My brother got so attached to a goldfish that when it couldn’t stay right side up, he made a floaty for him. I promise, I have pictures. We love our pets dearly, they, in all honesty aren’t “pets”, they truly are our children.
The tears in Impulse’s eyes through out the episode just shows how much pet people love their fur babies. We had a teacup poodle that we found in a parking lot at 8 weeks old. He was in our lives for 8 years and was the hardest loss we experienced. Our newest baby is a corgi/boarder collie mix, we named her Joy Ann Beatrice Rue Thompson White… Yes, was have always given our pets big names! She is a true Joy in our world!
My best dog ever was a corgi border collie cross, his name was Badger (after a kids story/show), he was my child before I had children, he was also my two oldest childrens loving protector and playmate for many years. He has sadly passed on now and I havent formed the same connection with another dog since. I hope your little baby is also the most awesome dog!
Thank you for advocating for pet blood donation! I work for a network of specialty/emergency pet hospitals, and blood products are truly the difference between life and death for many patients. I'm so proud of my babies who have donated, and it feels wonderful knowing you've helped animals in need.
a few days ago, i had to rush my cat to the vet after i found her with blood dripping from her mouth and coating her paws and chest. i don’t do well with high pressure situations and actually ended up reflecting on ‘the power of calm’ episode - my panic was only making things worse. thankfully my cat is okay!
I said to myself that I wasn't going to cry at the end of this... I hate you so much. That ending was so touching and heart melting my cat came to me and nuzzled me wondering why I was balling my eyes out. I'm A grown man crying like I just watched the opening scene of UP for the first time.
I had to volunteer at a vets office during my senior year of high school for our community program. The vet that I worked for was a genuine, loving man. He told me something that I always try to remember... animals don't live their lives every day knowing they're going to die. They live with a purpose... to love, to play, to enjoy their time. We, as owners, know their time is ending. They, however, only know they love you and they love their purpose. So love them until the very end, and know that for their entire time they had with you, they only knew love. And, that's truly one heck of a life to live.
I lost my bestfriend of 10 years last march. He had a heart attack on his bed in his room. Something told me to get up and check on him and he was sitting there breathing softly, but i could tell something was wrong so i stayed with him. Moments later he stopped breathing and selfishly i refused to accept it. I screamed at him to breath, to fight it off, and to keep on living. I pounded his chest tears streaming down my face. Loving me as much as he did, he fought. He breathed again, he kept living because i needed him to. After a cycle or two of this i realized how selfish i was being. How my heightened emotions, crying, and fear would be the last he sees of me. I couldnt let that be the case. So i held his face to mine like i always did, forehead to forehead, and repeated "Its okay, its okay, you can go, i love you" until he breathed his last breath. Hardest moment of my life
This comment really got me. I lost my best friend of 9 years last March, kind of crazy how similar that timing is for us. I remember my family just knowing it was his time so we all had a moment to say goodbye to him. I ended up making a bed for myself in the living room and sleeping next to him on his last night. I’ll never forget him ❤
My cat recently died without warning, at 14 and a half. She was perfectly healthy and happy without any symptoms. Just a sudden cardiac arrest. All of the best days and one of the worst doesn’t describe the heartbreak I still feel now. She was the smartest sociable sweetest kindhearted cat you would ever meet. You live and breathe every day with your pet. They are such an integrated part of your existence and fill your heart with so much love. After the worst day, you loose a little part of yourself when you loose them. Make all the videos of every small thing they do, record their voice, every cute and funny moment, you will thank yourself for doing so.
My heart relates so much with your pain. My doggie Phoenix, also passed away at age 10 from a sudden cardiac event. He seemed perfectly happy and healthy and then he's gone. My heart aches for him every day. Its been over three years and I think of him every day. I've lost people in my life but none have hurt me so much as losing my Phoenix. I pray to see him in Heaven again and I know God will deliver me to him.
So well said ❤ we recently lost our 10 year old orange tabby, also to cardiac failure. He was so amazing and we miss him terribly. But we definitely treasure those pictures and videos 🥹
some days the sadness hits without warning. I lost my Teko 2 years ago to Congestive Heart Failure. he was a 16yr old Terrier Mix (Brindle colour, with the body shape of a Border Terrier, the course wire hair of a Cairn, and the face of a Jack Russel)
I lost my five year old cat suddenly last year. In the days following her death, I wrote down everything I could remember about her. All of her personality quirks and sounds she'd make, how she behaved around me or others. I wrote literally as much as I could remember. I'm so glad I did. Even though I can feel the grief in the words I wrote, those little things about her that I loved so much, that made her who she was, will never fade.
I went into debt to save my youngest cats life earlier this year and every single person not a pet owner had the most appaling reactions to that. Everyone with pets got it. He is my family. Right now my other cat is sick and I'm waiting to hear if he will make it. I thought watching this would be a bad idea but it's weirdly comforting, even if it makes me cry. Thank you for that
Listening to the story about Impulse’s dog, that’s something I know makes being a vet one of the hardest jobs. You don’t become a veterinarian without loving animals, but you get awful scenarios where you have one person who will write off a completely treatable pet because it’s way cheaper to get another dog, and then have the next person lose a dog that was there whole world and at that moment of grief have to give them a financially crippling bill, even if they have pet insurance (which is not great). It takes a special person to be an animal doctor.
I'm so thankful you said this. So many people think those of us in veterinary medicine are there for the money, and it's just not true. So little of that money comes back to us, it all goes to the supplies we need. At the beginning of my career the first thing that was said to me was, "if you're here for the money, you should find a different career. If you're here for the pets, you will never find a more rewarding job." And that's stayed true to this day. ❤❤
I am so sorry you lost a friend and now have to deal with the hole that is left when they move on. I am also happy, because your cat met a human that loved her enough to pay this price just to have her arround for no other reason, than her being her.
@@catsandcrafts171 I am so sorry you are now in this stupid hole that is left behind, when our pets die. But I am happy, because your cat, too, had a loving, caring human that they had to watch over, because we are incapable of hunting for ourselfs.
Pet ownership does not mean what people think it means. The wife and I are currently owned by two cats. A 20lb tabby and a 9lb tabby and it's been great.
This is very true! I still have hilarious memories of my girl sat in front of the fridge (a little Jack Russell) and ordering me to give her tuna 😂 when she was later disabled, she would tell me when to lift her on the sofa, when to lift her down so she could go on a wander. She used to headbutt my computer mouse arm from underneath, and she would often sleep by or on my feet when I was on the computer. She also slept on my pillow near my head, proper little madam.
Skizz, what you're describing Kevin doing by leaning against your knee, that is what they look for in Support Animals, it's a comforting gesture between pack members. Apparently, in Hawaiian, you are your pet's Kahu... the keeper of something precious. I love that. Pets are family, plain and simple. We had a lot of purebred dogs in my family, but after I lost my dachshund to genetic disorders, I became a shelter dog mom. I will always choose shelter dogs now - that's one of my soapbox issues. I was once asked to be the "end of the line" person at a shelter, I could not do it.
This video made me start crying. Hearing Impulse talk about everything they did to save Prim made me think of our dog that we lost in January. Sugar was a yellow lab, she was eleven years old, and it was so sudden. The day before she’d been fine, but that morning after going outside and coming back in, she laid on the couch all day and didn’t get up once. She even rejected bacon, which was when we knew something was wrong because she loved food and bacon was her favorite thing in the world. Her eyes were foggy and she didn’t respond to any of us when we called her name. We had to take her to an emergency vet because our’s was closed, my parents had to carry her to the car because she couldn’t stand. When we got to the vet they took her back, put us in a room, and after about ten minutes they basically told us that there was nothing they could do and that the best option at this point would be to put her down. Me and my sister were crying, my mom was trying to be strong and held us, but I knew she was heartbroken. My dad just kept cursing under his breath and saying that he’d never had a dog go that quick before. She was the first dog I was old enough to remember getting, and the first dog that I was in the room with when they put her down. My parents gave me and my sister the choice of whether or not we wanted to be in the room, and I immediately said yes. My sister said yes a bit more hesitantly, and when they brought Sugar into the room to say goodbye she couldn’t handle it and had to leave. But Sugar died with her head in my lap, my dad scratching her belly, and my mom rubbing her ears as we all told her what a good dog she was and how much we loved her and that it was okay, we’d be okay, she could go. Then the vet gave her the shot, told us that she wasn’t in pain anymore, and said we had made the right decision. That was the worst day of my life. I couldn’t stop crying. When we came home to our other dog, I immediately hugged him and cried into his fur. I think he just knew. He had sat with her all day. You could tell that he missed her. For weeks afterwards whenever I saw a bit of her fur I would break down sobbing. It felt so weird only having one dog. We’d had two dogs for as long as I could remember. We got a new puppy two weeks later. Our house was just so empty, and we could tell Thor was lonely. We knew no dog would ever replace Sugar, but we needed something to fill the hole she had left. So we got Apollo. And it’s so funny to see how the roles have been reversed. With Sugar, Thor was the annoying little brother who always wanted to play and run around and bug her when all she wanted was to sit on the couch. She preferred people over other dogs, while Thor was immediately best friends with any creature he came across. Now, Thor is like an old man and Apollo is this crazy little boy who has way too much energy. My mom likes to say that Sugar is looking down at Thor and laughing because now he knows how she felt all those years. I still miss her, and I cried writing this out, but I know that she’s in a better place now, and I know that she’s not in pain anymore. So, rest in peace Sugar, you were such a good dog.
Yesterday should have been my cat’s gotcha day, but she passed two months ago. This episode is going to tug at the heartstrings in a good way. I hope everyone’s pets have a good day❤
What an amazing podcast this week. That last collage of your animals had me in tears. Made me think of my own fur baby. His name was Andre and he was a big cat. He was named after Andre the giant. He passed in 2017 and he was on the opposite side of the country. I said goodbye to him over the phone. So when Impulse mentioned that his family may not have had closure, I could relate as that is what I went through with my boy. I miss him to this day still, something I will continue to carry that. But I am happy I had him, he was my joy. Love you Audre, my big boy.
I’m tearing up hearing Impulse talk about Prim because I also had a border collie named Coco. He got really ill really young and I was only able to have a few years with him because our town didn’t have great treatments for pets, and even though we tried everything we lost him so young. And like Impulse said, I still cherish those few years we had with him. Thank you for sharing your stories about pet ownership, it means so much to me! 💜
Dear lord, I've literally lost my cat today. He's just had his 5th birthday, and I had him from 3 days old, along with his mamma and 4 other kittens. They were my first fosters (of many), and fostering cats changed my life, gave me a purpose. I kept one kitten to be a companion for my sole cat at the time. I've watched him grow from a tiny bean sitting in my palm to the big rambuctious fun boy he was. In fact the kitten in my avatar is his brother, who now lives wtih my best friend. I'm still in shock about his rapid decline and the ultimate decision we had to make today. I'm in a fugue, I can't take it in. Enjoy the rainbow bridge, Bindi-bobs Half-tache of the Blacktoe clan. Maay there be endless flies to catch and fireworks for you to get madly excited about. And cuddles. A lot of cuddles. I love you to the moon and back.
