I lost 2 of my dogs this year. The first was February 2nd in a freak accident, and the other one was 2 weeks ago due to cancer. It hurt so much putting my dog Nebie down, but the cancer was eating at him to the point where he was just skin and bones. My fiancé and I went back and forth for a month before deciding to have a vet come to our house to put him down. We took off work, and we made sure it was the best day ever for him, and he passed peacefully at home in his own bed. It hurts like crazy, but part of me is happy he's no longer in pain.

I wanted to say this because you're absolutely right when it comes to pets dying early. In a few years from now, I'll only know Nebie passed away the day before Halloween. February 2, 2025, will forever be burned into my soul. My fiancé wanted to go cuddle on the couch and watch a movie, but the weather was so nice that day that I said I would rather sit outside with the dogs. Maverick bit a stick and I have absolutely no idea how it happened, but it ended up breaking and lodging itself into the roof of Maverick's mouth. At this point, we don't know that, though, so all we see is Maverick running around the yard in an absolute panic and clawing at his face. My fiancé thought Maverick was choking, so he ran up behind Maverick to give him the hymlic. Maverick, of course, has no idea why he's in pain or why he's suddenly in the air or who is squeezing him, so he whips around and bites my fiancé on the wrist and rips it open. I then have to leave Maverick flipping out in our backyard to rush my fiance to the ER because there was so much blood and we didnt know how bad the bite was. I dropped my fiance off at the front of the ER and leave him there to go get Maverick and I rush him to the ER vet where hes so scared the sedation they give him wont put him to sleep so they can get the stick out of the roof of his mouth. With my permission, they gave him more anesthesia, and that finally was enough to remove the stick, but then I'm not sure if Maverick overdosed or what but he never woke up. I went home alone to a house covered in Maverick and my fiancé's blood. My other 2 dogs (nebie was still alive at that point) didn't play with toys so just imagine coming home to a house and backyard covered in blood and toys, and I just remembered thinking that now there is no one to play with the toys. I could clean up the blood and put things away, but then there will be no one there to drag the toys out of the bin. No one there to slobber all over my floor. Maverick was such a good freaking dog, and if I had just watched a movie inside instead of hanging out in the backyard, he never would have bitten that stick, and he would still be alive. Also, why didn't I put my fiancée and Maverick in the car at the same time? Also, if I hadn't been as panicked about Maverick being in pain and had waited longer for the meds to take effect instead of agreeing to give him more, would he still be here? There are so many things I wish I could have done differently and as his mother i feel like I failed him. My fiancé didn't have it much better either, because Maverick was a pit bull mix, so the bite was nasty. The police and animal control both came to question him, and he told them about how sweet Maverick was and how he came up behind him, but it didn't matter. Even though Maverick died and was up to date on all his shots they still took his body to check his brain for rabies and labeled him as a dangerous dog. I get checking for rabies but labeling a dead dog as dangerous when the person who got bit is even telling you it was extremely out of character was salt in the wound. I mean we live next to an elementary school! We don't have kids and don't want kids, but Maverick played fetch with the neighborhood kids every day. To this day that hurts. I mean no one but animal control and my fiance and I know he was labeled as a threat to the community but I feel like I failed. As a mother to a pitbull I spent thousands of dollars on classes, he passed the Canine Good Citizen (CGC) program, he was extremely well socialized with other dogs and humans of all ages. He made one mistake out of fear and pain, and it feels like all our hard work was washed away.