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Old 03-17-2022, 12:42 PM   #1
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Default To the nuttiest four-legged creature who ever lived

I am LordRanger's human, and it is with a crushed heart that I must share that we lost Ranger. Ranger was the greatest creature ever to walk the face of this earth on four legs. When I moved to Canada, I had no marriage, no friends there—I didn’t even know where I was going to stay. Ranger was all that I had. It was a fun road trip for just the two of us, to see Niagara Falls, Toronto, crossing the Canadian border for the first time… He swam into Lake Ontario just to say hi to a duck. I was there when he learned to swim for the very first time. He was my friend, my son. I guess with kids, you get 18 years with them, and then they move out. With dogs, you get 15 years with them and they move on. I dreaded this day for a long, long time, and now here it is.

At least I can say that I have no regrets. He was definitely NOT neglected! He was a seriously spoiled dog, with the attitude of a spoiled dog. Whenever we went on walks, he was the one walking me. He had a dog chiropractor, a dogsitter, and he took over my Facebook page. I got all the quality time with him I could reasonably ask for, and he got to die of old age. I always promised him (even though he couldn’t understand me) that I would be with him to the end; and that I did. Throughout his life, I told him I loved him with all my heart. Maybe he didn’t know English that well, but he knew. Now, I guess I will have to wait for another 15 years before it comes my time and I can see him again. If Heaven is anything like when I come home every day, no doubt Ranger will be anxiously waiting behind the pearly gate, jumping up and down, waiting for someone to open the gate. And he will be the first to run out. The guy can run: he is a mighty, powerful chaser of Canadian geese. He would strike terror in any squirrel he saw (he just never actually caught one). He did, however, manage to terrorize a baby rabbit in his rabbit hole, get sprayed by a skunk, and he murdered more dog toys than I can count. As a puppy, he couldn’t stop running around the couch or barking for two seconds.

His final years were at home with me, while I worked remotely from home through the Covid outbreak. He had all kinds of health problems closing in on him at the end: dental, kidneys, respiratory, blind and deaf. A combination of kidney failure and a pulmonary embolism (and the complications from having them both) is what got him in the end. Oh, how I fought to save him.

Yes, I am completely devastated. I don’t know what lies ahead or how I’m going to handle it, but I always knew this day was coming. Right now, I just look at his bed. I can’t begin to tell you the joy it was simply to have that little corner in the house where he sleeps. Just his bed; that’s it. And now, that is gone. This is probably payback for me leaving him behind at the house while I went off to work, to run errands, or whatever. He always wanted to go—wherever I went, there he wanted to go, too. Now, I’m the one staying home. And he’s the one going out.

Behave yourself, friend. Now, Heaven is going to be place with a lot of angel music—and one really rowdy, raucous dog. Probably barking at all the angels nonstop and telling them to play laser pointer. And again, I love you.
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Old 03-17-2022, 05:09 PM   #2
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I am so very sorry for your loss. Losing one of these precious fur babies is devastating. You gave Ranger a wonderful life to the very end. I do believe we will be reunited with our fur babies. (((hugs)))
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Old 03-18-2022, 11:15 AM   #3
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😢 heartfelt condolences to you
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Old 03-18-2022, 02:33 PM   #4
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Thanks all. This is still fresh; I am reeling.

We were still working on treatment options yesterday at the emergency clinic, when he "coded"--as the vet called and told me. He was gone for 10 minutes by the time we got there.
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Old 03-21-2022, 08:59 AM   #5
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I lost my Miss Jessie on March 9th... yes, it is fresh and raw. Condolences to you. You and I did well. Miss Jessie was 15 with collapsed trachea, enlarged heart and liver. She was a fighter as was your Lord Ranger. I hope they get to meet each other at the Bridge.
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Old 03-21-2022, 09:34 AM   #6
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Ranger had collapsing trachea, which gave me a scare 4 years ago. I thought that might be it for him. That complicated my handling of Ranger's end-of-life situation, since I had so many false alarms that this is it before, I wouldn't 100% listen to people who would talk about "he had a good life" and stuff. I had heard all of that before. He had gotten through 5 other health scares before, and while I knew eventually there would be one that he would not, I believed he could get through this one, too. Unfortunately, not this one.