"Fish is basically a really fancy painting" OMG, that's so true! Can't wait to tell my husband that line - He's got pretty fish, but that's what they are. When I had bettas, though, (*cough* back in the day) they were fun. I had a mini Sea World show every time I fed them - They'd leap out of the water for their food bits. Came back to bite me, though, when they jumped out of the aquarium overnight and turned crispy on the floor.
Hello Imp and Skizz. My cat has been such a huge comfort while I go through chemo for stage 3 cancer. Pet absolutely know when something is wrong. My cat is more cuddly than ever. Your podcast, streams, vods, and episodes have also been a great help from wisdon to laughs. “Pain and Perspective” came out while I was getting my diagnosis; I don't know how many times I've listened to the audio version. I hope Skizz's daughter is doing well. I would have said this at Twitchcon, but it is too bad the meet and greet is on Friday, I'll be getting chemo. Can’t wait to see MCC and the panel. Take care and sending positivity to all of you and your pets :D
I want to share a little about my family's pet. She is a bearded dragon named Thorn. I would say she has the personality of a cat. She likes to eat, nap, explore when no one is looking, and judge you. And I love it. I miss her a lot right now because I'm not living at home anymore. I can't wait to see her when I get to visit again. I'm allergic to anything with fur, so I never thought I would get to bond with an animal, but it turns out that she is the perfect pet for me. PS: I was very emotionally attached to multiple fish when I was a child. Every single one died of parasites that we couldn't seem to get rid of. I ended up drawing a picture of them all together in fish heaven, and every time a new one died, I added it to the picture.
I'm a tiny bit older than you guys, and in my younger days worked as an Inspector for a UK animal welfare charity, I've also owned pets all my life. That brought a tear to my eye, and it normally takes a lot. I'm a guy that doesn't get too emotional normally, but pet stuff always hits the heart strings. Thanks for sharing your stories, and pics of your lovely pets!
My cat is 13. I’m 20, and I’ve had him all his life. We’ve both been through so much hardship together, and I decided I couldn’t live without him in college, so I took him with. He has been my constant for so long, and every minute I have with him is the best minute of my life. He may have attitude, but he loves me. He started purring when I picked him up this morning. I fear the day he dies, but every moment I have with him before then is worth it. I love to hear stories about how much people love their pets, because I have a story of my own. My relationship with him is actually why I’m pursuing a career in zookeeping. I have an axolotl now too, and she’s been so fun, but the only reason I have her is because I love my cat so much and want that feeling for the rest of my life.
I’m only 24 minutes in but I was JUST telling my husband how amazing it is that we can bond with animals. I’ve always been an animal lover and have been vegan now for 9 years. We’re cat people and we’re super bonded to all our cats but we also got chickens two years ago and we’ve bonded with a few of them as well!!! We have a few that LOVE to cuddle with us and will come right up to us and demand cuddles. It’s incredible that we can feel such a strong bond to even a CHICKEN! We lost 2 chickens our first year and my husband and I still cry about them. Animals are truly so pure 😭
10:02 skizz-- the first family dog we got and I vividly remember was my dad's black lab, Bear. He was a swimming, running, camping, hiking, and hunting dog. As likely to go into the pool with you and swim around as he was to go climb our childhood slide and go down after us. Near the end of his life, he could no longer climb stairs and struggled to get off the floor. He was no longer the dog thar would chase us by climbing up the ladder of our playset or diving after us on the pool ladder. Labs and hip problems seem to be pretty universal. 💔 I could hear the pain in your voice talking about Sirius, and. I empathize so much and it brought back a lot of memories of a good boy I hadn't had a chance to reflect on in awhile. Thank-you and I am truly sorry you didn't get more time with him. Labs are truly special in that way.
This is the most apt timing for this podcast! A stray cat has chosen our house to wander and got very close to us very quickly. We are thinking about taking her in!
Please before you get to attached to it, please get it checked at a vet for a chip. You never know how that might be someone's cat that somehow got away or just got lost.
I was not expecting to sob today. I was sobbing. Im still sobbing I came to smile yall😢 but I had fun I think you guys made me come to peace with a lot for things. I’m gonna go watch Cleo’s new hermitcraft episode as consolation
Interesting thing on blood transfusions. for dogs. Our dog Ruffers goes with my wife to work. He's the "Office Manager"! He is also there to help people out when they come in to put their loved one down and provide support BUT he also has been used for an emergency blood transfusion. Crazy.
This was an emotional watch for me. We've adopted quite a few seniors and it's never easy to lose one. We lost four dogs in one year once (ages about 9-20). They are all little heartbreaks waiting to happen, but they are such a joy while they are here. We are currently dealing with a stray cat we took in that kept fainting. Had to take him to a cardiologist (not cheap) only to find out he needs a pacemaker. Over $10,000. We don't even have that kind of money. I don't know many people who do these days. Having animals can be an emotional rollercoaster, but I think this is the first time I've felt actual guilt. My heart warmed when Skizz was talking about thinking about if $100,000 would be his limit for his baby. Those babies are so lucky to have moms and dads who love them so much.
I can't tell you how many pets I've had. One outdoor cat that showed up back in '17 decided to stick around because we kept throwing some food her way. It was several years of constant pregnancy/nursing from her, and so many of those kittens had kittens. My family FINALLY stopped the problem (as much as we love cats, feeding them gets expensive) when our remaining cats got fixed or were given away. Unfortunately, many of the cats didn't last very long due to nature or the highway, but we're glad we have the cats we do: Two indoor cats (one we got back in '13 and the other being a granddaughter of the mama cat) and four outdoor cats (including the mama cat). One of the pets I loved the most was an English Mastiff. We got him as a puppy in '15. He had his first seizure when he was three years old, and they progressively got worse until he succumbed to them at five years old. That was one of my roughest days ever.
Haven't even watched the episode yet, but in the past two months I've had to say goodbye to two 16 year old cats, one to diabetic complications, and the other to what was likely some sort of lymphoma. I have a feeling this episode is going to make me so emotional.
Skizz keeping a collage of his pets is so tugs on my heartstrings so much. I think myself as being equally an animal lover as Skizz is based from how many pets I've had in my life, so I kinda wish that I had kept alot more physical photos of my pets to remember them by instead of just digital ones. That 'Pets gives you thousands of better days, and one of the worst day of your life.' made me actually have a deeper appreciation of what they've given me by just being there by my side.
I lost my cat about 8 weeks ago, she was the first cat I've had by myself as an adult. We couldn't cope with the empty house so we now have a 10 week old kitten! Feels like our late cat has left her a manual on what to do 😂
I have 5 cats, of various breeds, and 1 Yorkshire Terrier/Shih Tzu mix. At our max capacity, we had 8 cats and the dog. We have been through so much with these cats and dog, but we wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. We might call them buttheads, but that's usually because they've done something stupid. We love them, and they love us in their own way.
2 years ago, I was a freshman in high school and I was getting ready for bed and as I get in bed my mom comes downstairs and says that I should come and say my goodbyes to our bulldog. He had been struggling all day and we just thought he was sore. He had waited for my dad to get home from work to say one last goodbye. It was the first time that I have ever seen my dad cry. This episode hit me hard in the heart. We miss our chubby puppy everyday.
Impulse had teary eyes throughout, which is very sweet. I wish you both to have the longest time with your pets. I have two husky girls, one is 9 years old and it's hard, VERY HARD, even thinking about her end, which hopefully won't come anytime soon. They will never be a background noise, they were my choice and thus my responsibility and I'm never stopping. They keep me off my butt after I'm done with my IT job and I'm very grateful for that, every day. Had to put my mum's cat down a couple of months ago, cause she was unable to do it herself due to attachment. And I bawled my eyes out at the vet. Needless to say, I'm going to break when my dogs go.
I never comment, but at the end there when Skizz said he didn't want to share a story because its too dark, I knew I had to. Let me preface by saying that in no way do I mean you should feel obligated to share stories that are to hard or to personal. My thoughts on it though, are that I've seldom seen people who are more relatable in a series that is pretty much talking about life, and how to approach things to make things easier and yourself happier (even if the realization was in hindsight.) I honestly believe that sharing hard things would be a benefit to your viewers/listeners who are/will maybe going through hard things and struggling with how to feel or react. There is nowhere to learn these lessons but from experience, and the beauty of your podcast is you sharing your wealth of experience with some of the purest kindness that exists. You both have the unique talent of bringing things back up to a high note of positivity that just proves to people that the hard things in life don't have to be anchors on our souls and I think I speak for all of us out there listening, that we truly appreciate you both.
My cat is 15 and currently going through some pretty big health issues. We were always the people who said we wouldn’t spend huge amounts on a pet, yet when it came to it we’ve spent a huge amount just keeping him healthy. He is my fur baby and I’d do anything for him. He’s been with me since I was a kid and kept me company through the ups and downs of disability. I’m going to be so heartbroken when it is his time to go but I’m so grateful for all the years we’ve had together
My cat was recently diagnosed with cancer, and at the moment we think she only has a few more weeks left in her. There's no treatments that wouldn't stress her out more. It is so incredibly difficult to see her go from playful and independent to barely moving all day. This episode helped me a lot: the past fifteen years have been more than worth it, even if it hurts me immensely now and I know it'll be worse when she finally goes, nothing can take the thousands of good days away.
Thank you for sharing some of your precious stories and advice with us. I think it is a wonderful thing to open your home and hearts to foster animals or give them a new home. I still miss my 2 fur babies immensely, even though it's been over 4 years since they went to sleep, at 14.5 years of age. We can only do our best for our loved ones, and sometimes our best is having the courage to say goodbye. I wish I could have afforded the at home option. It may have been less traumatic. My babies were fostered for 5 months in 2011, while I stayed in a women's refuge, and I have always been grateful for that because it gave us another 9 years together in a safer and happier home.
I grew up living in a "zoo" - at one point we had 13 pets in the house if you included birds, turtles, hedgehogs, cats, and dogs, etc. Not to mention the multiple wild animals we nursed back to health. I have literally NEVER thought about blood donation, but it makes SO MUCH SENSE! I immediately looked up donation places in our area, and there's a service that cycles through various cities and comes here about once a year, and I've signed up to be notified when they come back to see if I can take my dog in for it. Thank you for bringing awareness to it!
