Regret

My biggest regret was Jan 12th, 2003 when I had to help my Miss Boo kitty across to the Rainbow Bridge. She had sever allergies and I was ignorant about how to go about treating her adaquately for them and just relied on what the vet said to do. Long story short, the allergy shots, cortizone shots, took a tole on her little body and I was faced with the reality of having to put her to sleep because she was so far gone, liver dammage and the like. My regret is I didn't know there were other less evasive treatments for an allergy pet and just relying on what this vet said to do. Rest in peace my sweet Nurse Kitty.. Boo.

I don't like to spend a lot of time thinking of regret or feeling guilt... but I do regret that when we got Russell we regularly took him to the dog park way too early in his life, in a misguided attempt at "socializing" him, and let him fend for himself among unruly dogs too much in a misguided attempt at building his confidence. Now he does not do well with groups of dogs and is very easily overwhelmed by strange dogs... I have no way of knowing how much of that is inherited disposition but I definitely made big mistakes in socializing him.

Oh geez where to even begin?

Our first dog was a gorgeous akita/gsd mix named Ananda. We knew less than squat about dogs when we got him. All we knew was that we finally lived in a house that we could have a dog in and both of us love animals. We lived in a very rural area at the time and the internet was not such a big thing for doing research. So we just kind of winged it. He was such a forgiving dog and totally took all our lame attempts at training in stride. We loved Ananda so much. My husband especially, Ananda was sort of his spirit animal the way that Marlowe is mine. Ananda was headstrong and full of life, and we were never able to teach him a good recall. We knew nothing about how to do it and where we lived at the time it wasn't all that important--he barely ever even saw a car. While visiting my parents in the city one summer, Ananda slipped out of my hands while I was transferring him from his tie-out to his leash and he pretty much made a bee-line to the middle of the very busy street my parents lived on. He was hit and died pretty much instantly, right before my eyes. I seriously felt like I was having an out of body experience. My husband was devastated but tried to hide the fact that he blamed me. It took a year for him to admit that he did blame me and for us to talk about what actually happened.

With Conrad, I regret, like a lot of people have been saying, how harshly I trained him. I seriously didn't know any better and thought that I was doing what needed to be done. The dumbest part is is that Conrad is probably the softest dog in the universe and in no way needs those kinds of methods. When we brought Marlowe home, my husband turned to me and said, "So, let's not break this one's will, okay?" OK!

And with Marlowe there was the Great Ibuprofin Eating Incident of Aught Six, though that turned out okay in the end.

I've regretted the days I didn't take Max for a walk because it was "too cold" or "too windy" or "too something" - but fortunately, Max is very forgiving. [] He's pretty content to be a couch potato when he's inside.
 
Joyce

I have a dying parakeet.  He has been ill for several months now.  I took him to the vet.  It's not viral or bacterial.  Somethings failing.   There's not much a vet can do for a parakeet.

When I first brought Andy home, I was in college.  I had him and a friendly cat.  I took him out everyday for 2 years.  Then I took in Joey, my dog.  Joey will eat Anna, so he doesn't get out as much.  He went from being out every day, to once a week. 

A year ago, I bought Andy a mate to make up for the companionship I wasn't providing.  She was abusive and wouldn't let him eat.  I was cleaning their cage, when Andy flew out from the bottom of the cage, where the pan goes that I was cleaning.  He flew onto my head.  He's never escaped from his cage before.  When I perched him on my finger I noticed he was all bones and panting.  I felt horrible.  If I had taken him out more often this would have never happened.  I would have noticed this before it got so bad.  I separated them until I found a home for the female, but ever since then, Andy hasn't been doing so good.  Something inside him is failing.  Today he is on his last leg. 

He has given me such good companionship.  Loved me so much.  I ignored him.  He was so desparte for my help, but it came too late. There's nothing I or anyone else can do to save him.  I can't start over and make things right.

This is a bad one, my husband and I feel just horrible for it.  My husband's parents had a dalmation mix named Molly.  She was not well taken care of, not spayed, on cheap food, etc., but they did seem to really love her.  She had major issues like destruction of furniture and aggression.  They sometimes made comments about how they didn't want her anymore or should get rid of her, but we all knew it would never happen, they secretly loved her.  One weekend, they went out of town and we were charged with going to their house and playing with her, feeding her and letting her out. We couldn't bring her to our house due to her size and incompatibility with our dogs. All went well until Sunday afternoon.  In between the times we came to take care of her, my brother in law went to the house and took her.  He drove her out to the country and shot her in the head.  He said it was what was best for everyone.  That horrible #$%^ of a man!!!  We had to be the ones to tell them when they returned home.  Of course they didn't blame us, but we blamed ourselves.  If only we had brought her to our house, he would have never took her.  There were many tears shed for Molly that week and beyond.  We have never forgiven the brother for what he did and we never will.  We just hope that God asks him to explain himself when he goes to meet Him.

