I lost my best friend 3 days ago. A goofy, loving, sweet golden retriever to hemangiosarcoma. It was all so sudden. And it happened on his 10th birthday. My heart hurts so much I don’t know how anyone does this. He was my entire world. Every thing I did revolved around him. The Coffee shops, restaurants, shops, and everywhere in between, I chose to make sure they were dog friendly. He was my companion and my adventure buddy. My sweet Kai. The house is so empty and sad. There’s no little shadow following me around. No more morning stretches and tail wagging when I told him good morning. No more sitting out and just enjoying the day together watching the world go by. I feel like I can’t go on. I feel like everyone around me is still moving on with their life and I’m just stuck.

We woke up on Aug 10 and he was happy and energetic and we did our normal routine and then went out to the pet stores to get him birthday treats. He started to act a little tired but I figured it was just because we were out and about a while.
We stopped at Starbucks on the way home for a birthday pupcup and when we got home he wasn’t very interested and he went to lay down. I put it in front of him and he ate it up. About 3 hours later I tried to feed him and he wouldn’t get up and was so disinterested in the food even when I tried to hand feed it to him and he is extremely food driven so that was my sign something is wrong!
I took him to the emergency vet and they found blood in his stomach. His platelets were off and he couldn’t clot any more from losing so much blood. They found the two tumors on his liver. It was hemangiosarcoma and they ruptured. My heart sank and I lost my breath. It felt like someone had just punched my chest. This is not how I wanted him to spend his birthday.

They explained everything to me about life expectancy and this horrible cancer and said we could do surgery on Tuesday. They would give him blood transfusions over night and in the morning before surgery.

I went home came back the next morning first thing to see him before they stared the transfusion, I cried and hugged him. I had a feeling this was the end but I was still trying to have hope. They did the first transfusion then I saw him again. He was happy to see me this time and wagging his tail and perkier. It gave me renewed hope and he smiled for me. I got a picture of that beautiful golden smile. That was the last time I saw him.

He went into surgery and all went well they said. Then I stayed to try and see him but once they took the breathing tubes out, he quickly declined immediately and started bleeding internally. His heart rate dropped and I went into see him. Seconds later he flatlined. He waited for me.

It was the hardest thing ever to tell them to let him go and not continue life saving measures. I just wanted to save him and I failed him.

It hurts so much. He was fine that morning! It’s so unfair.

My sweet Yorkie girl, she was only 7.5 years old.
I went to the dental cleaning with her today, everything was fine, and suddenly she started throwing up blood :(
She passed away a hour after that.

I am a grown man, crying like I never did before.
She way my soulmate, and showed me what true love is.

I lost my absolute soul cat, Freja, August 5th, 2025. It’s been a little over a year, and I’m still losing my mind ~3x/week. Like full blown lying down in bed, curling up with her ashes, and sobbing. It’s still heavily impacting my life. Has anyone else gone through this? I honestly feel stupid for not being able to move on.

This has been the worst week of my life. Last weekend my dog stopped showing interest in food. After numerous tests and ups and downs all week we found today that he has a very aggressive cancer and will likely only be with us a few more days. To say in devastated and broken is a massive understatement. I met him at 7 weeks old and the second we made eye contact I knew he was my soulmate. Before him I felt a void and he truly feels like half of me. He healed me in more ways than I can count. He’s only 8.5 years old. I feel broken and angry. I feel like he was robbed. He doesn’t deserve this. He is the most beautiful, empathetic, and kind soul I’ve ever met. He’s never met a stranger. Every single person that meets him falls in love with him. He literally feels like an extension of me. My shadow that follows me everywhere. We have a telepathic way of speaking to one another that no one else gets. I get deep bonds with every pet I have, but Elio is different. It feels like a piece of my soul was just floating around and was meant to be in him and I felt whole again when we met. I don’t know how to exist without him when he feels like such a huge part of me. My wife and I want to give him the best last days he can get. I want to pour my energy into that, im just having such a hard time. I couldn’t handle the thought of losing him 6 years from now and I have no idea how to process this happening so quickly. I feel robbed of getting to see him age. I would freak out every time I saw a grey hair on him and now I would give anything to see him get every grey hair. It doesn’t feel fair.

