Even pets die of broken hearts

[catherine]

You hear about couples who have been married for years and years, and when one dies, the other one follows within hours or days.

Well, we go to a dog park regularly. One of the dog owners brought his two dogs there all the time. We know the older one had been sick with heart disease for several months. Well, on April 16, we saw a picture of the dog posted on the fence with a note from the owner that the dog's time had come and he has passed.

Imagine our surprise when the next week, April 22, there was another picture posted on the fence, of both dogs. Apparently the second dog, younger and much healthier, had had a heart attack at the park and died. Coincidence? Or broken heart?

We are ALL so interconnected.

[CathyA]

:(

[awakenedsoul]

How sad. When I had my pot bellied pig, she used to commune with the schnauzer next door. Before she died, they spent hours together, their bodies touching through the chain link fence. (They would sleep that way.) As she got older, my pig would have seizures. The schnauzer would look at me with alarm in her eyes. She was so concerned. Animals are so sensitive and sweet.

[JaneV2.0]

My partner had a rescue cat--a big bob-tailed black and white long-hair that was hanging around my 'hood--he named Murray. After awhile I suggested that Murray might be lonely and need a companion. So he visited a local shelter and brought home a little tabby kitten that was so insistent in getting his attention that he couldn't resist. As soon as he brought her home and let her out of the box, Murray was besotted. They spent many contented years together until Murray developed hyperthyroidism, and after a long decline, died. Tazzie stopped eating, and after a few days of this, was taken to the vet--where she was diagnosed with cancer. Before he could operate, she died. Maybe just a coincidence, maybe not.

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[Simpler at Fifty]

With my DHs recent cancer diagnosis, it is my fear that our dog will pass soon after he does (still waiting for the correct diagnosis and prognosis). They are so connected. DH is the alpha in the house and our boy listens to him more than to me. I do not want to steal the intent of the OP but just had to say this today.

[bae]

Here's the opposite.

Blake, my Basset Hound, was a stout hearted fellow. He was getting to be rather old, and had some health issues, but still was alert and fierce.

My Dad and I went on a 6 week long expedition to the Arctic Ocean. When I left the house here, I instructed Blake to guard over the house and the family. Blake at that time was our Only Dog, as his partner-in-crime, our other Basset, had passed away a couple of months before.

While I was out, Blake developed a serious medical problem, and it seemed terminal, with nothing reasonable to be done. My wife communicated to me when we were still a week away that she thought it was curtains for him.

He spent his last week laying on a blanket in the entryway of the house, watching the door, not eating at all. Only drinking water and walking out to the yard to relieve himself, then returning to his post.

When I came through the door, he got up, smiled, wagged his tail, wrestled with me for a bit, then laid back down and relaxed. He passed away quietly in his sleep about an hour after I came home, his job done.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-rOvo3dOZ7SE/TIhoXQZwjHI/AAAAAAAACXA/XsPQn_g-BME/s640/119-1913_IMG.JPG

Good dog!

[frugal-one]

Bae.... that really is heart-rending!!!!

[Float On]

I was down to two horses a quarter horse and a thoroughbred and had them in the 300 acres across the road from our house. I noticed while doing early morning chores with the cattle on the house side of the road that the quarter horse was running back and forth between the gate and a tree about 600 ft down the hill. She run to the gate, whinny loudly, run to the tree. Back and forth. I went over to the gate and opened it and thought she was going to run over me but she stopped and seriously put her head over my shoulder (like a hug) and nickered continuously, pulled back and slowly walked towards the tree checking to see if I was following. The thoroughbred (Fresh Air Hannah) was dead under the far side of the tree. Lightening had struck the tree, bounced into her forehead and out her back hoof. SP (Susie Pacific) didn't die but she was sad for quite a long while. I'd had them since they were both 3 year olds and so they'd been together 8 years.

[larknm]

This is a beautiful thread--thanks to everyone who has participated.