I regret my early training of Kota and Tasha.  Leash pops and the screaming.  I didn't know any better.  They should make people take a test before adopting a dog.

The other is that I couldn't save Maggie.  That I didn't get more involved sooner to work with her so that she could continue to live.  That me, her 3rd friend in the world, abandoned her with a complete stranger who then put her to sleep.  She was 1 year old and had lived her life in a dark basement or tied to a dog run.

Run free Maggie and all the little puppers out there.

ORIGINAL: luvinmydoggies

This is a bad one, my husband and I feel just horrible for it.  My husband's parents had a dalmation mix named Molly.  She was not well taken care of, not spayed, on cheap food, etc., but they did seem to really love her.  She had major issues like destruction of furniture and aggression.  They sometimes made comments about how they didn't want her anymore or should get rid of her, but we all knew it would never happen, they secretly loved her.  One weekend, they went out of town and we were charged with going to their house and playing with her, feeding her and letting her out. We couldn't bring her to our house due to her size and incompatibility with our dogs. All went well until Sunday afternoon.  In between the times we came to take care of her, my brother in law went to the house and took her.  He drove her out to the country and shot her in the head.  He said it was what was best for everyone.  That horrible #$%^ of a man!!!  We had to be the ones to tell them when they returned home.  Of course they didn't blame us, but we blamed ourselves.  If only we had brought her to our house, he would have never took her.  There were many tears shed for Molly that week and beyond.  We have never forgiven the brother for what he did and we never will.  We just hope that God asks him to explain himself when he goes to meet Him.

OMG!  Even if he was my son I would have called the police on him.

My father's side of the family is complicated.  My paternal grandmother lives with a long time friend.  The long time friend has a wierd, I mean wierd son (he tickeled my 26 year old husband when we came to visit at Christmas??)  He shot their dog for fun.  His mother forgave him, but my grandmother never did.  She's the don't say anything type. 

My biggest regret? I'd have to say:

In October of 2006, I noticed that Panda, our little girl kitty, had gone off of her food and vomited. She did that every now and again, but we never knew why, only that she was known for having a sensitive stomach since she was a baby. And because we were tight on cash, I ignored it and didn't take her into the vet right away. I took her in a couple days later when she seemed lethargic but by that time she had a terrible fever. They kept her on an IV for about 8 days, through which she would get better and then worse again. On October 11th, we made the decision to have her euthanized when she could no longer hold her head up. Chances are the culprit was FIP but we'll never know. I kick myself everyday for not having taken her in earlier...maybe we could have found out what was wrong and treated her before it got so serious. I'll never forgive myself for that one.

Two years ago I found a dog in the Wal-mart parking lot. She was running around from person to person, so lost and confused. Of course, I got out to check her out - she came to me with no problems, and I simply sat with her for a while, trying to see if she had escaped from someones car. But nobody knew her, so I packed her in the car and took her home.
She looked neglected - her beautiful long fur was matted, she was skin & bones, and lived to have your hand on her head.

So I washed her up, cut off the matted fur, gave her food & water, and she stayed with me for about a week.

But that week was terrible - she and Sierra got into fights (I kept punishing Sierra for fighting, so she stopped fighting back, and ended up bleeding.. but thats another story), and I discovered that this new dog, "Delilah", had horrible separation anxiety.
When I was gone at work, she chewed Sierra's kennel, my door, my rug, just about anything she could get her teeth on. And I had a full time job that I couldn't quit, so I made the hurtful decision to give her up after that week.

This is the part I regret so badly - I didn't know that a non-kill shelter existed around me. So I took her to the only one I knew - the kill shelter.

I went back 3 days later and she was gone. They refused to tell me what had happened to her. I feel so bad - I'm not 100% sure that they euthenized her, but why wouldn't they tell me otherwise?
I feel like I sentenced her to death
Gawd, I'm crying now. Poor girl. She was so beautiful, and all she wanted was a human to be with her. Thats all she asked for.
I just wish I had known there was a better alternative.
Wherever you are, Delilah - I hope you're happy.

I regret that I let a vet whom I didn't know perform spay surgery on Sioux.  The shelter where I adopted her paid for the surgery.  I should have refused it and let my own vet do it.  I think my vet would have done a better job and possibly Sioux would not have ended up spay incontinent.  I can't be sure, but it has always haunted me that she has had to be on medication her whole life.  I always wonder if it will shorten her life... and she is every bit as much of a heart dog as Dancer was.  I want her to have the same 17+ year lifespan as the old girl did.