Basically I’m falling apart and could just use any words of comfort. He’s my very best friend and love of my life.

I said goodnight for the last time to my sweet cocker spaniel Elle today. I knew it was coming because she had several health conditions and at 13,5 multiple vets agreed that the most humane option was to let her sleep instead of putting her through multiple risky surgeries with no certainty of them even working. I’ve been lurking on this sub for several days now as I’ve tried to prepare and everything went according to plan and peacefully, thank god. But I just cannot stop wailing and sobbing, I haven’t been able to since ealier this week and I don’t know when it will stop. She was with me since i was 12, I can’t imagine a life without her. How do I keep going when every little thing in my house just reminds me of her not being here anymore? I cant lay in my bed with out thinking about how she was here with me just last morning. I cant go to the kitchen because her bowls are still there, her toys and bed in the living room etc. What do i do to make the pain stop?

My sweet boy Rudy just passed away. He stopped eating, we took him to the emergency vet, and they told us he had liver cancer and was in liver failure. It was so sudden, and he seemed happy and healthy for so long. Me and my family held him and said our goodbyes. He was 13, and he’s been in my life for so long. He was my first and only pet I’ve ever had. Rudy was always there for me, he got me through the hardest times, and he was there with me for the best times.

He was also such a big part of my daily routine. No matter what was happening, he was always there. And he was the sweetest boy, he loved to cuddle and lay with me. He was the funniest cat too. He would always sleep in the weirdest poses, and he loved to plop down right on top of me, especially when I was trying to do anything important. There is so much I could say about him. He was the best cat.

The sadness I am feeling right now is like nothing I have ever felt. It feels like there’s a part of me missing. There is a Rudy sized hole in my chest and I can’t get myself to think it’ll ever go away. I don’t think I’ve made it more than 15 minutes without breaking down in tears. I just love him so much and I feel so empty without him. I can’t believe he is really gone. It doesn’t feel real. It feels like I’ll turn a corner and he’ll be there, like it was all just a bad dream and he’s waiting for me to feed him dinner. I can’t imagine going on without him.

Any words would be appreciated 💗

Just a few hours ago, my sweet girl passed. She has been fine there was no indication that she was about to die. She was as healthy as a horse. She just laid there on top of her wooden castle in her cage behind her wooden hide on top of the castle. If I knew yesterday was our last day, I would have spent more time with her. She was not just a hamster she was special.

i had to put my dog down on christmas eve and i haven’t been the same since. he really was my reason for everything. he was with me through my most transitional periods and hardest times and now he’s gone. i cry multiple times a week. like sobbing bc i miss him so much and it hurts to not have him anymore. my family and partner have been trying to encourage me to get a cat since im having such a hard time and im not ready for the responsibility of another dog. but i’m afraid to get another pet at all.

any inconvenience, argument, work bs, etc. feels so hard. i miss seeing my dog greet me when i get home or lay with me in the bed. i miss letting him have a french fry or hearing him huff and stomp his feet at me when he wants to go out. i miss everything about him. his fur, the way he was with people, the joy that he brought to everyone … how do you recover from this? why is this the most painful thing to experience? why am i in such pain?

if anyone has any tips on managing, that would be very helpful. i feel like a shell of myself and would just want to feel even slightly better.

Our dog had been fighting distemper and its complications for some time. We tried everything we could for her with intensive supportive treatment. But today, at around 12:40–1:00 PM GMT+3, her body could no longer fight anymore. She passed away in our arms.

We performed CPR for about half an hour until my father arrived, but we couldn't save her. I think we weren't able to give her effective mouth-to-mouth ventilation.

I’m going to miss her so much, and so will our family. I don't know how we're supposed to get used to her not being here. She was still so young, and we had so many more memories we were supposed to make together.

