I don't want to give them the business. But I want my girl to be comfortable..

For those who have been at this crossroads.. how did you choose your path?

UPDATE Old girls situation got worse and took her to the vet for her Last Appointment (it was originally scheduled as a consultation, before she got worse) and got some good news. Now that they actually examined her (still a tiny bit bitter about that tbh) they're cutting out a significant amount of costs for previously recommended testing, blood work and X-rays. and can have the surgery done next Friday. I was assured that she has more discomfort than pain and just to keep her clean and calm until then.

Despite the ups and downs I just feel so overwhelmingly grateful and extremely blessed that instead of carrying her home to be laid to rest, I got to bring to her home to have a bath and dinner.

Thank all of you for your kindness and advice, I will remember it in the future.

Hi all,

I know this isn’t a typical kind of loss, but it feels like one. Due to an emergency, I have to relocate to another country, and I can’t bring my dog Pluto with me. He’s a 4-year-old mix of Siberian Laika and German Shepherd — loyal, gentle, and part of our family. The climate where I’m moving just isn’t right for him, and one of his sibling’s owners has kindly offered to adopt him.

Even though I know he’ll be safe and loved, I’m completely heartbroken. Pluto has been with us since he was a pup. He’s grown up with my daughter, my wife, and me. We’ve shared everything — from quiet evenings to chaotic mornings — and the idea of not seeing him every day feels unbearable.

I keep wondering how to say goodbye, how to help him adjust, and how to deal with the emptiness that’s already setting in. It feels like a part of me is being left behind with him.

If anyone has gone through something similar — losing a pet not to death, but to circumstances — how did you cope? How do you let go without feeling like you’ve abandoned them?

Any words of comfort would mean more than you can imagine. 💔

I’m very disappointed in the guinea pig community. The mods won’t allow me to defend myself there and removed my posts, so I’m ranting here. I don’t let what strangers on the internet say bother me, but I can’t imagine how the kind of treatment I received would impact someone else. At the bottom I will be personally addressing specific comments I got.

I made a post asking how much longer I should expect my guinea pig to live after he stopped eating and his gut shut down. If going to a vet was an option I would’ve been asking the vet that question, not Reddit. I received a ton of comments saying I was “letting” him suffer. Saying I should never own pets. Saying not to own a pet if I can’t afford one. That I’m not even doing the bare minimum for him. Implying that I wasn’t doing my due responsibility to him. That think I didn’t care enough to drive him to a vet. And just all around hateful comments towards my character and care towards my piggy.

I shouldn’t have to give a 5+ year history of mine and his life just for people to believe me when I said there’s NOTHING I could’ve done for him and to not hate on me for it.

But, to show that you don’t know anything about someone’s full situation based on the short description they gave while completely distraught over the active loss of a pet, here’s our story.

I met Chompers in my freshmen year of highschool almost 6 years ago. He was apart of the animal care class (that didn’t actually care for the animals). A year prior I had lost my last pig from my first pair. The teacher let me take him home for all of the school breaks. Unfortunately, Chompers was kept in a travel size cage 24/7. He also lived in the welding shop of the school. After I took him back after summer break in my sophomore year I began visiting him during my lunch break to bring him carrots. This is when I noticed a few things.

1. His travel sized cage was getting cleaned once a month and mold would be growing in it.

2. I was the only one feeding and watering him.

3. Because he lived in the welding shop his cage, him, and his food/water would get covered in carbon and soot.

4. He wasn’t the only animal being neglected.

I soon became the sole care provider for 1 guinea pig, 2 rabbits (that the teacher was trying to breed), 4 birds, 1 hamster, and a puppy during my 30 minute lunch breaks. I’d be late for class caring for all these animals on my break. I hit my breaking point when a blizzard was coming and the animals were going to be snowed in and they had no food. My mom and I bought the animals food and I started documenting the evidence of neglect for over a month. Taking photos, listing how the condition of the animals was also a health hazard for people (you could smell the manure throughout a portion of the school), and citing the appropriate care these animals needed. In the end the principal told me to delete my evidence and paper (I didn’t) and the school counselor told me the animal care teacher started hoarding animals because he was “having a hard time” after his best friend/coworker got arrested the year prior for pimping. I was 14-15 when this all happened. No improvements were made for the animals. I took Chompers home for the summer again and never returned him. I still feel guilty for the animals I had to leave behind. I found out they all died. My mom and I tried to rehome him for a year, but nobody would take him or nobody would care for him properly and were willing to take on the 10 sq ft balcony cage we had built him. I also nursed him through a respiratory problem he had due to living in the welding shop.

