What I learned from my Pets

[tawnypelt3]

Auuuuuuugh, Hannnnaaaaaaaaah! Waaaaa..... There are so few stories like this, it just tears your heart when they do show up.
I have had several cats and 2 dogs, but my story about my Lightning taught me the most. This doesn't mean what I learned is all good, though. That is always a chance that you will not be bettered by or learn more from the life and death of your beloved pet. If you'd prefer a happy lesson learned from the story, don't read this.

When I was in fouth or fifth grade, my mom's friend said he couldn't keep his dog anymore. For whatever reason, my mom, always a devout cat lover and NOT a dog person (yet who had always wanted to foster dogs until they were adopted), reluctantly agreed to take the dog in temporarily. I, being a small 10-11 year old, was immediately very cautious of the giant Rottweiler mix. At nearly 200 pounds, 2 years old, and more than half as tall as me, he was definitely a force to be reckoned with. My mom had to coax me outside our house just to meet Lightning for the first time. I was totally scared; he was jumping around and generally lookig very huge. It also didn't help that the only dog I had ever really been around was my neighborhood and childhood friend's Scottish terrier, Nitro, who absolutely adored me and was never a threat to anything larger than a bee. When we first took Lightning to the vet, he had a few minor problems, and heartworms. My mom paid, and our dog nearly died.
It was late summer when we got Lightning, so when winter came around, my mom,having had no previous experience with dogs and possessing no other knowledge than cold be applied to both dogs and cats, didn't know what todo with him. She kept him outside, chained to the ground (she was afraid he'd jump the fence, he was so huge) and given a water and food bowl and a dog igloo, as well as various toys and bones. When it started getting too cold, she bought him a heated water bowl and bales of hay for insulation in his igloo. I did start loving Lightning; he was so sweet, and never jumped on me or stood or leaned on me if I sat on the ground like my current dog does. I would have aske him to be let in, but I was a pretty mindless kid, focused on schoolwork (of whch I was drowning in, being in the Academic class). I may actually have asked her to let Lightning in, but I don't remember much from then.
In the first spring with Lightning came around, the first big storm of the season rolled in. Living in the Midwest, we get all sorts of weather, including hurricane-force gales, so we kind of feared for Lightning, out there alone in the storm. Our yard is very large, so we had to go out in the pouring rain to call him inside for the very first time. Lightning was really, really smart, to the point of actually feeling like another human being. When he stepped inside, we dried him with towels, then changed our clothes. He followed us dwn the hall and everything. When we were done, we all tramped back out to the living room and sat down to watch TV (underground power lines usually keep our power on), and Lightning sat just in front of the couch. Every night after that, we'd let him in and just hang out, and I'd pet him on the ground while my mom smoothed her foot over his back.
Nothing much went on for a few years. The summer after I turned 14, my mom, my cousin, and I went to visit her best friend in Florida, and went to Disneyland, blah blah blah, for four days. My neighbor took care of Lightning, and my aunt cared for our cats. The vey day we came home, Lightning was nowhere to be found. We looked all over, then called our neighbors to help look. I finally went in the basement. I saw Lightning laying down in pools of his own blood, just looking at me. I screamed and my mom and our neighbors saw him. We rushed to the vet. He had pancreatitis. My mom paid over $4000 for various blood and fluid transfusions, emergency care, overnight lodging, and the advanced care after the original problems. By the time this tragedy struck, we loved him more than any normal person-dog relationship. He was the perfect dog, so happy, friendly, nice. He never threatened anyone, never pulled the leash when my small body took him walking, never leaped on anyone. He did nothing wrong. He survived the pancreatitis, barely.
Later in the same year, Lightning started vomiting, he couldn't stand up, lost weight, and got a bad fever. We took him to the vet again. He was diagnosed with Addison's disease. For the rest of his life, we'd have to put one pill twice a day in his food. It cost over $100 to ship a package of 300 pills from Australia to here, besides the temporary stock from the vet. We did this for a while.
Two months after the start of his pill regimen, fall of my 14th year, my mom and I came home late from shopping. It was around 9 pm. and we couldn't find Lightning again. We panicked, but it didn't take long t locate him. He came down the hall from his bed at the end of it, between our bedrooms. His stomach was grossly bloated. We didn't know what it was, and my mom decided not to take him to the emerency vt, the only vet open that late, in hopes that whatever ailed him would go away. Lightning couldn't sit down, it hurt too bad. He wandered the house, sat down in bed, came out to see us, trying to find comfort. Neither of us could even think about going to bed; his agony could never... I don't know. It was too hard. Heartbreaking. Nearing midnight, my mom finally realized he wasn't going to get better. In all those hours of waiting, she had looked on the Internet for answers. It was bloat, a somewhat common problem in large-chested dogs, made more common when they eat quickly or soon after or before exercise, or when they bend down to eat. Bloat is when the dog's stomach twists in two, like a twisty tie, then it swells due to gas buildup and whatnot. Bloat almost never cures itself; it almost always requires surgery to untwist the stomach, which is more expensive than the pancreatitis treatment. I was dressed in my pajamas, and my mom had to leave immediately. She had fifteen minutes to get to the emergency vet before the after-midnight fee went into effect. It takes fifteen minutes to get there. I couldn't change clothes and still make it in time, so she left me home. I hugged lIghtning goodbye and told him I loved him, and my mom drove him away to the vet. She came home without him. A few days later, shebrought his ashes home from the vet in a little tin can with paw prints on it, and a clay imprint of his giant paw.
I have always regretted not being there for him at the end. I can't get over it, the guilt, or how his life was so filled with pain. All faith I had in a God or Gods of this world died that day. I have endured so many arguments that his passing was good thing. It was a test on me and my mom. He was meant to teach us something. Etc. etc. The only thing I've learned fom his death is that gods are cruel. To give someone an angel, then take him away again. That ruins someone's heart and soul. I believe that god or gods merely wanted my angel-dog for themselves. He was "too good" for any mortal. I have only prayed once since then. I prayed for my very first cat's life. She was my kitten; I got her on my birthday in first grade, and she was mine. I prayed so hard, to be good, to do anything. I actually promised to pray every day for the rest of my life, if she were spared. Muffy died for no apparent reason, medical or otherwise, in the same year Lightning died. I was left with my one cat, Buddy, for a year. The feeling of coming home to just one cat, lonely and quiet and so, so sad, it's just not good. It seemed like forever before I got Pixie and Rocky. It was torture, just me and my Buddy, so alone. No. I learned from my Lightning that I can't trust in anyone that it can't be proved exists. And even then, I can't trust in someone given so much power who is supposed to do so much good, be the very embodiment of goodness and light, who has done me so wrong. There may have been a reason to hurt me, but no reason at all to take away my cat and dog from the people they loved, and who loved them so hard. I can never forgive a god/s so cruel.