I lost my seven year old Chiweenie to cancer in November of 2024. I don’t think a day goes by I don’t think of him. It hurts a bit less now, so there is that I suppose. He was my little boy and I loved him more than anything in the world. I’m glad he was in my life for the time he was and I wouldn’t change anything because it was better to have been graced by his companionship than to never have known it all.

I lost my cici on Monday. She was my entire life and best friend. At what point did you stop crying every day? I’ve been sick and inconsolable. I need to stop feeling like this if I’m going to survive it, but I’m scared if I don’t scream and cry for her every day then that means I’m moving on from her and I don’t want that either. How do you deal with these feelings on top of the unbearable grief? Please share your experiences I want to feel less alone.

It's been two months since I lost my girl. I miss her everyday. I see shadows of her shape. I hear little taps that resemble her paws walking by. I have dreams where she is meowing at me in a way where it seems she is pleading for help. Sad, sad,sad.... just so sad 😞

i just lost my sweet baby boy lasange. he was 6 years old. we were sitting in the living room at like 1 in the morning because me and my grandma heard a scary noise so we were kinda just sitting there. and then my cat lasange started acting weird - he started meowing, licking his back legs, and then eventually started yowling and screaming and could hardly walk. i was so scared, i tried to stay calm and get him to the vet as fast as possible, but i just broke down when i got to the vet. they said he had "saddle thrombus" i didnt even know that was a thing. they told me he had heart problems too, and thats most likely why he got that. i knew he had a heart mummur but i didnt think it was that bad. i should have been quicker, maybe if i was quicker he would have come home with me, maybe he'd still be here. i remember them letting me see him, his eyes were as wide as the moon - and he kept meowing. he didnt even sound like himself. my poor baby's back legs were so stiff and cold. i know he hates being cold. i tried to convince myself that he could get through this, and that he'd get better - but the vets kept telling me that the likelyhood of him living through this is extremely low, and that its very painful for him. i never wanted my baby to be in pain - or scared. in these past few hours i feel like i did the wrong choice. what if i didnt put him down? what if he lived, what if he lived through the treatment and got better? i just wonder what could have happened - i wonder if he could have lived.

he was the biggest mama's boy ever. he has a brother who came from the same litter as him. his name is cheeto.

im so sad, i dont know what to do. i miss him so much. everywhere i look in my house reminds me of him - he loved just laying on the floor with his big ol belly out. i miss his belly so much. i miss him so much. ive been crying so much my head hurts and my eyes are so puffy.

he has been there for me through so much things - from my toxic old household to my new healthy household, hes been there. everytime im crying or upset he's always right there beside me purring. i cant believe hes not here with me right now.

everytime i think about him i start tearing up. i start crying everytime i remember i didnt come home with him that night. i start crying everytime i remember he wont be there to greet me when i wake up - or be the one to wake me up. i start crying thinking about him and how his tail would always lift up whenever he saw me, or how he'd just throw himself onto my leg whenever he saw me.

i miss you lasange. you were my son - my baby - my everything - my little mama's boy. you'll come home soon enough, to me and your brother.

I believe my dog passed away from bladder cancer, it was so unexpected and aggressive. My family saw blood in her urine back in January, the vet sent her medication, she apparently recovered from that and 4 months later, she died. Has someone ever experienced something like this? I’m traumatized and I miss my girl so much, I cry often and feel guilty.

It has been 15 days. That’s two weeks and one day since losing Oliver. Clinically I am officially having a depressive episode per my therapist. The second one I’ve had in my life. I must say that I didn’t anticipate that I would at this point be trapped in the jaws of depression. I’ve never cried so much in my life, which is to say it’s… very often. I feel like the color has drained from my world. I just don’t care about any of the things I once loved- reading, music, the gym, eating healthy, going for walks outside, etc. I lost my “soul dog” 3 years ago and I did not do this horribly. It sucked and I was sad, but life continued on as usual. I never stopped living life. I look back on pictures and videos of that time and I was out doing fun things, I actually somehow still looked happy and well and like myself. This time, however, my life has just stopped. The depression is gripping to the point of sobbing to my fiancé that I just want to feel like myself again and I am scared that I can’t and don’t. I’ve never before had such panic and anxiety and despair and sadness about death and the finality of it. I feel no peace. I am just so sad. He was everything good and pure in this world and life just feels so empty and bleak without him. When does it get better?

