How do I tell my kids that our dog is dead?

[TinyEvel]

It's been a rough 12 hours.

last night our dog Josie (small Shepard mix who's been in the family 11 years) was all of a sudden extremely catatonic and panting on her side. Her head was twitching and eyes shut. We took her to the animal emergency room around midnight and admitted her. Diagnosis was that she was bleeding in her eyes and gums and her blood had only 1 percent the platelets it should have.

Without the ability to clot, she had developed internal bleeding. There was blood filling her head and causing neurological damage form pressure on her brain. Today it got worse and we made a tough, difficult decision to euthanize her.

24 hours ago she was 100 percent normal.
This has come so sudden and so difficultly. Our kids are 8 and 9 and we haven't told them. They don't even know we took her to the hospital yet, but they saw her sick last night.

I'm sure some of you have gone through pet loss with kids. Just looking for some tips. We're supposed to go get a Christmas tree tonight after school. Do I tell them first? afterward? I cannot believe we'll be able to do it without us crying. my wife for sure.

[TinyEvel]

Well, I did it.

We took them to yogurt after school and I told them. I said I had some bad news to tell them. I told them about what happened. I didn't tell them we euthanized her, just said she fell asleep at the hospital and succumbed to her illness and died. My 9 year-old cried pretty severely, which is OK.

Honesty is the best policy, as long as you don't go into too much detail. I think the worst part of this, for all of us, has been how quickly it happened. less than 24 hours from completely normal to gone.

I told the kids the story of how we got Josie. I was volunteering at a no-kill shelter, installing some cabinets in a room of surplus cat pens. There was a small Shephard mix up in one of the cat pens, quietly and attentively watching me work. We had never talked about getting a pet, but I went home and told my wife we should adopt this one. Somehow she touched my heart.

Her name was "Benny" because when the person brought her in as a stray the shelter was going to turn her away because every dog pen was full. Well, one of their biggest benefactors happened to be in the lobby. He said, "You're going to take her, no matter where she has to stay, and he wrote them a big donation check.
That man was Ben Stein.

We renamed her Josie because we already had two cats. Josie and the Pussycats.

Maybe I'll name our next dog Buehler.

Thanks for listening guys.

TE

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by TinyEvel

Well, I did it.

We took them to yogurt after school and I told them. I said I had some bad news to tell them. I told them about what happened. I didn't tell them we euthanized her, just said she fell asleep at the hospital and succumbed to her illness and died. My 9 year-old cried pretty severely, which is OK.

Honesty is the best policy, as long as you don't go into too much detail. I think the worst part of this, for all of us, has been how quickly it happened. less than 24 hours from completely normal to gone.

I told the kids the story of how we got Josie. I was volunteering at a no-kill shelter, installing some cabinets in a room of surplus cat pens. There was a small Shephard mix up in one of the cat pens, quietly and attentively watching me work. We had never talked about getting a pet, but I went home and told my wife we should adopt this one. Somehow she touched my heart.

Her name was "Benny" because when the person brought her in as a stray the shelter was going to turn her away because every dog pen was full. Well, one of their biggest benefactors happened to be in the lobby. He said, "You're going to take her, no matter where she has to stay, and he wrote them a big donation check.
That man was Ben Stein.

We renamed her Josie because we already had two cats. Josie and the Pussycats.

Maybe I'll name our next dog Buehler.

Thanks for listening guys.

TE

Awesome story. Props to you and Ben Stein.

[C-Mac]

Originally Posted by TinyEvel

Well, I did it.

We took them to yogurt after school and I told them. I said I had some bad news to tell them. I told them about what happened. I didn't tell them we euthanized her, just said she fell asleep at the hospital and succumbed to her illness and died. My 9 year-old cried pretty severely, which is OK.

Honesty is the best policy, as long as you don't go into too much detail. I think the worst part of this, for all of us, has been how quickly it happened. less than 24 hours from completely normal to gone.

I told the kids the story of how we got Josie. I was volunteering at a no-kill shelter, installing some cabinets in a room of surplus cat pens. There was a small Shephard mix up in one of the cat pens, quietly and attentively watching me work. We had never talked about getting a pet, but I went home and told my wife we should adopt this one. Somehow she touched my heart.

Her name was "Benny" because when the person brought her in as a stray the shelter was going to turn her away because every dog pen was full. Well, one of their biggest benefactors happened to be in the lobby. He said, "You're going to take her, no matter where she has to stay, and he wrote them a big donation check.
That man was Ben Stein.

We renamed her Josie because we already had two cats. Josie and the Pussycats.

Maybe I'll name our next dog Buehler.

Thanks for listening guys.

TE

Truth with couth. Sounds like you handled a tough situation well, its never easy as a parent when your kids are emotionally hurting.

On a side note did the vet ever mention the possibility of her consuming rat poison?

[TinyEvel]

Originally Posted by C-Mac

On a side note did the vet ever mention the possibility of her consuming rat poison?