I am sorry but thank you for uploading this. I only partially watched it when it first came right when the death of a pet was discussed. I just didn't wanna think about it. I didn't consider the cat as a pet, he was abandoned at my home nearly 4 years ago and he wasn't a baby kitten but was very naive. I immediately named him puli which means tiger in my native language, today he passed away. I didn't want this day to come when I was right with him taking to the hospital. He was just like me but cat, even the personality seemed the same. I just feel like I died. Thank you both for releasing this podcast, I wanted some solace. As a honour, trust me that I will absolutely will do my best to support when both of you are also at ur down. Thank you very much.❤
Imp. I haven't cried this much since I lost my dog Ice in 2014. I had the same drive but by myself. He had lung cancer and heart failure and I had to go from Vet to Emergency Vet but it was a 45 minute drive. Ice was my baby. Got him way to young and had to bottle feed him. He only made it to age 7 when the Emergency Vet said the best for him was to put him to sleep. Piece of my heart died in the office that say with him. They let me sit there for a few hours to calm down. This Christmas Eve will be 10 years and I'm still miss him everyday.
I've had 5 birds and 7 cats throughout my 36 years. I have a very similar story about our first pet. Dad told mom after we moved into their first owned home, " you can get any animal but a cat" so mom came home with a kitten. Her best friend also got her first kitten from the same litter. We fixed ours, she didn't. Our next 4 kittens all came from that house. All were related to our first cat. Smokey, our 2nd cat, was my best friend. He always came to me whenever I cried. After our first 2 passed away, we were going to get 2 kittens from my mom's friend. We ended up with 3. After mine of the 3 passed, I didn't get a new cat since I knew I'd soon have to move out of my parents place. I didn't get my next cat until 6 years ago. Someone had brought her home from camp but their mom wouldn't let them keep her. I saw my aunt trying to find a home for the kitten several times. I finally asked my husband if we could adopt her. She only loves our family, hates everyone else.we got our last cat a couple years ago from someone who could no longer keep her for some reason.
My cat is now 13 years old and he's not doing really to well these days... I am happy for a the years he's with us and he still is! I am not sure how I'll be when he passes...
May that day be far away, may your little bundle of joy be free of pain, full of energy and the raging ruler of your home for the time he has left. How ever you may be, when his time to cross the rainbow-bridge comes, I hope the dark clouds will not stay for to long, even though the might come back from time to time.
this is gonna be quite a long one, so just hold tight. im studying to be a vet right now, which may be part of the reason why this was the first episode to properly make me cry. walking through the hills with my dog- my first ever dog, a 2.5 year old lab mix, i really realized how wonderful these little fur babies are. theyre a part of all of our souls, seeing them race through the grass and forests just does something to you. both of you are such, such good pet owners. atleast, thats the image i get from a 1 hour 14 minute video. impulse has shown such courage in taking care of prim, things that make me tear up even thinking about doing the same for my baby. and watching skizz talk about how his wife and him foster made me think about my boyfriend (soon to be fiance) and i. i have begged him countless times to start fostering dogs with me when we live together. and seeing someone that is way older than me talk so warmly and passionately about such experiences makes me hopeful for my future, my love, and my pets. to tie this disjointed rant together: thank you for continuing to post these podcasts. they make so many people happy, hopeful, and motivated. and be sure to give all of your pets some extra treats
This podcast (and a few others) have come out on days when they really hit hard. Today, my best friends are saying goodbye to their cat, an old boy who had a good life but they've unfortunately had to say enough is enough and they couldn't keep him living the way he was. Thank you for this weeks topic, one that is always needed to be heard.
I know what you mean about timing. I had that hard decision at the vet today. I'm lost, and numb, and then my comfort podcast goes and picks this topic! Friday 13th no less. I know there is never a good time but it just hit so hard today. Love to you and your friends too. x
This episode made me cry.... multiple times. Especially impulse personification of Prim: "Daddy, there's something wrong with me..." We had a home euthanasia for the dog we got when I was 12 years old. (also a border collie) Her last week I sat next to her on the floor cuddling her for so long, one of the worst weeks of my life, but I cherish the 12,5 years we had her in good health. Skizz's quote perfectly describes pet ownership.
Oh my heart, this was both wholesome and heartbreaking to me, I just lost my oldest fur baby at the beginning of this year, my cat Neko was 17 years old and he was completely a home cat, he was lazy but super sweet and loved to just go and cuddle with anyone, but specially my mom, we were devastated when he got sick, but we did what we could and he passed peacefully in my arms last January, I miss him dearly, so listening to stories of you guys, who I know are amazing pet owners made my realize how lucky I was to have had him. Thank you. Also super cute pics at the end, made my teary eyed at work xP
This video made me cry. Last October we had to put one of my dogs down. We also did in home euthanasia but only because my dog's vet never got back to us for weeks. My dog had kidney issues, uti's and it was his time long before we put him down but like I said the vet didn't get back to us until after we put him down. We knew about the at home euthanasia company because my mom owns a pet care franchise and saw how good of a job they did with one of her clients and they did a very good job for putting down our dog. We only had this dog for about 1.5 years because we adopted him from the shelter later in his life. My other dogs laid right where he was put down for a few days. That day was definitely one of the most depressing days of my life but I'm an glad and happy with how the at home euthanasia company helped him cross the rainbow bridge
So many great statements in this podcast. I am a veterinary technician and there are so many things that you both said that I love! If you ever want a vet tech to chat with, I'd be more than happy to be there for either of you! At home euthanasia is such a blessing and I am so happy you had great experiences Skizz! For others out there though, don't feel bad if you can't afford it or if you just don't feel you could have that take place in your home to have the memories of that there! Any good clinic will do their best to make you and your pet as comfortable as possible! Skizz, if you ever need to break up a dog fight again, the wheelbarrow method is the best! It's also safer for you! There are videos online or I'd be happy to talk you through it
This was a beautiful episode, but it took me a couple of days to get through it... when my apricot-orange tabby, Alexander the Great Cat, passed away after 18 years of companionship it was as painful as if a human family member had passed. He was the most amazing pet I have ever had or even known about... he'd wait by the door for me to return home from work, and curl up next to me to watch tv or watch me play a video game. He could recognize the sound of an ice cream sandwich wrapper from the other side of the apartment, no matter how sneaky I tried to be with it haha! When he started to have health issues, I didn't even question the cost -- he was worth it, 100%. We had a good run together for 18 years... he was my fuzzy little buddy, a better and more loyal friend than a lot of humans I've known over the years. And yeah, that one day at the end is so incredibly bad... but even knowing it was coming, I'd do those 18 years all over again in a heartbeat if I could.
This is hands down my favourite podcast yet. My wife and I have loved animals our whole lives, so much so she became a veterinarian and we have a daughter (a corgi) we take everywhere. Everything we do and buy we do with her in mind. I have been updating my wife with Miss Prim’s progress and we are thrilled! She said the ER in your area is really well known (particularly for things like blood transfusions) and how lucky it is y’all were near there. Just when I thought you two couldn’t be more incredible, you post this touching heart to heart about your own babies.
I've had quite a few pets over the years, mostly dogs. Having to part ways with them when their time is up is the worst, and I remember when one of them (a golden retriever named Bagel) passed, my young, dumb self took it in a way that I still find myself ashamed and embarrassed of to this day. That being said, I wouldn't trade the time I had (and still have) with my pets for the world! They are a great de-stressor and are perfect in moments when I just need a hug!
My mum loves watching y'all's streams and hermitcraft videos but I had to make sure she watched this episode of the podcast because we just recently lost our family dog a couple months ago and a lot of the things y'all talked about really resonated with me. I really understand the feeling of trying to not take your pet for granted but sometimes losing focus due to the monotony of life I personally feel like I really did not give my pet the kind of attention he deserved and I really feel it now that he's gone. I can also really understand what Skizz said about holding on for too long and trying to move on after the fact feels so much harder now every time I think about what I could've done differently to really truly care for him in his last week. Sometimes it just takes living life to learn but I would love to go back in time and just know to let him love for a little longer, then let him go. I know y'all already love making content and telling stories but these stories do mean a lot to us, and y'all's insight is truly invaluable, so thank y'all!
One of our dogs was dealing with multiple problems, and we spent a small fortune for months to try to save her. We finally said goodbye to her, and then immediately after that our other dog became really sick. She had always had lots of health problems, so I told the vet, "No one on this earth loves this dog more than I do. I just spent all the money I had to spare trying to keep her sister alive, if you tell me that we can save her, I'll spend another small fortune on her. Another doctor in Seattle told us it was cancer and there was nothing we could do, but we were in the middle of a move, so I drover her across the country and brought her right here. I don't have it in me to go through that again if we don't have a chance of keeping her." The doc said they'd keep her overnight and give me advice after they had a chance to observe her. It turned out to be something easy to treat, and she was on the mend in just a couple of days. That's one of the hardest weeks of my life, hands-down. I always loved and appreciated my dogs, but it wasn't until that moment where I realized how much she meant to me.
this podcast made me cry so much... i used to have a dog (rhodesian ridgeback) and two cats (european shorthair) who were mama cat and her kitten and for the 4 years we had all three together it was the happiest i've ever been... unfortunately the mama cat never got used to being a full time indoor cat and needed to get out to roam for a few hours a day which ended up being how we lost her but i always remind myself that at least at the end of her life she was loved, well taken care of and had the freedom she craved... the second to go was my dog of 10 years and 10 months... the hardest thing i ever did was keeping my emotions in check the day we had to put her to sleep because i knew she would freak out if i let myself feel the full extent of my emotions that day... 27th of january 2021 we learned she got bone cancer and she regressed so quickly that by the 9th of february that year we called the vet to come euthanize her at our home... the last few days there was not a single hour she wasn't heavily medicated bcs of the pain so we knew we had to do it but still- when she gave out her last breath the grief was so heavy and all-consuming i still don't know how we managed to load her up into the car and drive like half an hour to the closest pet crematorium... my mom keeps her urn in her bedroom and i have a necklace with a glass pearl with my dog's ashes in it that i wear every day now i have only my one cat left and i can't even think about the day i'll have to say goodbye to her because she's my baby, she was born under my bed and i know her since the very first moment she came into this world... she's 9 years old and she's such a cuddle bug, she needs to be with me 24/7 especially after my dog passed because they loved each other and were always cuddled in bed or on the sofa together... the year after my dog's passing i could see her still search for her which was SO hard but since then i moved to my own place and took her with me so now she's fixated on me and honestly i developped a separation anxiety towards her too so- not the healthiest but i tried fostering and possibly keeping another cat this year so she would have a company however she didn't get along with the other cat and i never bonded with it even after 7 months because i'm still not over my dog :( i still think about Skizz's quote "pet ownership is thousands of good days and one of the worst" ever since he said it on stream a few years back
This was a great podcast, it's great to see how much you love animals, and it just shows how great you both are as humans. In the last segment, I've been sobbing the whole time, remembering my old dog, Ajka. I wish At Home Euthanasia existed in our country. It's been over 10 years, and I still remember crying the whole way to the vet, as Ajka was walking slowly, enjoying grass and all the smells, then her lying on the table, holding her paw, and watching the light in her eyes go away. I miss her so much, but the cancer got to the point where she couldn't take a drink of water on her own and she was hurting. I just wish we could have buried her and I could visit. Tell her I love her one more time.