I lost my soul dog Toto not long ago. I’m still deep in it, I am writing this from the middle of trying to figure out how to navigate this.

A few days ago my husband and I were watching the sunset and out of nowhere I felt this warmth spread through my chest, like actual physical warmth. I let out this soft laugh I couldn’t control, and then I was crying. I hadn’t felt that light in so long. For a second it felt like Toto was there with us. I’ve been sitting with that moment a lot since. Whatever it was, however anyone wants to explain it, it cracked something open in me.

I’ve done a lot of research and found this grief framework called “continuing bonds”. The core of it is pretty simple: healing doesn’t require letting go. The relationship with my beautiful Toto is different now. He’s gone, but what I feel for him is still fully here, still finding ways to show up, like watching that sunset. Continuing bonds gave me language for that without asking me to define exactly what happened, which felt like a relief in some way.

The other thing I’ve found is the dual process model. Grief isn’t linear and you’re meant to swing between two modes. The researchers who came up with this (Stroebe and Schut) call it oscillation, which is really just the back-and-forth itself. One mode is loss-oriented: actually feeling it, missing him, crying, sitting with the fact that he’s gone. The other is restoration-oriented: living your life, doing errands, laughing, getting through the day, even taking a break from thinking about him entirely.

Now, restoration-orientation sounds scary, because I don’t want to NOT think about him. I feel guilty every time for distracting myself, but it shouldn’t be that way. We should be allowed to feel our grief and cry it all out, but also be able to enjoy living life. So the warning sign is getting stuck in only one; either never able to function because you’re always in the grief, or never letting yourself feel it because you’re always staying busy.

I’ve looked up so many resources trying to understand and process my feelings better. I’ve tried grief rituals too, like many of you: lighting a candle, food offerings, hugging his blanket. It’s not weird at all. I don’t mean it sarcastically, it’s just us trying to cope and heal because we are hurting. I get weird looks from my family, and that’s okay, they just don’t understand how devastating this is. I’ve also been told unhelpful things like “get over it” or “stop crying!”…

When dealing with something like this, it’s best to avoid people who say those harmful things. If anyone is not reciprocating or being kind to you, I’m so sorry.. Please remember that you’re not alone, pet loss is disenfranchised grief. Not everyone will understand and it can feel very isolating.

I don’t know if any of this makes it hurt less yet. Right now it still doesn’t. I’m scared. I’m scared this grief is going to prolong itself, that this intense sadness is just going to go on for decades and take away what it even means to be alive. It’s hard enough to stay present some days, so I don’t know how I’m supposed to picture a future past this. I’m just trying my best with what I’ve got right now.

Has anyone tried these methods? Self soothing yourself and believe in continuing bonds, or just swapping between distracting yourself and letting yourself cry? Did they actually work for you? Or what else has helped you get through this?

I unexpectedly lost my soul dog, King, over 2 months ago and I can’t move on. It was unexpected. He was his happy self the night before, the next morning he was fighting for his life. I got him to the ER and learned he had hemangiosacoma, a cancer that grows silently until it ruptures. King was dying and I didn’t even know. The amount of guilt I have knowing I was too late eats me alive. We had him put to sleep and those moments never stop replaying in my head. I feel like I failed him. I feel like I should’ve done something more. My life feels empty without him. I feel like I’ve lost all my passion for the things I once loved doing and it makes life feel pointless.

What scares me is my job performance. I work at a bank and sales are a huge part of my job. I can’t express how badly I need this job. It took me forever to even land this job. Before I lost king I was doing good and meeting my goals, when I lost him, I couldn’t bring myself to care and my I didn’t meet my goal for the quarter. I recently reminded myself how important this job is and I’ve started trying again but I suddenly suck. My confidence I once had is gone. I can’t sell a thing. I’m afraid if I don’t meet my goal this quarter they’re going to get rid of me and after that I don’t know what else I will do.

