I accidentally had a part in my dog's death and I feel just horrible. Forgive me for sparing the details but I had Sally 7 years and she was very dear to me. I was trying to make her happier the day of the tragedy, so that makes me feel a little better. Has anyone ever, without intent of course, felt guilty about the death of a pet? Thank you.........

I am sorry about your loss of Sally. I can't answer your questions but I can tell you that you will get answers from here because I have read many topics about this kind of tragedy happening unintentionally. Accidents create a double burden for the owners but they are a part of life that just happens. So much of life is not fair and these instances are a perfect example of that.

I don't know if it helps or not but my thoughts about losing our special ones have come to be that: when it is their time to leave us..it will happen..we cannot prevent it even if we think we can..it is a power greater than us taking them away. All we can ever do is do the best we can for them and hope everything comes out okay. If we can accept we really have no control over when their time comes...that is some help. It can be hard to believe that but I really do myself believe it.

I think others will better tell you how they come through the loss of their special one...unintentionally.

I am so sorry it happened in your situation and hope you will find some peace from thoughts and suggestions you find here.

good morning Neal:
Yes, i feel i had a part in my dog's final passing. I probably should of had his eye removed as the vet recommended to keep the tumor from 'possibly' spreading. Its not an easy thing to cope with, the guilt factor, which weighed heavily on my mind prolonging the grief longer than it should of been. If i had his eye removed, would my buddy still be with me today? I can't say for sure as i don't know the root cause of his death but i suspect it was the tumor spreading...but i'll never know for sure.
My reasoning at the time for not having Duncan undergo the procedure was that he was at least 10 years old, the eye-specialist wasn't 100% sure it was a tumor, its an extremely painful procedure frought with complications and Duncan was not the type of dog who could stay cooped up in a pen for weeks during recovery as he was extremely hyper even the morning of his last day on earth.

The guilt is still there to some degree today but life goes on and IMO dwelling on the woulda-coulda-shouldas' is counter productive to our own lives.
If you think about it, all we have in our power to do now is endure the agonizing mourning period which is necessary for healing our own minds the best we can and learn from our mistakes. There is nothing else we can do and ultimately accepting that fact will lead down the road to ending our period of grief.
Take care,
-Ken

I will always feel guilty about my Alley's death. She contracted a disease from being outside (even though she was treated and supposedly protected). She loved being outside and would have been miserable cooped up inside, but maybe she would still be alive.

My Ginger was indoor/outdoor. She had kidney disease and I put her to sleep last night . Even though her illness may not be directly related to being outdoors, she did experience some negative consequences from going outside, such as hurting her leg, and getting an abscess from getting bitten by another cat. I may have saved her that discomfort and saved myself a few trips to the vet by keeping her indoors, but she loved going outside so much. She loved going for walks with me, and would either walk next to me, or she would walk on her leash. She also loved going outside on her own and she would either sit on the porch, sunbathe and greet passers-by, or chase the squirrels. In the advanced stage of her illness, she hardly ate, threw up regularly, was lethargic... but the one joy she still had was going outside. She would beg to go outside even if it was to nap under the bushes instead of chasing the squirrels. Before heading to the vet last night, I spent a few hours outside sitting on the grass with her. I have many questions about whether or not I made the right decision putting her to sleep, but the one thing I know for sure is that she had good quality of life.

Would Alley have contracted the disease if she was strictly indoor? Most likely not. This is the main argument that people will make for keeping pets indoors. I know it's hard to lose your friend, but I can tell you that she at least died happy. It's in their nature to hunt, claim territories, climb trees... We can simulate those pleasures indoors and that may work well for some cats, but those who've had a taste of freedom know that there's nothing like the real thing. I know two cats who are strictly indoor, both are overweight and one has diabetes. You can buy them all the toys you want but they quickly lose interest and return to their inactive, boring life. We can certainly extend their life, but at what expense? Of course, you will find arguments for both sides, but you have to think about what made your cat happy. Hopefully, you will find comfort in knowing that Alley had the best of both worlds, just like my Ginger. XOXO
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...And Neal, it sounds like you were a great friend to your Sally. You were trying to make her happy until the very end. I try to find comfort in knowing that I gave my Ginger the best life I possibly could give her.

My thoughts are with you.