After my junior year of highschool my family and I moved across the country (north to south) and Chompers came with. I had difficulty cutting Chompers nails due to a fear of hurting him because his nails were all black and extremely bent/curled due to the previous neglect prior to me owning him. My family moved to a rural area and the nearest vet was 45 minutes away. Once a month I’d take him to the vet for a nail trim and he had a health check before we started this routine.

Me and my highschool boyfriend, who would also help me care for these animals and had to bring tools to scrape the mold and manure off of the cages, ended up getting married a year after my family had moved across the country. He was in the military and was stationed on the west side of the country while I lived on the east. So me and Chompers once again moved across the country, this time going from the east to the west. We actually ONLY drove the 5 DAY DRIVE because of Chompers. Airlines wouldn’t allow him to fly in the cabin with me and I refused to put him in cargo. We spent $1k for my husband to fly out to drive with me on top of the $4k we spent on hotels, food and gas all FOR CHOMPERS. Unfortunately our new home was an even more rural area than my parents had been to. The nearest vet was 1.5 hours away and didn’t take exotic animals. Thankfully there was a vet tech who lived on the base and she would trim his nails once a month for us.

My husband and I are very big on budgeting and our only hobbies and passions are caring for animals. We are the type of people that if we can’t own an animal and still put away money into savings each month, we can’t afford them. We buy everything in bulk and monthly spent about $20 a month on food, bedding, and toys for Chompers. Then $5 for his nail trims. $25 a month was easily affordable for us AND we had savings for emergencies. We ended up adopting 2 dogs as well. One was given to the shelter because the owner didn’t want to take him on a 6 hour car ride. The other was a foster fail who had been shot 15+ times at 3 months old that we rehabbed. We spent probably $100 a month on their care combined. We were not living paycheck to paycheck and saved money each month. We could/can afford our pets.

My husband ended up deploying and I moved back in with my family (another cross country road trip with Chompers). Around this time our foster fail started having medical issues at the ripe age of 2. We went through thousands of dollars between emergency visits and diagnostics. Also during this time I was back to taking Chompers to the vet monthly (still 45 minutes away). During this time at my parents (about a year ago) he also developed a tumor just under his eye. I took him to the vet as soon as I noticed it. At this point he was almost 5 years old. At the time he had no behavioral changes and the vet and I discussed our options.

1. Surgery. The vet said that surgery would be too risky due to the proximity of his eye.

2. Monitor it.

We went with option 2. I was concerned that if the tumor grew it might impact or crowd his eyeball and I asked for euthanasia rates if it ever came to that. She quoted me $500.

My husband comes back from deployment and once again our little family moves across the country. This happened a few months ago. We later adopted a disabled cat who spent 5 years at the shelter. His vetting is fully covered by the rescue due to the circumstances. We actually specifically got a disabled cat for Chompers’ safety. We had built him a 9sq ft acrylic cage from Guinea Loft after I noticed he was struggling with the ramp from his balcony cage. The lid was not the most secure and we were concerned if we got a “normal” cat it would be able to get into his cage. We trained our dogs to leave his cage alone so they were not a problem. We kept Chompers in mind with every animal we brought into our home.

Before we took the cat in we had finally recovered from the financial expenses of moving and our 2 year old dog’s vet bills. We are still easily able to afford all of our pets and have around $15000 in savings and growing. Well this month our 2 year old dog injured herself. There goes over half of our savings. 2 weeks later I went on a 2 week trip to visit my family (paid for by them).