It came up at first when he was asking questions when we first brought her in, but after the blood tests came back that was ruled out.

[C-Mac]

Originally Posted by TinyEvel

It came up at first when he was asking questions when we first brought her in, but after the blood tests came back that was ruled out.

Well they appeared to tell you what was happening but did they ever diagnose what would cause such to happen?
I've only heard of poisoning doing that kind of damage that quick.

[cdcox]

Sorry for your loss, Tiny. The Ben Stein story was very cool. Lots of other good stories in this tread.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Good job TE, you handled that incredibly well.

[TinyEvel]

Originally Posted by C-Mac

Well they appeared to tell you what was happening but did they ever diagnose what would cause such to happen?
I've only heard of poisoning doing that kind of damage that quick.

Either the marrow stopped making the platelets or a disease was causing the immune system to destroy them. Possibly cancer. Possibly a tick-born disease that the test will come back in two days about. Every option required extensive examination/tests and she was so far gone at that point we wanted to give her peace. The thought has crossed my mind. I will call and ask again, on Monday.

[Pioli Zombie]

I would have blamed it on Obama
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[TinyEvel]

Originally Posted by Pioli Zombie

I would have blamed it on Obama
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No wonder you have red rep.

[SenselessChiefsFan]

Originally Posted by scorpio

My dad told me my dog died while we were at Disneyland. I was 9. You can't do much worse than that.

Okay, so my father died, and my mom went off the deep end. I took her car to go see a girl (I was 14, but I had been driving since I was 12)

She took me to the hospital to have a drug test. When that came back negative, she had me held over for a psych evaluation. After the doctor met with her and I, he refused to let me go home with her until she started seeing a therapist. So, they put me in the psych ward at Shawnee Mission, and she was supposed to come and do counseling with me. Well, she didn't like coming to counseling because the doctor would often 'attack' her. (Her words).

So, I was in there six weeks, through the winter. My mother, who has always been kind of a partier and gambler, left my dog outside and it froze to death.

She told me over the phone as she was telling me that she wasn't going to continue her counseling. So, I spent another two months in there before they had to let me go because the insurance ran out.

That 'might' be worse than learning that your dog died at disneyland.

[Fat Elvis]

Originally Posted by JD10367

A man went on vacation and asked his brother to watch his house, and take care of his cat, whom the man loved.

A few days later, he called his brother. "Hey! How's everything going?"

"Good," his brother said. "But the cat's dead."

"What? What do you mean, the cat's dead?!?"

"Sorry, man, it just died."

"Jesus, dude! You had to tell me like that?!?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, couldn't you break it to me a little easier? That was harsh!"

"How?"

"I dunno! Maybe the first time I talked to you, you could've said, 'The cat got out and is on the roof'. Then the next day you could've said, 'The cat fell off the roof'. Then the third day you could've said, 'The cat's not doing so good.' THEN you could've told me the cat died! You know, sort of ease me into it!"

"Oh, geez, bro, I'm sorry."

"That's okay, it was just a shock to hear you blurt it out like that." The man sighed. "So, anyway... how's ma?"

"Oh... she's on the roof."

Our pastor told us that joke in the sermon last Sunday.

[Easy 6]

Originally Posted by stevieray

...with the promise of a new puppy?

Yep, the kids would move on very quickly.

[Pioli Zombie]

I read a story somewhere, one of those "most embarrassing stories ever", from this woman whose dog came home with the neighbors bunny rabbit dead in his mouth. So she and her husband came up with the brilliant plan of sneaking over and putting the rabbit back in its cage. So they did it and ran back home, figuring the family would be sad by finding the rabbit dead but at least they wouldn't get in any trouble. A few hours they hear horrified shreiks. They run outside to find out why the hysteria. The mom says "Ginger died yesterday and we had buried her!!!!!!!!!"
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[Oxford]

Originally Posted by TinyEvel

Well, I did it.

We took them to yogurt after school and I told them. I said I had some bad news to tell them. I told them about what happened. I didn't tell them we euthanized her, just said she fell asleep at the hospital and succumbed to her illness and died. My 9 year-old cried pretty severely, which is OK.

.......
I told the kids the story of how we got Josie. I was volunteering at a no-kill shelter, installing some cabinets in a room of surplus cat pens. There was a small Shephard mix up in one of the cat pens, quietly and attentively watching me work. We had never talked about getting a pet, but I went home and told my wife we should adopt this one. Somehow she touched my heart.

Her name was "Benny" because when the person brought her in as a stray the shelter was going to turn her away because every dog pen was full. Well, one of their biggest benefactors happened to be in the lobby. He said, "You're going to take her, no matter where she has to stay, and he wrote them a big donation check.
That man was Ben Stein.

TE

Sounds like your kids need to go to the shelter and experience being adopted by a dog.

Good job by the way with the bad news. Just put down my 12yr old rottweiler mix last month... know how you feel.