Having put several beloved pets down, I so heart this episode and agree with the love and let go. Its very tough. Do not allow them to suffer, and do not allow your love to not move on to another lovely pet as your lost one would not want that love to just linger into nothing
The question of how much money is a pet's life worth in the end I think is a really tough one. Its a question I've had to face a fair bit in my brief time as a dog owner and it played a huge part in decision making when I had to rehome a little dog I had a couple of years ago. I got a little puppy mid Covid to train as an assistance/service dog. But the puppy ended up with a medical condition that meant continuing his assistance dog training wasn't have been ethical due to the demands it would have placed on him. Unfortunately the decision to pull him from assistance dog training also meant I had to find another home for him where he could just be a happy pet instead of a dog expected to work. He was an amazing little boy, and he would have been happy wherever he went, but one of the big considerations I had to look for throughout the process of rehoming him, was how much would he be worth if his medical condition got worse and he needed a lot of vet care. Really hard decision to make because it meant people I loved got hurt. My parents loved him and he would have been really happy with them, but I had to pass them over and select another family simply because my parents would have probably put him down rather than spend a huge amount of money on vet bills. It wouldn't have meant they wouldn't have loved him, but they just wouldn't have being able to come at spending so much money. I loved that little dog and wanted him to live a good long life well taken care of, so he went to a family where I knew there wouldn't be any hesitation when it came to vet bills. He was an amazing comfort in the brief time I had him and he's an enormous blessing to the family he went to. He wasn't just an animal, he was a friend to me and is a friend to everyone in his new family and if his health condition gets worse, I think he deserves the chance he now has to get treated without the question of money and live many many happy years. It hurt a lot rehoming him to a family where I wouldn't get to really see him again, but it was the best choice for him. He was also my first animal I owned as an adult, which made him extra special, along with the fact he was intended to be an assistance dog to help me be able to do the things I couldn't do because of disabilities.
I still miss my fur baby Teko a 16 yr old Terrier Mix who died of congestive heart failure 2 years ago. I have a favourite picture of him with his little "sister" (a tuxedo cat named Tippy). in the picture Tippy is laying on Teko's bed, looking over the edge at Teko, who laid down next to the bed and went to sleep. it's so adorable and evidence of their sibling relationship they shared since we brought her home from a shelter.
This is the only episode I have missed. I have tried watching all week but just can't get through it. I lost my pup recently, and it is still raw. I will come back to this show at a later date.
I watched this cuddling with my two year old Pyrenees, and yeah, thousands of the best days, and one of the worst. My family got our first dog back in 2011, and he was a black lab/boxer mix. He started having trouble with his back legs about a year ago, then last December, 2 days before his 13th birthday, we said goodbye. I visited that day to say goodbye, then went home and cuddled with my Cree-bear. I will never regret one day I've spent with any dog, but God it hurts when they say goodbye. Much love, and hoping for Prim to recover soon!!
This one tugs at the heart strings. I fostered cats, including mothers with litters of kittens and it was a lot of work but so rewarding to eventually get them into a furrever home. I'm taking a break for now with my foster fail Renfield, but I can't wait to have the space to open my home again. Wishing Prim much more quality time with you Impulse
My daughter had to make a hard choice for her German Shepherd due to bad hips and first it was one side and going to cost $2500 to do surgery. Her kids guilted her and her own guilt of what would happen if “I don’t get her fixed”? Then she did and then the other side went out. You don’t know what your true level of caring for how many or what would trigger you to not help them until you’re actually faced with those decisions. They grew up having cats birds ferrets fish dogs of all kinds and so it is a tough choice to do when now as they are grown where is their limits. The pets are as kids to us we care for them and they care for us in return in the way they are able to. ❤great timing on this podcast!
If I’d listened to this 2 years ago, I would have thought that this is just some guys talking about random anecdotes. But now, listening to this podcast from the perspective of having a cat now, this podcast really hits hard. I realise that the odds of you reading this are so low, but I really want to say thank you so much for making this podcast, this really helps me value the good times that I might take for granted. Imma be honest, listening to this podcast is hard because I feel like I want to cry every 2 seconds, but you guys are so amazing and I just want to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you ❤
I lost a cat a little over 2 months ago. This was a cat I'd had since I was 7, who'd helped me thru my worst and loved me at my best. She was my first beginning to end pet, she was so young she had to learn how to purr from my mom, and her life was full yet cut short suddenly. She was a healthy senior cat that would get fat if she was kept inside, and I honestly loved being outside with her. She was attacked by two stray dogs, we rushed her to the emergency vet. She had always loved car rides, and I feel so bad that this last one was while she was in pain. Even if we had had the money to cover the treatment required, she would've lived in pain. We made a difficult decision I was crying most of this episode. More of my life was spent with her than not, and it breaks my heart that that won't stay true I like all animals, but there's a special place in my heart for cats. Pets are people, and pets are family
13 years for a lab is great Skizz. It’s okay to wish you had more time for him to run around but don’t beat yourself up thinking he’d have lived longer. ❤️ That’s as long you can really hope for a big dog
That 25 minute drive hit me hard. I had my younger dog Zero collapse not longer after I got home. Did not know what to do and my kids were freaking out. The emergency vet was 25 minutes away. Unfortunately he was gone before we got there and honestly I think he was gone when I loaded him into my car. Still the LONGEST 25 minutes of my life, even after I told my kids that he was gone but we're still going to the vet. He turned out to have a tumor on his heart we had no clue about and he was gone so quickly when it ruptured. We had to put our older dog Ein down about a year later. After that, we needed a break from pets as a family. We wanted to wait a year before talking about another dog. Well, we lasted a couple of months before I gave in and let my wife start looking. A week later we met Rocky and he's been in our family for 9 months now. Long story short, I still have a bit of PTSD from Zero, but we need the pet in our family. Even through the worst times, the overall is net positive.
For anyone wanting to help out animals in need but dont feel that they can afford to, there are great organizations in some places that do forever foster programs for older dogs. Older dogs are expensive to take care of, so many get put down if they're in the pound too long. Forever foster programs allow the dogs to have a forever home, while volunteer donations to the organization take care of all of the vet costs, medication costs, and food costs if they have dietary restrictions. All you have to do is provide a loving home and be attentive to their medical needs. I've had my old friend for almost a year now, and it blows my mind that he spent 2 years in the pound before getting taken in by the organization. He is the sweetest, most loveable dog and is absolutely a spoiled only-child now 😂.
We ended up doing our first in-home euthanasia completely by chance - In the mid 2000s, our Vet owned another business that we worked with and she offered to come by on a weekend rather than going into the office. After that we have always found a way to do it at home. Most recently, our beloved Boxer, Bella, had to be euthanized after a very long and crippling disease. In the end she went on her favorite bed, in her favorite spot, with everyone around her so it was only traumatic for us. For her it was peaceful. As for you two Imp and Skizz, You are not supposed to make me cry!
We learned about pet blood donation the hard way. Our 13 yo cat Chanel ended up having a severe case of anemia that went undetected, and by the time we found her struggling and brought her to the vet they said that she had AB blood type, the rarest, and no blood bank in the immediate or neighbouring provinces had that type available. We unfortunately had to say goodbye the following day, it was the hardest. Having known years earlier, we would have considered donating hers although I've found its information mostly known when in need and not in prevention.
Hi, idk if you guys will see this but I want to share a bit about my experience with my dogs! So a few years ago I had a White German Shepherd and he got really bad arthritis in his body, he had had many allergy problems before but we didn't know what to do eventually we had to put him down and it was one of the hardest things I've had to go through. When we got other dogs later my family found a store in our town that does allergy tests and helps you find the food that is best for your dogs, we didn't think about how horrible most dog kibble is now days when we had out other dog, but our dogs now are so much healthier and thinking back I do remember when my German shepherd was on freeze dried food he felt so much better! Good options for dogs are freeze dried, raw meat or what we use after trying multiple foods is Honest Kitchen freeze dried kibble (they also have regular freeze dried) and it's much better for dogs then regular kibble!if you can get Human Grade it's best Anyone with a dog who has allergy's/ internal diseases, please please try one or all of these things and see if it helps your dog! ❤
I definitely think our animals can tell when we are feeling down. When I was 10 or 11, my family went to the pet store on the island to get fish for our little pond so they would clean it. And the pet shelter has a bunch of cats there that day. So we went in for fish and left with a six month old stray. We called him Hiro because of Big Hero 6. He was a family cat, but quickly became like my cat. Fast forward to 12 or 13 year old me, I was going through a really hard time mentally, and Hiro was always there for me. He would sleep in bed with me and always sit on my lap and just never leave me. I would go outside in a rain a lot bc I was just dramatic like that, and Hiro HATED the rain, but even then, he would come and just lay on my chest and purr. He helped me a lot and was the sweetest thing. Sadly, about two years later, we moved to a new place with neighbors and they... they didn't like Hiro..... My time with Hiro was cut short, but I always remember him. Rip Hiro
I had a dog that a friend asked me to "watch for a few weeks." That I owned for 19 years. He wasn't pure breed. He was a terrier mix. His name was LilMan. We just lost him August 14th. He had a heart attack on the 12th. And something happened to his brain. He was always confused and after I talked to his vet, it's very normal for them to have issues like that. I held on too long too him. I was always taking him to the vets and trying to keep him healthy. My vet screamed at me for it. "Are you kidding me! He's 19!! 19!! Most dogs don't live that long." I finally let him go. It was heartbreaking, but we were there to love him to the end. We did have him cremated. I still miss his face.
I actually teared up at end...pets will always be your best friend.. i lost my princess B.T a full black cat 10 yrs ago after 22 yrs... god bless skizz for his fostering and imp with prim.
It’s almost been a year since my family lost our coonhound mix Harley last october. We called her roo-dog, or harley roo roo because she would make these roo-ing sounds whenever she wanted something. That bond we share with them is so strong and it makes it hurt so much more when we have to say goodbye.
Had to pause this episode for a bit. It reminded me of a puppy we had briefly about 13-14 years ago. My parent's had a boxer that gave birth to a litter of about 6-7 puppies. The runt of the litter ended up having to be separated from the rest after a while as they weren't able to keep up with the others that wanted to roughhouse with each other. They slowly deteriorated and the vet couldn't identify what was happening, and explained that it would be a lot of suffering through endless tests to identify what it was, and that it would be best for us just to cherish the time we had left. I remember blowing off everything I had to do one weekend to just sit there with him for hours at a time. He still had the desire to be social and be involved as much as he could, but was nearly always in pain. After he passed, the vet offered to autopsy for free since they were so perplexed as to what the cause was, and they found it was some rare type of meningitis. While I usually hang on every word Skizz and Impulse say, that memory hit me like a fully laden truck. I'm glad that these guys don't shy away from emotive topics, even if they are hard hitting sometimes.