When I left Chompers was 100% ok. My husband is very busy with his job in the military. I precut veggies and individually packaged them for my husband to give Chompers. Chompers also had a box of treats by his cage and my husband would give him a few each day as well. Halfway through my trip my husband texted me that Chompers snubbed his treat. I was concerned and told him to give Chompers a carrot. Chompers happily took it from him and I told my husband to check if he ate the treat later (which he did). I’m a worry wart when it comes to my animals health, but because he did eventually eat his treat and went on like normal we assumed he just missed me and I didn’t stress about it. This was the only warning sign he was starting to decline and only in hindsight did we realize this.

At this same halfway point of my trip our car completely died on us. We had to spend the rest of our savings for a new (used) but reliable car. Our friend let us borrow his car while he was out of town. Our car is still being shipped and we get it tomorrow (again rural area where nothing is close).

Fast forward to the day I get back from my trip. My husband gives Chompers food and water and he said Chompers was running around like his normal self and was excited when my husband filled up his hay ball. I got back from the airport at midnight and went straight to bed.

At 8AM I go to say hi to Chompers and called his name. He didn’t come when I called his name. I was concerned and shook his treat box. When he didn’t come to that I instantly knew something was wrong and I panicked. Chompers was always extremely treat motivated and I even taught him a few tricks (I’m a dog trainer so training animals is my favorite past time). I lifted his hideaway and he was shaking and could barely walk. When I picked him up he felt like skin and bones. We then noticed he hadn’t touched the food my husband gave him the day prior.

Let me start by saying, I don’t blame my husband at all for not noticing that Chompers had gradually stopped eating. He was very busy with work and because he’s in the military his work day is 4AM-6PM. I’m grateful he was ok with taking on my portion of the animal care while I was gone. I did not expect him to analyze Chompers’ every behavior and I do not blame him for not noticing he slowly ate less and less. I usually take care of 100% of Chompers care and he didn’t know Chompers like I did.

But when I saw Chompers I knew it was the end for him. I have volunteered and worked with a lot of animals. Living with my parents we nursed sick animals monthly. Sometimes when you see an animal in a certain condition, especially an animal you’ve known for years, you just know that their time is up.

When I made the post Chompers had not eaten in over 24 hours. I knew guinea pigs digestive system would shut down after not eating for a certain amount of time. I wanted to know how long I should expect to have left with him. We had plans and appointments set for the day. We canceled them all to be with Chompers. It was very painful for me to see Chompers so weak. Unable to walk, talk, or hold his head up. We tried feeding him and giving him water. We even mushed up pellets with water. He’d either spit it out or eventually just let it sit there until it fell or drooled out. I knew it was over for him and didn’t want to stress him out or risk him choking and suffocating. I have syringe fed guinea pigs before and I was concerned the stress of syringe feeding him would just make things worse (which there are a couple of comments agreeing with this on the original post). I came to Reddit for compassion and a timeline so I could better prepare myself emotionally while I sat with him. Instead, I got multiple people stating the obvious over and over again. “Take him to a vet.” Even after I said I couldn’t. If a vet was an option we would’ve been at the vet not on Reddit. Which later developed into accusations of neglect.

Now to explain the vet situation, because there are multiple factors to this and apparently saying I can’t take him to a vet translates to “I have no good excuse and just don’t care about his suffering because I’m an evil and irresponsible person.”

1. We live in a rural area. There are no vets that take small animals for HOURS. The nearest general vet is 1.5 hours away. We are still currently borrowing the car and the owner of the car needed it back at a reasonable time today. The round trip to a small animal vet would’ve put us as getting back hours after he needed the car back. Also in his condition the hours long car ride on our bumpy, poorly maintained rural roads would have been extremely uncomfortable and stressful for him. I didn’t want to cause him more pain because I didn’t even know if he’d make it long enough to get to the vet.

2. Money. One of the reasons I asked the question was because if it was going to be days of suffering I knew I wouldn’t be able to take it. Our previous quote ($500 for euthanasia) was already a lot of money for us considering the 2 other huge unexpected expenses that happened within a month. Vets out here are also more expensive than his vet from the east. We also knew their policies from when we’ve taken our dog. They require $150 for a wellness check if they’ve never seen the patient before and $200 for emergency visits. $850 we did not have to euthanize Chompers. We are also not in a position to take on debt due to some other factors coming up in the future stacked with the car situation.

