I apologize in advance if this is long, or I ramble. I'm having a difficult weekend.
DH and I have, had 2 dogs. One of them became very ill last weekend, and the emergency vet diagnosed him with bloat, advised me that he needed a $3000 surgery or would die. He was almost 11, and the surgery would have given him maybe another 6 months, could have killed him, and wouldn't have given back his quality of life. We opted against the surgery, and anticipated that he would pass away at home in about 24 hours. He didn't.
Yesterday, we took him to our vet and learned that he didn't have bloat (of course, since it takes a pet's life very quickly). Instead, we learned he had a very large tumor in his abdomen. It was causing him great pain, he was having a hard time breathing, and he couldn't even lay down. Even with the tumor and water weight gain, he'd lost about 15lbs in the last week. DH and I discussed it, and decided that we would put him to sleep right then at the vet, because the tumor would have done it in a few weeks, but it would have been a miserable time for him.
I'm not dealing with my grief very well, I can't stop crying and even though I know we did the right thing, I'm still miserable. I rescued him when he was 3 weeks old, fed him with a bottle, and he slept smashed up against me or on me every night for the last almost 11 years.
Our other dog is very depressed and missing her brother. She keeps running around the house looking for him, has no interest in playing or going on a walk, and doesn't want to eat. I know my emotions aren't helping her, and she's feeding off of them, but I also think a good portion of it is that she's always had another dog around. Today is the first day in her life she hasn't had a sibling, and she turned 12 in November.
Has anyone gone through this? Any advice on how to help my puppy? The vet said to try and keep her engaged, but she wants nothing to do with any of it. We even got her a new toy today - her favorite, a stuffed animal that she could tear apart. We've never had a stuffed animal last for more than 5 minutes before, and she's laying on the floor snuggled up with it, and has been for hours. I don't know how to help her.