I wanted to say hello to everyone.  I am new to this site and have only begun to find all the things it has to offer.  I enjoy looking at all the photos and reading all of your stories about your babies.  About 5 years ago I had a wonderful little girl she was an Australian Shephard mix and she was about 5 1/2 years old when she very suddenly got sick.  It was just after christmas before New Years. I took her to the vet and they thought she had an issue involving her kidneys, they changed her diet, and gave her some medicine.  After a couple of days she got worse not better so I took her to the emergency clinic.  They kept her overnight for testing and observation.  With the head tilt she developed they thought it was an inner ear problem so they sent her home the next day.  I got her home and gave her the medicine she was prescribed and within minutes she began to have a seizure she would never come out of.  I took her back to the clinic but being it was 25 minutes away she had been in a continous seizure for over 45 minutes.  The vet and I decided the best thing was to have her put to sleep.  i stayed with her until she took her last breath and I stayed with her for a little while longer before going home.  I thought I had given the medication wrong and had killed my baby.  I still dont know what happened to her but I was not going to get another dog for awhile I needed time to heal from the loss of my friend.  A few days later my husband worried about how depressed I was read a story about a litter of abused puppies that were ready for adoption and he went to look.  He brought home this frightened little girl who would not come out from under the table.  I stayed with her for 3 days before she trusted me enough to come out and although she will never replace my babygirl she has been a very welcomed member of the family for about 4 years now.   I guess even though I didnt think i could love another baby for a while this poor abused girl came into my life on a chance and I still hurt from the loss of my friend but I guess the moral is there is always room for one more. 

Thank you for letting me ramble.  I hope to read all of your stories and hear about all of your wonderful friends.  Thanks for this site.

Thanks for sharing your story. I'm very sorry for your loss, but I am also happy to hear that you are bringing joy to a new puppy.

I had a similar experience when my husband and I lost our first cat, The Great Catsby, from a mysterious illness that took him from happy and healthy to in an oxygen chamber fighting congestive heart failure. When he passed away, it was the most devastating event of my life. It happened a month before my husband I go married and I thought I would never get through all the depression, grief and stress. But somehow we both managed to survive and a few months after our cat's passing found a new, wonderful kitty who we've had for the past 3 years. Although no animal can replace another, she is our little baby and we love her more than I can express. We have never forgotten The Great Catsby, however. We honor him with matching pawprint tattoos and various pictures of him throughout our apartment.