[jellyballoo]

@tawnypelt3
your story made me cry, and I agree how can there be a god/s that love us so much and let innocent animals and children live in pain, some just never get a chance when there are the guilty running out there free.
You may say 'but they will be punished in the end' but why must the innocent be taken away so soon?

[GingerSpirit]

My best friend until 3 months ago was my horse Ginger, or Gingy. i didnt realize how much she meant to me until the horse she was best friends with got a heart pproblem and would have to be put down soon Ginger couldn't go on with out her best firned Suzy they were the same age and were best friends for 7 years. The hardest part was setting the date. I went to school that day and left around luch to say good-bye she was walking around her stall bickering with her neighbors I have cuttings of her tail and mane. my last image of her is of her walking away her newly cut tail held h9igh if i wasnt so sad i would have laughed she looked so comical without her long tail. Yesterday i was ion our garage getting something for my mother when i tripped over something when i looked down it was her halter it made me cry al over again.

I dont have any pics of her on this computer she was chestnut with a blaze and a sock on her left front and blind in her left eye.

[Eddie Munson]

My best friend until 3 months ago was my horse Ginger, or Gingy. i didnt realize how much she meant to me until the horse she was best friends with got a heart pproblem and would have to be put down soon Ginger couldn't go on with out her best firned Suzy they were the same age and were best friends for 7 years. The hardest part was setting the date. I went to school that day and left around luch to say good-bye she was walking around her stall bickering with her neighbors I have cuttings of her tail and mane. my last image of her is of her walking away her newly cut tail held h9igh if i wasnt so sad i would have laughed she looked so comical without her long tail. Yesterday i was ion our garage getting something for my mother when i tripped over something when i looked down it was her halter it made me cry al over again.

I dont have any pics of her on this computer she was chestnut with a blaze and a sock on her left front and blind in her left eye.

That's very touching :c I'm sorry you lost her. She sounds like an amazing horse

[Shoobeth Thy Wolfeth]

Amberleaf

resixemnet.jpg (65.42 KiB) Viewed 56 times

This young cat was found under my shed in the middle of winter, half frozen to death. My friend Maddie helped catch her, and together we named her Amberleaf. I wanted something with Amber in it, and my friend something with leaf in it. So, using our Warrior Cat Series knowledge, we created a name. Anyhow, to the storyline, basically.
My father has leukemia. Recently, it has become to get worse, for he gets random pains in his neck, and he loses/gains weight rapidly. Hope in my family is running thin, and things just.. hurt. I am always so easily upset nowadays. Like, if someone says my hair looks bad, I will feel the pain much worse emotionally, because in the back of my mind I am always thinking about my daddy. I've even had stages of depression going on and off. Well, back to the cat.
Whenever I go to my room, and let it all come out, somehow my little kittypet here would know. Sometimes she would even come in from the neighbors yard, and comfort me. She would let me cry into her fur, and would purr no matter what. Face licks were not rare, either. It just simply amazed me how motherly she could be.
Recently Amberleaf was lost, about 2 months ago. Although it hurts to think about her, it still ceases to amaze me how animals, in general, just seem to have something about them, like a emotionally destressed radar built in.

[Eddie Munson]

Amberleaf is an absolutely gorgeous cat. You were lucky to have her. She'll always be in your heart c:

[lannagirl]

My dog bit 3 people and he had to find a new home
i miss him so much. He was my best friend[attachment=0]IMG00086-20100904-1236.jpg[/attachment]
I learned that when you lose something you love, you should do the good thing for evryone, and, not you

[All Might]

I'm sorry to pop in without a story...
But, all these stories are beautiful, they have brought tears to my eyes<3

[Infinityfish]

Shoobeth Thy Wolfeth: That's such a nice story. I'm glad you saved her, and hopefully a miracle will come and she will return to you ~

[Toxi+Bbun]

My story isn't as serious as the other ones, as far as I can tell. What I learned from my dog, Kirby, is to never ever leave socks laying about-anywhere. He'll hid them.

-mirandaciel