I still have vet discharge instructions on my desk dated March 1st. I have paw prints on my kitchen from when he tracked in mud. I'll be darned if I ever clean those up.
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Old 03-22-2022, 04:58 AM   #7
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So sorry for your loss
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Old 03-22-2022, 06:53 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LordRanger View Post
Ranger had collapsing trachea, which gave me a scare 4 years ago. I thought that might be it for him. That complicated my handling of Ranger's end-of-life situation, since I had so many false alarms that this is it before, I wouldn't 100% listen to people who would talk about "he had a good life" and stuff. I had heard all of that before. He had gotten through 5 other health scares before, and while I knew eventually there would be one that he would not, I believed he could get through this one, too. Unfortunately, not this one.

I still have vet discharge instructions on my desk dated March 1st. I have paw prints on my kitchen from when he tracked in mud. I'll be darned if I ever clean those up.
My Jessie had gotten through several health issues and scares as well and I thought she could get through this one too. It is heartbreaking and a bit of a shock when that happens. After all, it just seemed like kennel cough. It was that last xray that was the real grim results. Her 2020 diagnosis of diffuse liver tumors was a heck of grim diagnosis, but I wasn't told to not let her suffer like I was told this time, I was told that each dog is different in terms of how they handle that disease, so we enjoyed another 19 months of love and fun together after that. Like you, I had taken Jessie to two other vets recently and neither one of them caught the heart murmur that indicated her heart had enlarged and was squeezing off her trachea. Heartbreaking, truly.
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Old 04-05-2022, 08:30 AM   #9
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Now I'm dealing with, when is it time to move on? And how? Ranger and I have been apart for longer than this before. I might need to reconnect with my friend who's a widow and since remarried.
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Old 04-06-2022, 08:00 AM   #10
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Now I'm dealing with, when is it time to move on? And how? Ranger and I have been apart for longer than this before. I might need to reconnect with my friend who's a widow and since remarried.
Move on when you are ready... I'm struggling with this too. I don't cry 100 times a day anymore, but I have been more tired. I'm at the acceptance/depression stage of grieving. Eating a lot of Hershey's and drinking a lot of coffee. Also looking on Petfinder, but it's too soon for that. I still want to move. We are in a lease with 9 months left. It's empty and lonely and because I'm a renter, I can live somewhere else, so the idea of leaving the place where she died appeals to me in a sad way. I have a newish partner and I feel bad for him because I have not been myself, in fact, ever since the fatal liver cancer diagnosis in 2020 I've been on a bit of a roller coaster... and now I'm just plain wiped out. I had a deep bond with my dog and she was a fairly sickly dog her whole life, but she was tough and a fighter because I helped her and encouraged her to fight. Now I just feel bad that she was so sickly and want to be happy that she is "in a better place" but I miss her and always will. Like I want to watch some sappy dog movies.

Anyway... don't want to hijack your thread, so I offer you this:
Just try to stay busy and get out of the house... take some road trips when you can, that's all I can offer right now, but I''m totally with you.
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Old 04-06-2022, 10:50 AM   #11
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We definitely have plans to get out of the house. I've been caretaking all this time, and the silver lining I find is that now I'm not. One thing I observed in my parents and my friend who's a widow is, it gets easier as the more dogs they lose. Too easy, I think. They're ready to let their dog go, and the fight isn't even necessarily over yet. To get another dog (or even another Yorkie), I want to go all in again. But then again, I also don't.
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Old 04-06-2022, 02:12 PM   #12
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Quote:
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We definitely have plans to get out of the house. I've been caretaking all this time, and the silver lining I find is that now I'm not. One thing I observed in my parents and my friend who's a widow is, it gets easier as the more dogs they lose. Too easy, I think. They're ready to let their dog go, and the fight isn't even necessarily over yet. To get another dog (or even another Yorkie), I want to go all in again. But then again, I also don't.
I have lost 4 yorkies over a period of 25 years. One died at home, one in vets hospital, two I held while the tech injected them and ended their lives.

NO it does not get easier when you have lost several babies. My last girl was 17 years old, 2013 I had to let her go to Rainbow bridge. For 6 weeks I could not drive, I was a hazard on the road, all I could think of was the call I received from my vet saying to come in and say my good byes. I would have to pull off the road I was crying all the time, so I just stayed home. I still cry over her loss, but I can now look back at happier times and smile, but my eyes still tear up.

People grieve in different was. Some get another baby right away because it helps them heal their loss, and they just need a BFF fur butt, there are some people that never want another dog period. So please do not think losing many fur babies makes it easier.
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