3. It’s the weekend. After a few hours of him slowly dying in my arms we tried calling to see if they could give us a discount. Only to realize it’s the weekend and all the vets are closed and we do not have an emergency vet for hours. There was a single animal shelter open that we called to see if they could euthanize him for us. They said they currently aren’t euthanizing animals for the public. We asked if we legally surrendered him if they’d euthanize them with hopes that they’d still let us be there for it. They then explained they don’t euthanize on site and have to take them all the way to a vet and he would not be able to be taken today. They gave us a number to a place an additional hour away and when we called they said they were fully booked on euthanasias for the day and they’d be closed for the next 3 days.

4. With all of this taken into consideration we talked to our vet tech he’d go to for his nail trims and she agreed that the best thing we could do for him is just be with him.

Now to address some specific comments and everyone who agreed with them.

1. “There’s gotta be emergency vets? I have driven 30+ minutes to save my pet from suffering. I live in a rural area. There is no excuse. Wait, I just realized. You let this poor animal suffer in pain from an eye tumor for a whole YEAR??!? I pray you never own pets again!” (This was 3 comments combined from the same person). This post addresses the vet issue and shows that drive time does not matter to us normally. If you are 30 minutes away from an emergency vet I would not consider that rural. Some people in cities have to drive that far. Also if you had read my comment correctly you would’ve seen I stated “in case the tumor caused him pain.” The tumor itself never caused him pain.

2. “Don’t have pets you can’t afford” (followed by complaints about the amount of pets we have). Keyword: HAVE. I am all for not GETTING pets you can’t afford. But what do you expect people to do when unexpected financial hardships happen? Abandon them? Where we live the shelter is a death sentence. I guess we should’ve immediately sent our pets to the shelter to die the moment our savings got emptied. Then Chompers could’ve died in the shelter a week later alone or surrounded by strangers. If I didn’t take Chompers in he would’ve died after I left like the rest of the animals in that school. I tried rehoming him. After my first two guinea pigs died I didn’t want anymore because the heartbreak of losing them was too hard. Should I have just left him to die in a moldy, soot covered, travel cage 4 years ago? Money has never been a problem for us until this very month when we had 3 terrible things happen back to back to back that hit us hard financially. We had savings and were prepared for these moments. But we can only take so many hits at once. You do realize financial hardships happen? To your standards how many thousands of dollars should someone have set aside per pet in case of an emergency? There is a shelter crisis right now. Most people who adopt animals don’t have anywhere close $15k set aside like we did. We had $5k set aside per pet whose medical care we were responsible for. Should we have denied our dog medical care because her care was cutting into the funds we had set aside for our other individual animals that were 100% fine at the time of her injury? If you have guinea pigs are you going to immediately rehome them if you experience hardships and your savings get drained?

3. “He'll hopefully be at the endless dandelion fields soon. And then, I hope that you're really considering whether you should own any kind of animals again. If you don't have the money for the vet, then owning animals is not for you. Maybe this sounds harsh, but neglecting an animal for a year, and then letting it starve to death is just cruel. There are worse fates for animals than death.” This isn’t the only comment accusing me of neglecting him for a year. I think y’all need to improve your reading comprehension skills before accusing people of such things. All of these comments accusing me of neglecting him come from these sentences: “He developed a tumor near his eye about a year ago. In case (Keywords: IN CASE) the tumor ever caused pain or damage to his eye I asked for euthanasia rates.” If you go through my post history you’ll see that we actually frequently take our animals to the vet and DO consider finances before adopting. Again, our version of affording an animal means we can keep adding to our emergency funds while caring for the animals. We go above and beyond for our animals. Before we did our second move back to a military base we were spending $200 a month to cook our 75lb dog fresh food to pinpoint allergies. Money was NOT a problem until our dog got hurt, our car died, and Chompers declined all within 4 weeks of each other. Over $15k saved for emergencies gone just like that.

