Your Pet Loss Stories

'My Best Friend'

I got my dog Bear when I was 4 years old, and immediately fell in love with him. I remember him dragging me on a sled in the winter time or him taking me on walks ha. He was much bigger than any other lab I have ever seen and the nicest and most gentle dog I have ever met. Even though he never really barked, I always felt he would protect me from anything.

Bear would go hunting with my Dad and absolutely loved it. Bear helped me through the loss of my cat Stripes from cancer. Once my Sisters went off to school, the house was very quiet so it was always just me and Bear. My oldest Sister was going to spend a semester in Spain for school and my parents were going to visit her for a week in November. I was not allowed to go because it conflicted with school.

Bear was 11 now and was slowing down very quickly. He got very sick right as my parents were about to leave. Since I was only a freshman in high school my parents made me stay with my grandparents until they came back. This whole time I was not able to see Bear because he was staying at the vets and my grandparents could not take me. Daily I would call the vet's office to check up on him and progressively as time went on he got worse. He was unable to walk and not eating anything.

My parents came home from Spain and brought Bear home. I called my Dad at school the day they brought him home to see how he was and my Dad told me Bear had a brain tumor and diabetes and there was nothing we could do. Immediately I thought my world was crashing down. Forever it was just Bear and I. I thought what do I do now? He's my best friend. The whole rest of the day I was crying at school. I came home from school and saw him laying there breathing very hard and very skinny. I immediately burst into tears and didn't want to leave him. I told him I would see him in the morning and not leave him. That never happened.

My Dad tells me to go to bed and only hours later my Dad comes in to tell me Bear has passed away, my best friend, my rock. I ran downstairs and saw him laying there. He looked so peaceful. But my heart shattered. I didn't go to school the next day and I barely spoke for days. It has been a little over a year and I still cry myself to sleep some nights missing my best friend more than anything. He was my rock, the only one I could talk to about anything, my best friend, my bud.