Losing Our Family Pet...how will my kids cope?

Let me start this by saying, I am not writing this post to gain sympathy.  I am writing this to share our experience as a family and to hopefully help others along the way.

A few days ago we had to euthanize our dog Finnegan.  Finny, as we called him, was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 Lymphoma.  We knew something wasn't right about 6 weeks ago but we simply made excuses of why he wasn't acting himself.  Then his Lymph nodes swelled up by his throat to the size of clementines and I just couldn't ignore it any longer.

Let me step back 5 years to give you some history on Finny.  Finny was actually the beloved dog of another family.  However, the little boy in this family had a terrible allergy to Finny.  So, unfortunate for them they had to find Finny a new home.  Fortunate for us, they found us through mutual connections and we were the proud owners of a 3 year old yellow Lab named Finnegan.

A few weeks ago, I took Finnegan to the vet to have him checked out.  Gut feeling from the doctor was that it was not good and a biopsy later revealed the Lymphoma.  Without treatment Fin would only have weeks to live.  We put him on temporary medicine to make him feel better, but this medicine made him urinate often and I am still steam cleaning my carpets.

My husband and I had an AWFUL decision to make.  Do we prolong the obvious for selfish reasons by keeping him on the medicine that gives him a temporary relief of disease?  Or do we put him down?  We went with the latter.

Telling our daughters who are 9 and 6 that they would loose their pet was much easier than expected.  In

Our Great Grandmother, Violette with my girls back in 2007

January, we lost our 101 year old grandmother (their great grandmother) and this was very upsetting to them.  However, in comparison to them this was not as upsetting.  Why?  At such young ages are they able to weigh the importance of a pet verses a person?  Heck, it was very upsetting to me...why weren't they upset?

So the awful deed is done and I miss my boy terribly.  He was my buddy.  He followed me everywhere I went; from the laundry room to the kitchen.  There is a void right now and our other dog Guiness seems a bit sad too.

Finnegan meeting Guiness for the first time when
we adopted Guiness from the Last Chance Ranch

I guess in hind sight, I am glad that my daughters are able to move past it.  I can hear them playing in their clubhouse now without a care in the world.  I sit here and type and I still miss my loyal friend.  But I know in the end I did the right thing by releasing him of his pain.  I'd like to believe he is running somewhere in the heavens with our other pets as they wait for me on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge.

To conclude, never under-estimate your children's ability to deal with a situation.  They may be little but with each life lesson they become stronger beings.  They are able to process, learn from it and move on.  And if you are lucky like I am, they will teach you a thing or two in the process.

We will miss you, Finny!