I'm glad you mentioned the donations impulse because so many people aren't aware it's a thing, and it saves so many lives. Also I wish people would stop supporting the backyard breeders, real ethical breeders are important as they continue breed lines and actually work to improve the health and quality of dogs and those ones don't end up in the shelter, even if the owner can't care for it it's in the contracts the breeders take them back, mine have fines if I were to try to surrender them (not that I would) But those breeders are so rare and hard to find and the vast majority of these breeders are truly "greeders" and adding to this overpopulation problem and its so sad
I've worked as a vet tech, and I've joined vets on home visits for euthanasia many of times, and also assisted when it's done at the clinic a lot of times. It's not as bad as you'd think, especially because you know these animals aren't suffering anymore once they're gone, they've lived a long and happy life most of the time, and their loving owners are there with them when it's time to go. During the covid lockdown our clinic decided we wouldn't be doing home visits for the forseable future, because of risks. It was hard having to disappoint people that needed it, be it for euthanasia or other reasons.
My family has four cats. Long before the last two were even born, our second cat, Sugarplum, was basically the neighbourhood queen (not in the mama cat sense, though). There were a few other cats, but a new one came around and caused trouble. He was a big white cat, and we believe it was him who attacked her. Sugarplum came in with a serious injury to her backside and had to be taken to the vet. It would've cost thousands, and at the time, we couldn't really afford it. I was heartbroken, especially when my dad just wanted to put her down (he can be a little apathetic in high-stress situations, which I didn't realise back then). My mum, however, took matters into her own hands and chose the third option nobody else thought of: she took care of Sugarplum everyday until she was all better. I was pretty young, so I don't remember it, but I'm thankful to this day. It was something I couldn't have done because I was a very sensitive kid. Sugarplum has always been my cat, but it's thanks to Mum that she's alive today. Sugarplum came from a foster family (where her name was Sugar). We also became a cat-fostering family later (could've been before tbh, I'm not sure). Our first foster cat was named Meg. We named her after a friend who had a cat with my sister's name. We found her in our garage, and despite my parents' warnings, I went up to her and pet her. (she was super sweet, so I was fine, but seriously don't do that with unfamiliar or possibly wild/feral/rabid animals lol) She ended up actually being named [Nut]Meg, and her family lived pretty far away. She'd probably hopped into their truck and gotten off in our area. Since Meg, we've fostered around 40 cats and kittens, some only staying for a weekend or even an hour or two while others stayed for months. We've only had one foster fail and one foster-to-adopt (that one was on purpose so it's not a fail lol)! There were so many I wanted to keep, but the one we kept is named Appa and he's a shy, floofy, adorkable grey tabby with the poofiest bum I ever did see! Appa had three sisters; we've received a photo of the sweetest one with her new brother, and she's even fluffier than Appa! We adopted Momo after him to keep him company (A:TLA anyone? :3), and Momo came to us with his mother, who was very shy, a little aggressive, and very poopy for a while... but she's a resident at the shelter I work for now. Her name is Diamond, and Momo's original name was Tanzanite. I see Diamond from time to time and say hi to her for her son! It's so cute how much they remind me of each other! (except now Momo's *FAT* lol) Our cats seem pretty happy, even our 16-year-old Miriam. She's old and skinny, certainly slowing down, but she doesn't seem to be in pain. She's just gassy from a food change now (lol). I was a toddler when we got her, and it's my earliest memory. She wasn't a kitten, maybe about a year or so, but she was the most exciting thing in my life at the time. I may have pulled her tail because I didn't know how cats worked... (I'm sorry, Miriam! That one time, though, you just had dandruff in your tail, so the claws in my head were unnecessary! >:/ lol) But she's always stuck up for herself very well! Sugarplum bullies her from time to time, but she's too busy getting bullied by Momo to go after her now. Appa and Momo, who were supposed to play with each other, gang up on Sugarplum... *sigh*... Either way, we've got a relatively peaceful household of four cats and five humans. (If you read this, please pray for my grandmother who lives with us. She had a heart valve implant thing go a bit wrong and she's in the hospital still. She really loves Momo and Sugarplum really loves [biting] her [ankles].)
Absolutely amazing pod cast. I don't tend to comment but I have to make an exception. Both of you couldn't have described what been a pet own is better than you did. You both hit the nail on the head. Thankyou for sharing your stories aswell. I hope they all live full lives and full your hearts with more joy.
Seems like a certain someone needs to watch Finding Nemo
Scar !
well hello there
Ofcourse the most loving of all pet owners is watching this episode. You're a great man Scar, keep at it.
My brother got so attached to a goldfish that when it couldn’t stay right side up, he made a floaty for him. I promise, I have pictures. We love our pets dearly, they, in all honesty aren’t “pets”, they truly are our children.
Sure, a hermit meetup is good and all, but a hermit pet sumit would be amazing.
The tears in Impulse’s eyes through out the episode just shows how much pet people love their fur babies. We had a teacup poodle that we found in a parking lot at 8 weeks old. He was in our lives for 8 years and was the hardest loss we experienced. Our newest baby is a corgi/boarder collie mix, we named her Joy Ann Beatrice Rue Thompson White… Yes, was have always given our pets big names! She is a true Joy in our world!
I cry when I see people cry soi was just sobbing the whooolleee time 😭
My best dog ever was a corgi border collie cross, his name was Badger (after a kids story/show), he was my child before I had children, he was also my two oldest childrens loving protector and playmate for many years. He has sadly passed on now and I havent formed the same connection with another dog since. I hope your little baby is also the most awesome dog!
Thank you for advocating for pet blood donation! I work for a network of specialty/emergency pet hospitals, and blood products are truly the difference between life and death for many patients. I'm so proud of my babies who have donated, and it feels wonderful knowing you've helped animals in need.
Thank you for what you do and thank your babies that have donated for all of us! True life savers.
My girlfriend and I had honestly never even considered the idea of it being a thing, and we started looking into it because of this podcast.
a few days ago, i had to rush my cat to the vet after i found her with blood dripping from her mouth and coating her paws and chest. i don’t do well with high pressure situations and actually ended up reflecting on ‘the power of calm’ episode - my panic was only making things worse. thankfully my cat is okay!
What happened, did the poor baby get hurt?
I said to myself that I wasn't going to cry at the end of this... I hate you so much. That ending was so touching and heart melting my cat came to me and nuzzled me wondering why I was balling my eyes out. I'm A grown man crying like I just watched the opening scene of UP for the first time.
I had to volunteer at a vets office during my senior year of high school for our community program. The vet that I worked for was a genuine, loving man. He told me something that I always try to remember... animals don't live their lives every day knowing they're going to die. They live with a purpose... to love, to play, to enjoy their time. We, as owners, know their time is ending. They, however, only know they love you and they love their purpose. So love them until the very end, and know that for their entire time they had with you, they only knew love. And, that's truly one heck of a life to live.
This has got me actually sobbing right now thinking about my late cat. What a kind and gentle perspective.
I lost my bestfriend of 10 years last march. He had a heart attack on his bed in his room. Something told me to get up and check on him and he was sitting there breathing softly, but i could tell something was wrong so i stayed with him. Moments later he stopped breathing and selfishly i refused to accept it. I screamed at him to breath, to fight it off, and to keep on living. I pounded his chest tears streaming down my face. Loving me as much as he did, he fought. He breathed again, he kept living because i needed him to. After a cycle or two of this i realized how selfish i was being. How my heightened emotions, crying, and fear would be the last he sees of me. I couldnt let that be the case. So i held his face to mine like i always did, forehead to forehead, and repeated "Its okay, its okay, you can go, i love you" until he breathed his last breath. Hardest moment of my life
This comment really got me. I lost my best friend of 9 years last March, kind of crazy how similar that timing is for us. I remember my family just knowing it was his time so we all had a moment to say goodbye to him. I ended up making a bed for myself in the living room and sleeping next to him on his last night. I’ll never forget him ❤
My cat recently died without warning, at 14 and a half. She was perfectly healthy and happy without any symptoms. Just a sudden cardiac arrest. All of the best days and one of the worst doesn’t describe the heartbreak I still feel now. She was the smartest sociable sweetest kindhearted cat you would ever meet. You live and breathe every day with your pet. They are such an integrated part of your existence and fill your heart with so much love. After the worst day, you loose a little part of yourself when you loose them. Make all the videos of every small thing they do, record their voice, every cute and funny moment, you will thank yourself for doing so.
My heart relates so much with your pain. My doggie Phoenix, also passed away at age 10 from a sudden cardiac event. He seemed perfectly happy and healthy and then he's gone. My heart aches for him every day. Its been over three years and I think of him every day. I've lost people in my life but none have hurt me so much as losing my Phoenix. I pray to see him in Heaven again and I know God will deliver me to him.
So well said ❤ we recently lost our 10 year old orange tabby, also to cardiac failure. He was so amazing and we miss him terribly. But we definitely treasure those pictures and videos 🥹
The loss of a friend is alweays hard and all I can offer you is my thanks for being that cats human, that loved her and cared.
some days the sadness hits without warning. I lost my Teko 2 years ago to Congestive Heart Failure. he was a 16yr old Terrier Mix (Brindle colour, with the body shape of a Border Terrier, the course wire hair of a Cairn, and the face of a Jack Russel)
I lost my five year old cat suddenly last year. In the days following her death, I wrote down everything I could remember about her. All of her personality quirks and sounds she'd make, how she behaved around me or others. I wrote literally as much as I could remember. I'm so glad I did. Even though I can feel the grief in the words I wrote, those little things about her that I loved so much, that made her who she was, will never fade.
I went into debt to save my youngest cats life earlier this year and every single person not a pet owner had the most appaling reactions to that. Everyone with pets got it. He is my family.
Right now my other cat is sick and I'm waiting to hear if he will make it. I thought watching this would be a bad idea but it's weirdly comforting, even if it makes me cry. Thank you for that
I really hope you get good news and sending all the love
Listening to the story about Impulse’s dog, that’s something I know makes being a vet one of the hardest jobs. You don’t become a veterinarian without loving animals, but you get awful scenarios where you have one person who will write off a completely treatable pet because it’s way cheaper to get another dog, and then have the next person lose a dog that was there whole world and at that moment of grief have to give them a financially crippling bill, even if they have pet insurance (which is not great). It takes a special person to be an animal doctor.
I'm so thankful you said this. So many people think those of us in veterinary medicine are there for the money, and it's just not true. So little of that money comes back to us, it all goes to the supplies we need. At the beginning of my career the first thing that was said to me was, "if you're here for the money, you should find a different career. If you're here for the pets, you will never find a more rewarding job." And that's stayed true to this day. ❤❤
thanks for posting this. I just lost my cat yesterday. Had wonderful times with her but missing so much at the moment. Pets are so part of the family
I lost mine today, my broken heart goes otu to you too.