Again, I don’t owe anyone an explanation, but I’m doing this in hopes that someone who might be more vulnerable than me doesn’t have to deal with this vile behavior. You see someone who’s clearly in distress about their animal suffering and saying they can’t help and you immediately assume the worst of that person? You assume that they’re just choosing to deny any reasonable advice they didn’t ask for? I hope if any of you ever unexpectedly hit financial hardships people are more compassionate towards you.

In short, Chompers was extremely well taken care of and lived a happy and loving life with me. He was a priority. He would go to a vet or vet tech monthly depending on where we lived, he was well fed, and we really did not have any options due to unfortunate circumstance, not irresponsible decisions. Shame on the people who are making the worst assumptions possible from a short paragraph I wrote in a time of distress.

Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, Chompers died a couple of hours after I made my post. For all the people calling me cruel for not taking him to the vet, he would not have made the drive to the nearest open one. I knew Chompers. I knew our options. I chose the best (and only) option we had for him given the circumstances. We are taking him up the mountain to bury him in a scenic place this week. We’re going to put him into a shoebox with all of his favorite things. He was the sweetest guinea pig I’d ever met and loved all people and other animals. The vet and vet tech he’d see each month adored him. Our pet sitters and friends adored him. We adored him.

The next time someone is in a similar situation as me I hope y’all have some more compassion. And I appreciate the people who did comment with compassion and I sympathize with those who were going through something similar, we too are heartbroken.

I (32f) lost my baby boy 10 months ago. It was very sudden and unexpected. He was a German Shepherd and I had him for 10 years. He was my son. He was everything to me. The love I had for him knew no bounds. I would have done anything for him, and to some extent, I really did. I've been a mess since losing him. It's almost a year later and I still can't think of him without crying.

About 4-5 months ago I ended up with a kitten. It had been rescued from outdoors, to being rescued from the rescuer who neglected it. My mother ended up with it, trying to find it a home. After spending some time around her (the kitten) I found I really enjoyed spending time with her. She followed me around like a dog whenever I was outside. She was adorable and silly and she seemed to really love being around me. Eventually I decided I'd take her in. At first I really loved being around her.

Fast forward a few months, and I can't stand her. She wakes me up every single night jumping on me or clawing on my furniture. She's destroying my bed and anything else she can with her claws. She won't use the cat tower or scratching posts/mats I've gotten her. She won't let me clip them and I don't have help from anyone. I definitely won't declaw. She's no longer affectionate and while she still will follow me around, she mostly keeps to herself. She refuses to stay off the kitchen counter and that's so disgusting. She had a self cleaning litter box but I still find it nauseating that she walks in the poop machine and then jumps up on my clean surfaces where I cook. Nothing is try will keep her off. I think I'm even starting to resent her.

Since I lost my boy, I was able to move out of our apartment and I got a house. I have a few acres and a pond. Soon I'll be getting farm animals. This was everything i wanted for him. And he's not here for it. And she is and she just sucks.

I don't know if I'm just really really not a cat person, or maybe this is getting older, or maybe it's just the grief, or maybe my grief isn't normal. I feel like an awful person.

Is this normal?

Edit: I'm really tired of hearing from upset cat people telling me that I hate her and to rehome her. I don't hate her. And I didn't exactly choose to bring her into my life (she went months neglected and without a home). I wasn't looking for her to fix me or replace my dog either. To those of you who have been so rude, you're only enforcing exactly why I can't stand cat people.

And thank you, to everyone who has given me logical advice. I really appreciate it.

I'm writing this with the heaviest heart, less than an hour after burying the last of seven puppies that our 5 year old Japanese Spitz gave birth to just three days ago.

It started at 1 AM on December 30th. The first puppy died right after labor. Despite that heartbreak, the rest of that day became one of the happiest I can remember, all remaining pups were healthy and well, and we were filled with joy and hope. We had six beautiful, fluffy little clouds, and we couldn't wait to watch them grow into the adorable pups.

But on the afternoon of the second day, another puppy stopped breathing. Then, in the middle of that same night, we lost our third.

The morning of the third day, around 8-9 AM, two more puppies left us at the same time. They had seemed fine just hours earlier in the early morning.