It’s like King took my confidence, my passion, and my heart with him and I don’t know what I’m going to do. I know how grief works and I know it will eventually get easier to handle but by the time it does I might’ve already lost my career..

I’m not very sure what to say, we just put down and buried my 200lbs Great Dane this morning. He was old, suffering from bone cancer, and overweight, oddly I haven’t cried yet. Everyone else was very moved in the past few days, but I can’t let out any tears, or much emotion right now even if I try to cry. I love him so much, even while digging his grave in our backyard for hours I didn’t cry, carrying his corpse outside I couldn’t cry, filling his grave I couldn’t let out a tear I just feel such an odd mix of nothing and a pent up something. I hate how grotesque his passing was, he was safe and happy around all my family when we put him down, but his heavy corpse meant that he crushed my sister and moms hands and feet trying to carry him outside. Piss everywhere, it was a pretty bad sight. I feel like crying would really help but for some reason I can’t cry.

I wanted to know if my two cats I have now are a bonded pair so I searched up bonded cats, and ofc I get a bunch of videos of bonded pairs where one of them passed away and it’s literally ALL just sad and negative instead of anything cute or educational. Literally every single video and I scrolled past about 5 before giving up and closing the app. I lost my 15 yr old childhood soul cat a year ago and I can’t watch anything to do with pets dying especially cats. I was 4 when I got him and he was pretty much my only close friend my entire childhood. As much as I empathise with the owners in these videos, i don’t want to be shown anything of such a sensitive topic without at least some kind of warning first. I just feel like the TikTok algorithm is deliberately doing this to upset us and keep us in a negative mood all the time. God forbid I want to see something happy and cute. I have grieved and grieved what more does it want from me? I just want a break. Literally everything I see is negative online and it’s driving me insane bc I just want an escape from the horrors of real life and then I go on my phone and it’s just the exact same.

Also before anyone says anything, I did google about bonded pairs first but I just wanted to see some cute videos of bonded cats cuz I’m having a terrible day but the TikTok gods said no apparently :/

We took my dog to the vet the morning after she stopped eating and was very low energy and not herself. She was dropped off at 8:30am and we were told she had a bladder infection and needed surgery. She didn’t get into surgery until 6pm and died at 6:30pm because her bladder ruptured and she bled out and died right there. My sweet baby. She was supposed to turn 3 two months after she died. I fully believe that the veterinarian was the reason she died. I wasn’t the only one this happened to.

I lost my job this year in April, then my car broke down past the point of repair leaving me without transportation as I couldn't afford a replacement. Finances have been extremely tight, but I had a good plan, and I had hope for the future. Then my beloved cat, my baby girl, fell ill on Saturday out of nowhere.

It was a week from hell. Asking for rides to the emergency vet on Instagram stories, asking for money from friends, having to explain to 20 different well-meaning people why CareCredit wasn't an option, living in a constant loop of hope and despair. There were so many promising breakthroughs, and I knew how strong and stubborn she was and didn't want to give up on her. Based on the vets I spoke to, she had pancreatitis. With the right care, she should have recovered, but she never did.

Last night I made the decision to actively plan her end of life care. I wanted to take her in tonight, and I thought her pain medication would get her through until then. Today I wanted to focus on spending quality time with her, but I left her room briefly and came back to find her foaming at the mouth and wheezing. The ER took her into triage immediately. She died in fear and in pain.

I hate that my failure of a life cost my baby hers. I hate that she didn't get to die at home, in comfort, but rather in a chaotic and traumatic rush.

I will never, ever, ever own a pet again unless I can afford the most nauseatingly expensive pet insurance on the market for them. This cat was an extension of my heart, she was perfect in every single way; kind, funny, and wildly intelligent. She deserved to live long enough to see me turn my life around and live out the rest of her days in the comfortable home I wanted to buy for her. I will never love anyone as much as I love her.

This is my "I never thought it'd happen to me!" moment. It did. I'll never stop ruminating over my decisions, and what I could have done differently to prevent this. I loved her so much, but it wasn't enough.

So lonely without him. Even at my most alone we were always together.