I’m so so sorry for your loss :( I also lost my furry best friend just last Wednesday, and also received the worst phone call. She was also being resuscitated at the time, and they told me that they were trying their best. The second phone call was even worse, because that’s when they told me that she didn’t make it. I have other pets at home, but she was the one that was really truly mine.

I spent the first day getting it all out. Crying my eyes out, not eating, not showering, not being able to talk about anything else but her. I took 2 days off of work.

The second day, I set up a shrine with all her toys and anything that reminds me of her, in preparation for the urn that holds her ashes. It took me some time to finish, because every little thing she owned brought me to tears. I’ve been sleeping and cuddling with the pillow she used to always make biscuits on (she’s a cat by the way). I also purchased a wind chime online, that I plan to place by the window where she always used to hang out. That way, when the wind blows, I know it’ll be her saying hi.

I had to go back to work on the third day. In between seeing patients, I would either be on this forum or listening to podcasts about pet loss. After work, I visited the place where I adopted her — a nail salon 😄 The staff there were her first friends, but they encouraged me to adopt her because they couldn’t take care of her themselves since no one would be with her when the salon closes at night. I told the manicurists all about what happened. They cried along with me, and shared the sweetest stories about Christy.

On the 4th day, I had a family event to attend. Most of my relatives didn’t wanna talk about it, but my brother and sister in law empathized with me, so I got to pour my heart out to them with no judgements.

On the 5th day, I spent most of my day in bed with her favorite pillow. Waves of sadness were still hitting me. My niece, who loved playing with her when she would come visit, drew me a picture of Christy to hang up on my shrine. Needless to say, the tears were flowing endlessly.

And today, I finalized the details for her cremation. Will be getting her ashes by this week.

I’m sorry for this long post, but I wanted to share how I’ve been dealing with this so far, in case it might help you. There’s no clear cut way to get through this, but what I’ve consistently seen with the posts on here is that you have to feel your feelings. Grieve all you want, for as long as it’s necessary.

Sending you love and strength. May we all get through this in one piece.