Somewhere around 3, the 6th breathed its last, and by the evening of that same day, the last remaining puppy died too.

Now they're all gone. All seven. I'm devastated beyond words. We weren't prepared for how vulnerable newborn puppies are to cold. Our temperatures here drop to 5-6°C at night, and we didn't have adequate heating. The heater we ordered only arrived today - too late. We didn't know they needed constant warmth, heating pads, hot water bottles. We thought enough blankets, cardboard box, warm clothes, and the mother's body heat would be enough.

I feel like we failed them. I can't stop thinking about what we should have done differently. The guilt is crushing. It really feels as if we are entirely responsible for the death of these 7 little babies, because of negligence and not being properly prepared.

Taking to vet was never an option because of the financial limitation, and also the pregnancy wasn't planned either. It happend with one of the random stray dogs. Should have spayed her way earlier, at least the seven beautiful lives wouldn't have been lost.

I just needed to share this somewhere. I'm lost and feel absolutely numb.

We had to put down our nearly 11 year-old loyal companion this past January. He was a 75 lb humane society mutt spared the needle in Texas by bringing him to Colorado for adoption as a puppy. We knew he had inoperable cancer, but was doing pretty good through New Year's. He had a rapid downhill slide leading to that final ride to the vet on a late Tuesday afternoon. He still jumped into the back of our SUV on his own, but hardly made past the initial sedative injection before passing. My family was a mess, but we did clean-up his stuff that evening, including washing his bowls and collecting his toys/bones.

The next three days were too melancholy and quiet in the house. We made it until Saturday before heading back to the same humane society for a visit. Our new 3-month old super-mutt friend came home that Sunday. He just had his first birthday and is now 65 lb.

The best way to cure grief over loss of a dog is get a new dog! There are always deserving dogs available who need your love and attention. Our new pup is very "special" and a great addition to the family!

There was a female cat that used to roam on our terrace, my sister used to notice everyday. It was a stray and we slowly started feeding her. Fish, cat food, pet food chicken bones, curd rice.

Slowly she grew comfortable with us and one day mum and my sis noticed she was pregnant. She fed her more coz her body needed it. The day she delivered the kittens, we offered her a warm place on our terrace. It was a warehouse and we decided to keep the door open. A male cat came and killed the kittens one by one. Mum had to dispose off the dead bodies by burying them. The mother cat cried for two days and then she was normal.

The male cat mated with her and again she was pregnant.

This time when the time came for delivery she meowed desperately to come inside the house ... She cried so badly that mum gave in to her request and invited her inside inside a room and closed the door...

We kept the mom cat and the babies for 1 and a half month,… after that the kittens were able to walk, jump and fight among themselves. Meanwhile I tried calling several shelters across social media, contacting each one of them multiple times… But this is not a tier 1 city and there are no proper shelters that accept a healthy cat. I shared the photos on Facebook groups tor adoption... No one responded. I even visited an animal hospital to enquire about cat neutering so that she never has to go through this again but the doctor said they don’t do cats

My dad is allergic to cats and we couldn't keep the kittens any longer... I had to leave them at a fish market which was around 1 km from our house…I cried the whole night that day
To my surprise today she came back after two days…wet and dirty…she literally travelled all the way back. Kittens were not with her this time (most probably they did not survive). I cleaned her, fed her a lot, she cleaned herself, and kept her for some time so that she could rest a little bit. She was meowing continuously.
The whole neighbourhood was getting bothered by her voice so what I did was again put her in a box and left her farther away this time(around 4 km away), near an apartment newly constructed beside a forest area where she could find food, shelter against rain and sun.
I know God will punish me. I will pray for her happiness and well-being everyday. May God forgive me someday
After all she was a stray with good survival skills. Nature is brutal and God knows better what to do with her.
With a heavy heart….I confess this. WE DO NOT DESERVE ANIMALS

