When that day comes, you ask yourself “how did we get here?” It was only yesterday that I brought him home as a bouncy, energetic little puppy. Now you sit there, hearing for the first time the devastating news that you are clearly in the throes of the final days with your precious furry love. The last years together come crashing through your memories like a tidal wave; vividly recalling every moment over the year’s together like a fast-moving freight train.
So here you sit. The days are numbered. You find yourself in a position of just trying to breathe when you know that the task facing you is to understand how to make these final days all that they should be. And, while breathing is the first order of business as you try to process how you will live without this amazing love you’ve known for years, you are also trying to imagine how you will make these final days comfortable and to slam into this time those remaining final memories.
I like to guide families that as hard as these final days are, let’s find a way to make this final walk be one that when reflected on days, months, or even years from now you will have a full heart when you say “the end was as it should’ve been.”
How does one make that happen? How does one take this final journey and know that every detail was handled as it should’ve been?
The stories of what people are doing for their pets in their final days are rampant on the internet. Beautifully touching stories of acts of love to make sure these furry family member’s final days are memorable for their entire family. Things such as:
- Bucket lists to include all of those things the pet and their people like doing as a family.
- Recording of the pet’s final days
- Enjoying all of those things that the pet liked, such as McDonald’s nuggets, steak, and bacon. Let them enjoy those final days in decadence
- Recording of their “voice,” the barks and meows that you will want to remember forever
- Having others over for a pre-morial service. A service before the death happens where everyone can come and share in those final days, give their final kisses and hugs, and say their last “I love you’s”
- Capturing those final photos to have into perpetuity
These are just a few ideas. While it might be difficult, take some time when this message has been given to you to make the final days representative of the beautiful life you shared. The time when you can look back six months from now and say that final walk was exactly as it should’ve been.
For more information on pet grief and loss visit Colleen’s website Two Hearts Pet Loss Center or follow her on Facebook.