DH and I live with 2 11-year-old large dogs who are sister littermates, Paloma and Cosi, each suffering from old-age disorders. They clearly love and enjoy each other. They have very different personalities but favor many of the same activities. This afternoon when they weren't in their usual places, our two younger boy dogs, Tony and Red, and I walked up the mountain path looking for them and spotted them, two dark specks moving in the canyon pasture below us toward the creek. We stood for a while watching them, then walked further into the forest for a while before I whistled for the girls. By the time we got nearly back to our cabin, Paloma and Cosi were running to greet us, full of happy smiles, wagging tails and wet, muddy legs and paws.

Paloma and Cosi identify with each other so much DH and I wonder if one can live long after the other dies. It's something like, will the remaining dog be able to imagine herself in life without the other.

[Blackdog Lin]

This thread makes me both sad, and smiling. Thanks for sharing your stories.

[iris lilies]

We don't know, but I've never had bonded pairs that go that extra mile. I am not claiming that they do not grieve the loss of a loved one, however. I'm just saying that I've not seen it in my immediate world.

Our elderly Frenchies, Grannie and her daughter, "had to be placed together in the same home." And they were sweet and they played together daily, for some years and so that seemed to be the right thing to do. Recently the daughter decided that her mother is the Worst Bitch In The World and now all they do is fight. They are now kept separated.

Some years ago we got a call from a county animal shelter who had two elderly bulldogs "who had to be placed together." Same thing--they fought every freekin' day here in our house. Someone in my dog club wisely said "Sure, they are sisters and they fight like sisters!" haha.

When our giant tabby cat died, I purposely brought him home so that one of our other cats could see him. She always hung around him and rubbed up against him and just seemed to be very much into him. She paid little attention to his dead body and never seemed to mourn him. I think, in retrospect, she just liked marking her scent all over him and she did with all of our animals, especially the dogs.

[iris lilies]

bae, what a great story. Loved it, those bassets are great.

We had a giant Basset in our neighborhood who was the neighborhood hound. Everyone knew Biggie. His owner was a work at home dad (actually he was pretty much unemployed.) Every day Biggie went for several walks with his dad and that's why everyone knew him, they were out and about often. Once there was an altercation in our alley and the cops came and somehow, communication was garbeled and the cop pulled a gun on Biggie. Pulled a gun! On Biggie! The slowest moving dog in the land!

We were all shocked by that. But turned out ok, it was just an incident. I don't know how big he was but he was an over sized hound who could scare cops by his sheer size.

[catherine]

Thanks, all, for your stories.. all great. SimplerAtFifty, glad you shared--hugs to you and your family members (human and canine).

[Simplemind]

When my husband and I merged households we both had dogs. His was a springer and mine was a sheltie. Each dog was devoted to their owner but did not care for one another. His was an outgoing goober with a million slobber toys and mine was my shy shadow, pretty princess that wouldn't fetch if you covered it in peanut butter. They slept at opposite ends of the house and their dishes were in separate places. They just weren't in to each other. There came a day when after exhibiting some crazy behavior and physical problems my husband took his dog to the vet. About half an hour after he had left my dog started howling. She had never howled and she sat there for a minute or so howling like a coyote. My husband came home about fifteen minutes later without his dog. She had cancer, it had gone to her brain and he had her put down..... it would have been right around the time my dog was howling. After the other dog was gone she started sleeping in her bed and would lay there and sigh. I guess there was much more of a relationship than we realized. I do believe she mourned.

[bae]

Spine-tingling thing happened here a few weeks ago.

We got a call, some fellow had fallen 150 feet down a 250 foot cliff.

We responded, and were looking for him. His three dogs were about halfway up the cliff. Howling the most chilling howls of mourning you've ever heard. Could hear them for miles. Good thing actually, helped us find him.

We roped down the cliff to the pocket beach, treated him, evac'd him with a Coast Guard bird that managed to land in that insane spot. He was in the region's best trauma care facility within an hour, thanks to the dogs and the Coast Guard.

But that sound of the dogs will stay with me. They knew how it would end.