@@catsandcrafts171 Aww I am so sorry that this has happened. Sending big hugs and thinking of you take care xx
Hugs. So sorry. 😢❤
I am so sorry you lost a friend and now have to deal with the hole that is left when they move on. I am also happy, because your cat met a human that loved her enough to pay this price just to have her arround for no other reason, than her being her.
@@catsandcrafts171 I am so sorry you are now in this stupid hole that is left behind, when our pets die. But I am happy, because your cat, too, had a loving, caring human that they had to watch over, because we are incapable of hunting for ourselfs.
Pet ownership does not mean what people think it means. The wife and I are currently owned by two cats. A 20lb tabby and a 9lb tabby and it's been great.
This is very true! I still have hilarious memories of my girl sat in front of the fridge (a little Jack Russell) and ordering me to give her tuna 😂 when she was later disabled, she would tell me when to lift her on the sofa, when to lift her down so she could go on a wander. She used to headbutt my computer mouse arm from underneath, and she would often sleep by or on my feet when I was on the computer. She also slept on my pillow near my head, proper little madam.
Skizz, what you're describing Kevin doing by leaning against your knee, that is what they look for in Support Animals, it's a comforting gesture between pack members.
Apparently, in Hawaiian, you are your pet's Kahu... the keeper of something precious. I love that.
Pets are family, plain and simple. We had a lot of purebred dogs in my family, but after I lost my dachshund to genetic disorders, I became a shelter dog mom. I will always choose shelter dogs now - that's one of my soapbox issues. I was once asked to be the "end of the line" person at a shelter, I could not do it.
This video made me start crying. Hearing Impulse talk about everything they did to save Prim made me think of our dog that we lost in January. Sugar was a yellow lab, she was eleven years old, and it was so sudden. The day before she’d been fine, but that morning after going outside and coming back in, she laid on the couch all day and didn’t get up once. She even rejected bacon, which was when we knew something was wrong because she loved food and bacon was her favorite thing in the world. Her eyes were foggy and she didn’t respond to any of us when we called her name. We had to take her to an emergency vet because our’s was closed, my parents had to carry her to the car because she couldn’t stand. When we got to the vet they took her back, put us in a room, and after about ten minutes they basically told us that there was nothing they could do and that the best option at this point would be to put her down. Me and my sister were crying, my mom was trying to be strong and held us, but I knew she was heartbroken. My dad just kept cursing under his breath and saying that he’d never had a dog go that quick before. She was the first dog I was old enough to remember getting, and the first dog that I was in the room with when they put her down. My parents gave me and my sister the choice of whether or not we wanted to be in the room, and I immediately said yes. My sister said yes a bit more hesitantly, and when they brought Sugar into the room to say goodbye she couldn’t handle it and had to leave. But Sugar died with her head in my lap, my dad scratching her belly, and my mom rubbing her ears as we all told her what a good dog she was and how much we loved her and that it was okay, we’d be okay, she could go. Then the vet gave her the shot, told us that she wasn’t in pain anymore, and said we had made the right decision. That was the worst day of my life. I couldn’t stop crying. When we came home to our other dog, I immediately hugged him and cried into his fur. I think he just knew. He had sat with her all day. You could tell that he missed her. For weeks afterwards whenever I saw a bit of her fur I would break down sobbing. It felt so weird only having one dog. We’d had two dogs for as long as I could remember. We got a new puppy two weeks later. Our house was just so empty, and we could tell Thor was lonely. We knew no dog would ever replace Sugar, but we needed something to fill the hole she had left. So we got Apollo. And it’s so funny to see how the roles have been reversed. With Sugar, Thor was the annoying little brother who always wanted to play and run around and bug her when all she wanted was to sit on the couch. She preferred people over other dogs, while Thor was immediately best friends with any creature he came across. Now, Thor is like an old man and Apollo is this crazy little boy who has way too much energy. My mom likes to say that Sugar is looking down at Thor and laughing because now he knows how she felt all those years. I still miss her, and I cried writing this out, but I know that she’s in a better place now, and I know that she’s not in pain anymore. So, rest in peace Sugar, you were such a good dog.
haha such a coincidence scar was talking about how skizz lives in a mini zoo during his stream the other day
Yesterday should have been my cat’s gotcha day, but she passed two months ago. This episode is going to tug at the heartstrings in a good way. I hope everyone’s pets have a good day❤
What an amazing podcast this week. That last collage of your animals had me in tears. Made me think of my own fur baby. His name was Andre and he was a big cat. He was named after Andre the giant. He passed in 2017 and he was on the opposite side of the country. I said goodbye to him over the phone. So when Impulse mentioned that his family may not have had closure, I could relate as that is what I went through with my boy. I miss him to this day still, something I will continue to carry that. But I am happy I had him, he was my joy. Love you Audre, my big boy.
I’m tearing up hearing Impulse talk about Prim because I also had a border collie named Coco. He got really ill really young and I was only able to have a few years with him because our town didn’t have great treatments for pets, and even though we tried everything we lost him so young. And like Impulse said, I still cherish those few years we had with him.
Thank you for sharing your stories about pet ownership, it means so much to me! 💜
Dear lord, I've literally lost my cat today. He's just had his 5th birthday, and I had him from 3 days old, along with his mamma and 4 other kittens. They were my first fosters (of many), and fostering cats changed my life, gave me a purpose.
I kept one kitten to be a companion for my sole cat at the time. I've watched him grow from a tiny bean sitting in my palm to the big rambuctious fun boy he was. In fact the kitten in my avatar is his brother, who now lives wtih my best friend.
I'm still in shock about his rapid decline and the ultimate decision we had to make today. I'm in a fugue, I can't take it in.
Enjoy the rainbow bridge, Bindi-bobs Half-tache of the Blacktoe clan. Maay there be endless flies to catch and fireworks for you to get madly excited about. And cuddles. A lot of cuddles.
I love you to the moon and back.
Big hugs to you, take good care of yourself now ❤
"Fish is basically a really fancy painting" OMG, that's so true! Can't wait to tell my husband that line - He's got pretty fish, but that's what they are. When I had bettas, though, (*cough* back in the day) they were fun. I had a mini Sea World show every time I fed them - They'd leap out of the water for their food bits. Came back to bite me, though, when they jumped out of the aquarium overnight and turned crispy on the floor.
Hello Imp and Skizz. My cat has been such a huge comfort while I go through chemo for stage 3 cancer. Pet absolutely know when something is wrong. My cat is more cuddly than ever. Your podcast, streams, vods, and episodes have also been a great help from wisdon to laughs. “Pain and Perspective” came out while I was getting my diagnosis; I don't know how many times I've listened to the audio version. I hope Skizz's daughter is doing well. I would have said this at Twitchcon, but it is too bad the meet and greet is on Friday, I'll be getting chemo. Can’t wait to see MCC and the panel. Take care and sending positivity to all of you and your pets :D
Thank you for the pictures at the end - made me cry at how sweet they all are. Great job bringing the joy and pain of loving our fur babies. ❤
Take a look at the size of the paws on Mr Finnegan, Scar’s new kitten. That is gonna be one big boy! 😅
I want to share a little about my family's pet. She is a bearded dragon named Thorn. I would say she has the personality of a cat. She likes to eat, nap, explore when no one is looking, and judge you. And I love it. I miss her a lot right now because I'm not living at home anymore. I can't wait to see her when I get to visit again. I'm allergic to anything with fur, so I never thought I would get to bond with an animal, but it turns out that she is the perfect pet for me.
PS: I was very emotionally attached to multiple fish when I was a child. Every single one died of parasites that we couldn't seem to get rid of. I ended up drawing a picture of them all together in fish heaven, and every time a new one died, I added it to the picture.
I'm a tiny bit older than you guys, and in my younger days worked as an Inspector for a UK animal welfare charity, I've also owned pets all my life. That brought a tear to my eye, and it normally takes a lot. I'm a guy that doesn't get too emotional normally, but pet stuff always hits the heart strings. Thanks for sharing your stories, and pics of your lovely pets!
My cat is 13. I’m 20, and I’ve had him all his life. We’ve both been through so much hardship together, and I decided I couldn’t live without him in college, so I took him with. He has been my constant for so long, and every minute I have with him is the best minute of my life. He may have attitude, but he loves me. He started purring when I picked him up this morning. I fear the day he dies, but every moment I have with him before then is worth it. I love to hear stories about how much people love their pets, because I have a story of my own. My relationship with him is actually why I’m pursuing a career in zookeeping. I have an axolotl now too, and she’s been so fun, but the only reason I have her is because I love my cat so much and want that feeling for the rest of my life.
I’m only 24 minutes in but I was JUST telling my husband how amazing it is that we can bond with animals. I’ve always been an animal lover and have been vegan now for 9 years.
We’re cat people and we’re super bonded to all our cats but we also got chickens two years ago and we’ve bonded with a few of them as well!!! We have a few that LOVE to cuddle with us and will come right up to us and demand cuddles.
It’s incredible that we can feel such a strong bond to even a CHICKEN! We lost 2 chickens our first year and my husband and I still cry about them. Animals are truly so pure 😭
10:02 skizz-- the first family dog we got and I vividly remember was my dad's black lab, Bear. He was a swimming, running, camping, hiking, and hunting dog. As likely to go into the pool with you and swim around as he was to go climb our childhood slide and go down after us. Near the end of his life, he could no longer climb stairs and struggled to get off the floor. He was no longer the dog thar would chase us by climbing up the ladder of our playset or diving after us on the pool ladder. Labs and hip problems seem to be pretty universal. 💔
I could hear the pain in your voice talking about Sirius, and. I empathize so much and it brought back a lot of memories of a good boy I hadn't had a chance to reflect on in awhile. Thank-you and I am truly sorry you didn't get more time with him. Labs are truly special in that way.
This is the most apt timing for this podcast! A stray cat has chosen our house to wander and got very close to us very quickly. We are thinking about taking her in!
This is the cat distribution system, congrats on being chosen 😂. It is possible that the cat has other homes though, they do that sometimes.
If you can please do it.
Please before you get to attached to it, please get it checked at a vet for a chip. You never know how that might be someone's cat that somehow got away or just got lost.
I was not expecting to sob today. I was sobbing. Im still sobbing I came to smile yall😢 but I had fun I think you guys made me come to peace with a lot for things. I’m gonna go watch Cleo’s new hermitcraft episode as consolation
For the guys who normally make me laugh my ass off, you did a really great job at making me sob today 😭😭💕💕
Same!!! I was like "Oh! New Imp and Skizz pod, I'm going to laugh so much." instead "Why is this so sad!!"😭
Interesting thing on blood transfusions. for dogs. Our dog Ruffers goes with my wife to work. He's the "Office Manager"! He is also there to help people out when they come in to put their loved one down and provide support BUT he also has been used for an emergency blood transfusion. Crazy.