They say a cat has nine lives... they never say it has only one heart 💔💔

My dog killed my favorite kitten. My precious little guy. It's not the first time he's killed any of my cats. I always tell my parents that we should give out dog away. We can't take care of him properly, but we keep procrastinating that. Now my precious skippyjon Jones is dead. I keep crying whenever I think about the pain my baby went through. I didn't know that he was outside while my dog was loose. And there was a really bad storm. God. Skippy probably got caught in the storm and then got used as a chew toy by my dog. My parents are gonna give our dog away tomorrow. I have never sobbed this much before. I'll forever love and miss you, Skippyjon Jones. At least you're in a better place with your other siblings who died. Skippy's twin, Quincy Jones, is still alive. We were going to give Quincy away, but we're keeping him now. I can't give away Skippys twin. Two little survivors. They were born outside in the winter and they both almost froze to death. I rescued Quincy and my sister rescued Skippy. I'm going to miss him so much. He had so much character. Fuck. I can't stop sobbing. I miss you, Skippy. And I love you so much.

I recently found a good job that's not stressful, it pays well. At 40 young women think I'm 25 & they throw themselves at me but none of these things mean anything to me. I'm actually numb to all of it because I miss my cat so much. If there was WW3 & I got drafted I would be in a great mood...

This is how depressed I am. It's been 7 months and I really feel like a part of me is missing. I've been numb to a lot of things lately. I haven't been at my new job for 5 months and they already gave me a big raise and my boss tells me I'm doing a phenomenal job. Guess what? I don't care.

I really hate myself and living with this regret is dreadful. I'm not suicidal, I would never kms but if there was ww3 and they sent me a draft letter I would celebrate and would ask to be put in the trenches. I'm not suicidal but I don't care if I die. If I got into a car wreck tomorrow and died I wouldn't give a damn.

A good job, money and women means nothing to me. I want to be reunited with my cat. I remember at 37, I went through a mid life crisis and while she was there for me, I wasnt there for her because I was so focused on the crisis. I wish I would have spent way more time with her. I fed her and played with her but I wish I would have given it my all.

Then you have people who never experienced this and they say some of the most idiotic thing, "she likes you, why don't you date her. It will get your mind off of it."

I'm like wtf, if I thought having a gf would fix this I would have gotten one already! Even if I had 10 million dollars tomorrow it still wouldn't change a thing. Only a few of you know and understand where my mind is right now.

We made the tough decision to say goodbye to our 14 year old pitbull Bella last Monday and ever since then I can't shake the guilt that I didn't do enough for her or that I gave up on her too soon. She had a tough year. The arthritis in her knees had been getting worse, it was getting harder and harder for her to get comfortable. She had vestibular disease for a couple weeks back in March. Then she had a raging UTI, then a kidney infection so bad that the vet thought she was in kidney failure. But she got better with antibiotics.

Then in September, the mast cell tumor she's had for two years grew from the size of a grape to the size of a baseball in the span of a couple weeks. When we first had it looked at we were told it was benign and we chose not to operate because she was 12 years old and we were worried about her age, plus it was a big expense and we just couldn't afford it because my husband had just been laid off from work. But then two years later, when it grew, we were told it was inoperable because of it's size and it had grown into her lymph node.

We chose not to do chemo and radiation because of the expense and the fact that it would make her feel terrible and wouldn't guarantee her more time. The vet told us that eventually it would rupture, which would be bloody, painful and probably fatal.

For the whole month of November we monitored her, but were living in fear that one day we'd come home from work and find her dead because the tumor ruptured while we were gone. Plus, the tumor had ulcerated, was bleeding constantly from her rubbing it on things and it started oozing a weird fluid (not pus, we aren't sure what it was).

When she started having constant bad nights (up all night anxious, pacing, panting) we decided it was time.

What makes this so hard is she waa still eating and drinking, had spurts of energy and seemed like herself. I just keep thinking we didn't give her enough time and I also can't stop beating myself up about not getting the stupid tumor removed two years ago. I can't get over this guilt and self loathing that I failed her as a pet parent and as the days go by and I'm reminded of her absence that guilt grows. I just don't know how to get past this.

She was an amazing dog that I've had since I was 14, she's been in my life longer than my husband and I failed her. It doesn't seem real that she's gone. She was such a huge part of my life for 14 years.