This was an emotional watch for me. We've adopted quite a few seniors and it's never easy to lose one. We lost four dogs in one year once (ages about 9-20). They are all little heartbreaks waiting to happen, but they are such a joy while they are here.
We are currently dealing with a stray cat we took in that kept fainting. Had to take him to a cardiologist (not cheap) only to find out he needs a pacemaker. Over $10,000. We don't even have that kind of money. I don't know many people who do these days. Having animals can be an emotional rollercoaster, but I think this is the first time I've felt actual guilt. My heart warmed when Skizz was talking about thinking about if $100,000 would be his limit for his baby. Those babies are so lucky to have moms and dads who love them so much.
I can't tell you how many pets I've had. One outdoor cat that showed up back in '17 decided to stick around because we kept throwing some food her way. It was several years of constant pregnancy/nursing from her, and so many of those kittens had kittens. My family FINALLY stopped the problem (as much as we love cats, feeding them gets expensive) when our remaining cats got fixed or were given away.
Unfortunately, many of the cats didn't last very long due to nature or the highway, but we're glad we have the cats we do: Two indoor cats (one we got back in '13 and the other being a granddaughter of the mama cat) and four outdoor cats (including the mama cat).
One of the pets I loved the most was an English Mastiff. We got him as a puppy in '15. He had his first seizure when he was three years old, and they progressively got worse until he succumbed to them at five years old. That was one of my roughest days ever.
Haven't even watched the episode yet, but in the past two months I've had to say goodbye to two 16 year old cats, one to diabetic complications, and the other to what was likely some sort of lymphoma. I have a feeling this episode is going to make me so emotional.
Skizz keeping a collage of his pets is so tugs on my heartstrings so much.
I think myself as being equally an animal lover as Skizz is based from how many pets I've had in my life, so I kinda wish that I had kept alot more physical photos of my pets to remember them by instead of just digital ones.
That 'Pets gives you thousands of better days, and one of the worst day of your life.' made me actually have a deeper appreciation of what they've given me by just being there by my side.
I lost my cat about 8 weeks ago, she was the first cat I've had by myself as an adult. We couldn't cope with the empty house so we now have a 10 week old kitten! Feels like our late cat has left her a manual on what to do 😂
I have 5 cats, of various breeds, and 1 Yorkshire Terrier/Shih Tzu mix. At our max capacity, we had 8 cats and the dog. We have been through so much with these cats and dog, but we wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. We might call them buttheads, but that's usually because they've done something stupid.
We love them, and they love us in their own way.
2 years ago, I was a freshman in high school and I was getting ready for bed and as I get in bed my mom comes downstairs and says that I should come and say my goodbyes to our bulldog. He had been struggling all day and we just thought he was sore. He had waited for my dad to get home from work to say one last goodbye. It was the first time that I have ever seen my dad cry. This episode hit me hard in the heart. We miss our chubby puppy everyday.
Impulse had teary eyes throughout, which is very sweet. I wish you both to have the longest time with your pets. I have two husky girls, one is 9 years old and it's hard, VERY HARD, even thinking about her end, which hopefully won't come anytime soon. They will never be a background noise, they were my choice and thus my responsibility and I'm never stopping. They keep me off my butt after I'm done with my IT job and I'm very grateful for that, every day.
Had to put my mum's cat down a couple of months ago, cause she was unable to do it herself due to attachment. And I bawled my eyes out at the vet. Needless to say, I'm going to break when my dogs go.
I never comment, but at the end there when Skizz said he didn't want to share a story because its too dark, I knew I had to. Let me preface by saying that in no way do I mean you should feel obligated to share stories that are to hard or to personal. My thoughts on it though, are that I've seldom seen people who are more relatable in a series that is pretty much talking about life, and how to approach things to make things easier and yourself happier (even if the realization was in hindsight.) I honestly believe that sharing hard things would be a benefit to your viewers/listeners who are/will maybe going through hard things and struggling with how to feel or react. There is nowhere to learn these lessons but from experience, and the beauty of your podcast is you sharing your wealth of experience with some of the purest kindness that exists. You both have the unique talent of bringing things back up to a high note of positivity that just proves to people that the hard things in life don't have to be anchors on our souls and I think I speak for all of us out there listening, that we truly appreciate you both.
My cat is 15 and currently going through some pretty big health issues. We were always the people who said we wouldn’t spend huge amounts on a pet, yet when it came to it we’ve spent a huge amount just keeping him healthy. He is my fur baby and I’d do anything for him. He’s been with me since I was a kid and kept me company through the ups and downs of disability. I’m going to be so heartbroken when it is his time to go but I’m so grateful for all the years we’ve had together
My cat was recently diagnosed with cancer, and at the moment we think she only has a few more weeks left in her. There's no treatments that wouldn't stress her out more. It is so incredibly difficult to see her go from playful and independent to barely moving all day. This episode helped me a lot: the past fifteen years have been more than worth it, even if it hurts me immensely now and I know it'll be worse when she finally goes, nothing can take the thousands of good days away.
Thank you for sharing some of your precious stories and advice with us. I think it is a wonderful thing to open your home and hearts to foster animals or give them a new home. I still miss my 2 fur babies immensely, even though it's been over 4 years since they went to sleep, at 14.5 years of age. We can only do our best for our loved ones, and sometimes our best is having the courage to say goodbye. I wish I could have afforded the at home option. It may have been less traumatic. My babies were fostered for 5 months in 2011, while I stayed in a women's refuge, and I have always been grateful for that because it gave us another 9 years together in a safer and happier home.
I grew up living in a "zoo" - at one point we had 13 pets in the house if you included birds, turtles, hedgehogs, cats, and dogs, etc. Not to mention the multiple wild animals we nursed back to health. I have literally NEVER thought about blood donation, but it makes SO MUCH SENSE! I immediately looked up donation places in our area, and there's a service that cycles through various cities and comes here about once a year, and I've signed up to be notified when they come back to see if I can take my dog in for it. Thank you for bringing awareness to it!
I am sorry but thank you for uploading this. I only partially watched it when it first came right when the death of a pet was discussed. I just didn't wanna think about it. I didn't consider the cat as a pet, he was abandoned at my home nearly 4 years ago and he wasn't a baby kitten but was very naive. I immediately named him puli which means tiger in my native language, today he passed away. I didn't want this day to come when I was right with him taking to the hospital. He was just like me but cat, even the personality seemed the same. I just feel like I died.
Thank you both for releasing this podcast, I wanted some solace. As a honour, trust me that I will absolutely will do my best to support when both of you are also at ur down. Thank you very much.❤
This was such a touching episode. Probably shouldn't have listened while I'm working, had to get up to get a tissue more than a few times
Imp. I haven't cried this much since I lost my dog Ice in 2014. I had the same drive but by myself. He had lung cancer and heart failure and I had to go from Vet to Emergency Vet but it was a 45 minute drive. Ice was my baby. Got him way to young and had to bottle feed him. He only made it to age 7 when the Emergency Vet said the best for him was to put him to sleep. Piece of my heart died in the office that say with him. They let me sit there for a few hours to calm down. This Christmas Eve will be 10 years and I'm still miss him everyday.
I've had 5 birds and 7 cats throughout my 36 years. I have a very similar story about our first pet. Dad told mom after we moved into their first owned home, " you can get any animal but a cat" so mom came home with a kitten. Her best friend also got her first kitten from the same litter. We fixed ours, she didn't. Our next 4 kittens all came from that house. All were related to our first cat.
Smokey, our 2nd cat, was my best friend. He always came to me whenever I cried. After our first 2 passed away, we were going to get 2 kittens from my mom's friend. We ended up with 3. After mine of the 3 passed, I didn't get a new cat since I knew I'd soon have to move out of my parents place. I didn't get my next cat until 6 years ago. Someone had brought her home from camp but their mom wouldn't let them keep her. I saw my aunt trying to find a home for the kitten several times. I finally asked my husband if we could adopt her. She only loves our family, hates everyone else.we got our last cat a couple years ago from someone who could no longer keep her for some reason.
I actually cried at how happy all the animals looked in the pictures. One of my favourite episodes yet ❤
My cat is now 13 years old and he's not doing really to well these days... I am happy for a the years he's with us and he still is! I am not sure how I'll be when he passes...
May that day be far away, may your little bundle of joy be free of pain, full of energy and the raging ruler of your home for the time he has left.
How ever you may be, when his time to cross the rainbow-bridge comes, I hope the dark clouds will not stay for to long, even though the might come back from time to time.
@leandrobravo3319 🥰, thank you! For now, he's indeed ruling his way in our household, I do to, hope he can do so for all of his time!
Of every hard topic you've covered on this podcast, this is the one that made me cry.
this is gonna be quite a long one, so just hold tight.
im studying to be a vet right now, which may be part of the reason why this was the first episode to properly make me cry. walking through the hills with my dog- my first ever dog, a 2.5 year old lab mix, i really realized how wonderful these little fur babies are. theyre a part of all of our souls, seeing them race through the grass and forests just does something to you.
both of you are such, such good pet owners. atleast, thats the image i get from a 1 hour 14 minute video. impulse has shown such courage in taking care of prim, things that make me tear up even thinking about doing the same for my baby. and watching skizz talk about how his wife and him foster made me think about my boyfriend (soon to be fiance) and i. i have begged him countless times to start fostering dogs with me when we live together. and seeing someone that is way older than me talk so warmly and passionately about such experiences makes me hopeful for my future, my love, and my pets.
to tie this disjointed rant together: thank you for continuing to post these podcasts. they make so many people happy, hopeful, and motivated. and be sure to give all of your pets some extra treats
This podcast (and a few others) have come out on days when they really hit hard. Today, my best friends are saying goodbye to their cat, an old boy who had a good life but they've unfortunately had to say enough is enough and they couldn't keep him living the way he was.
Thank you for this weeks topic, one that is always needed to be heard.
I know what you mean about timing. I had that hard decision at the vet today. I'm lost, and numb, and then my comfort podcast goes and picks this topic! Friday 13th no less. I know there is never a good time but it just hit so hard today. Love to you and your friends too. x
@@catsandcrafts171 much love to you as well 💜💜💜
This episode made me cry.... multiple times.
Especially impulse personification of Prim: "Daddy, there's something wrong with me..."
We had a home euthanasia for the dog we got when I was 12 years old. (also a border collie)
Her last week I sat next to her on the floor cuddling her for so long, one of the worst weeks of my life, but I cherish the 12,5 years we had her in good health.
Skizz's quote perfectly describes pet ownership.
Made me cry... in a good way. You guys rock.
Oh my heart, this was both wholesome and heartbreaking to me, I just lost my oldest fur baby at the beginning of this year, my cat Neko was 17 years old and he was completely a home cat, he was lazy but super sweet and loved to just go and cuddle with anyone, but specially my mom, we were devastated when he got sick, but we did what we could and he passed peacefully in my arms last January, I miss him dearly, so listening to stories of you guys, who I know are amazing pet owners made my realize how lucky I was to have had him. Thank you. Also super cute pics at the end, made my teary eyed at work xP
This video made me cry. Last October we had to put one of my dogs down. We also did in home euthanasia but only because my dog's vet never got back to us for weeks. My dog had kidney issues, uti's and it was his time long before we put him down but like I said the vet didn't get back to us until after we put him down. We knew about the at home euthanasia company because my mom owns a pet care franchise and saw how good of a job they did with one of her clients and they did a very good job for putting down our dog. We only had this dog for about 1.5 years because we adopted him from the shelter later in his life. My other dogs laid right where he was put down for a few days. That day was definitely one of the most depressing days of my life but I'm an glad and happy with how the at home euthanasia company helped him cross the rainbow bridge
So many great statements in this podcast. I am a veterinary technician and there are so many things that you both said that I love! If you ever want a vet tech to chat with, I'd be more than happy to be there for either of you! At home euthanasia is such a blessing and I am so happy you had great experiences Skizz! For others out there though, don't feel bad if you can't afford it or if you just don't feel you could have that take place in your home to have the memories of that there! Any good clinic will do their best to make you and your pet as comfortable as possible!
Skizz, if you ever need to break up a dog fight again, the wheelbarrow method is the best! It's also safer for you! There are videos online or I'd be happy to talk you through it
It's would've been so awesome to see Scar also talking about pet ownership
This was a beautiful episode, but it took me a couple of days to get through it... when my apricot-orange tabby, Alexander the Great Cat, passed away after 18 years of companionship it was as painful as if a human family member had passed. He was the most amazing pet I have ever had or even known about... he'd wait by the door for me to return home from work, and curl up next to me to watch tv or watch me play a video game. He could recognize the sound of an ice cream sandwich wrapper from the other side of the apartment, no matter how sneaky I tried to be with it haha!
When he started to have health issues, I didn't even question the cost -- he was worth it, 100%. We had a good run together for 18 years... he was my fuzzy little buddy, a better and more loyal friend than a lot of humans I've known over the years. And yeah, that one day at the end is so incredibly bad... but even knowing it was coming, I'd do those 18 years all over again in a heartbeat if I could.
“I’m not gonna answer to either dad” I was rolling 😭 Cyrus or Sirius
This is hands down my favourite podcast yet. My wife and I have loved animals our whole lives, so much so she became a veterinarian and we have a daughter (a corgi) we take everywhere. Everything we do and buy we do with her in mind. I have been updating my wife with Miss Prim’s progress and we are thrilled! She said the ER in your area is really well known (particularly for things like blood transfusions) and how lucky it is y’all were near there.
Just when I thought you two couldn’t be more incredible, you post this touching heart to heart about your own babies.
I've had quite a few pets over the years, mostly dogs. Having to part ways with them when their time is up is the worst, and I remember when one of them (a golden retriever named Bagel) passed, my young, dumb self took it in a way that I still find myself ashamed and embarrassed of to this day. That being said, I wouldn't trade the time I had (and still have) with my pets for the world! They are a great de-stressor and are perfect in moments when I just need a hug!
My mum loves watching y'all's streams and hermitcraft videos but I had to make sure she watched this episode of the podcast because we just recently lost our family dog a couple months ago and a lot of the things y'all talked about really resonated with me. I really understand the feeling of trying to not take your pet for granted but sometimes losing focus due to the monotony of life I personally feel like I really did not give my pet the kind of attention he deserved and I really feel it now that he's gone. I can also really understand what Skizz said about holding on for too long and trying to move on after the fact feels so much harder now every time I think about what I could've done differently to really truly care for him in his last week. Sometimes it just takes living life to learn but I would love to go back in time and just know to let him love for a little longer, then let him go.
I know y'all already love making content and telling stories but these stories do mean a lot to us, and y'all's insight is truly invaluable, so thank y'all!
One of our dogs was dealing with multiple problems, and we spent a small fortune for months to try to save her. We finally said goodbye to her, and then immediately after that our other dog became really sick. She had always had lots of health problems, so I told the vet, "No one on this earth loves this dog more than I do. I just spent all the money I had to spare trying to keep her sister alive, if you tell me that we can save her, I'll spend another small fortune on her. Another doctor in Seattle told us it was cancer and there was nothing we could do, but we were in the middle of a move, so I drover her across the country and brought her right here. I don't have it in me to go through that again if we don't have a chance of keeping her." The doc said they'd keep her overnight and give me advice after they had a chance to observe her. It turned out to be something easy to treat, and she was on the mend in just a couple of days. That's one of the hardest weeks of my life, hands-down. I always loved and appreciated my dogs, but it wasn't until that moment where I realized how much she meant to me.
I am currently 17, my family has a dog that I help to take care of. I want to thank you for all of the great stories and insights.
this podcast made me cry so much... i used to have a dog (rhodesian ridgeback) and two cats (european shorthair) who were mama cat and her kitten and for the 4 years we had all three together it was the happiest i've ever been... unfortunately the mama cat never got used to being a full time indoor cat and needed to get out to roam for a few hours a day which ended up being how we lost her but i always remind myself that at least at the end of her life she was loved, well taken care of and had the freedom she craved...
the second to go was my dog of 10 years and 10 months... the hardest thing i ever did was keeping my emotions in check the day we had to put her to sleep because i knew she would freak out if i let myself feel the full extent of my emotions that day... 27th of january 2021 we learned she got bone cancer and she regressed so quickly that by the 9th of february that year we called the vet to come euthanize her at our home... the last few days there was not a single hour she wasn't heavily medicated bcs of the pain so we knew we had to do it but still- when she gave out her last breath the grief was so heavy and all-consuming i still don't know how we managed to load her up into the car and drive like half an hour to the closest pet crematorium... my mom keeps her urn in her bedroom and i have a necklace with a glass pearl with my dog's ashes in it that i wear every day
now i have only my one cat left and i can't even think about the day i'll have to say goodbye to her because she's my baby, she was born under my bed and i know her since the very first moment she came into this world... she's 9 years old and she's such a cuddle bug, she needs to be with me 24/7 especially after my dog passed because they loved each other and were always cuddled in bed or on the sofa together... the year after my dog's passing i could see her still search for her which was SO hard but since then i moved to my own place and took her with me so now she's fixated on me and honestly i developped a separation anxiety towards her too so- not the healthiest but i tried fostering and possibly keeping another cat this year so she would have a company however she didn't get along with the other cat and i never bonded with it even after 7 months because i'm still not over my dog :( i still think about Skizz's quote "pet ownership is thousands of good days and one of the worst" ever since he said it on stream a few years back
This was a great podcast, it's great to see how much you love animals, and it just shows how great you both are as humans.
In the last segment, I've been sobbing the whole time, remembering my old dog, Ajka. I wish At Home Euthanasia existed in our country. It's been over 10 years, and I still remember crying the whole way to the vet, as Ajka was walking slowly, enjoying grass and all the smells, then her lying on the table, holding her paw, and watching the light in her eyes go away. I miss her so much, but the cancer got to the point where she couldn't take a drink of water on her own and she was hurting. I just wish we could have buried her and I could visit. Tell her I love her one more time.
Had a border collie too, he was my best boy. RIP Casper, your goofy face will be forever missed
Having put several beloved pets down, I so heart this episode and agree with the love and let go. Its very tough. Do not allow them to suffer, and do not allow your love to not move on to another lovely pet as your lost one would not want that love to just linger into nothing
The question of how much money is a pet's life worth in the end I think is a really tough one. Its a question I've had to face a fair bit in my brief time as a dog owner and it played a huge part in decision making when I had to rehome a little dog I had a couple of years ago. I got a little puppy mid Covid to train as an assistance/service dog. But the puppy ended up with a medical condition that meant continuing his assistance dog training wasn't have been ethical due to the demands it would have placed on him. Unfortunately the decision to pull him from assistance dog training also meant I had to find another home for him where he could just be a happy pet instead of a dog expected to work. He was an amazing little boy, and he would have been happy wherever he went, but one of the big considerations I had to look for throughout the process of rehoming him, was how much would he be worth if his medical condition got worse and he needed a lot of vet care. Really hard decision to make because it meant people I loved got hurt. My parents loved him and he would have been really happy with them, but I had to pass them over and select another family simply because my parents would have probably put him down rather than spend a huge amount of money on vet bills. It wouldn't have meant they wouldn't have loved him, but they just wouldn't have being able to come at spending so much money. I loved that little dog and wanted him to live a good long life well taken care of, so he went to a family where I knew there wouldn't be any hesitation when it came to vet bills. He was an amazing comfort in the brief time I had him and he's an enormous blessing to the family he went to. He wasn't just an animal, he was a friend to me and is a friend to everyone in his new family and if his health condition gets worse, I think he deserves the chance he now has to get treated without the question of money and live many many happy years. It hurt a lot rehoming him to a family where I wouldn't get to really see him again, but it was the best choice for him. He was also my first animal I owned as an adult, which made him extra special, along with the fact he was intended to be an assistance dog to help me be able to do the things I couldn't do because of disabilities.
I still miss my fur baby Teko a 16 yr old Terrier Mix who died of congestive heart failure 2 years ago. I have a favourite picture of him with his little "sister" (a tuxedo cat named Tippy). in the picture Tippy is laying on Teko's bed, looking over the edge at Teko, who laid down next to the bed and went to sleep. it's so adorable and evidence of their sibling relationship they shared since we brought her home from a shelter.
This is the only episode I have missed. I have tried watching all week but just can't get through it. I lost my pup recently, and it is still raw. I will come back to this show at a later date.
I watched this cuddling with my two year old Pyrenees, and yeah, thousands of the best days, and one of the worst. My family got our first dog back in 2011, and he was a black lab/boxer mix. He started having trouble with his back legs about a year ago, then last December, 2 days before his 13th birthday, we said goodbye. I visited that day to say goodbye, then went home and cuddled with my Cree-bear. I will never regret one day I've spent with any dog, but God it hurts when they say goodbye. Much love, and hoping for Prim to recover soon!!
I was on the verge of tears the whole episode and I've never had cats or dogs. Good episode. ❤️
This one tugs at the heart strings. I fostered cats, including mothers with litters of kittens and it was a lot of work but so rewarding to eventually get them into a furrever home. I'm taking a break for now with my foster fail Renfield, but I can't wait to have the space to open my home again. Wishing Prim much more quality time with you Impulse
My daughter had to make a hard choice for her German Shepherd due to bad hips and first it was one side and going to cost $2500 to do surgery. Her kids guilted her and her own guilt of what would happen if “I don’t get her fixed”? Then she did and then the other side went out. You don’t know what your true level of caring for how many or what would trigger you to not help them until you’re actually faced with those decisions. They grew up having cats birds ferrets fish dogs of all kinds and so it is a tough choice to do when now as they are grown where is their limits. The pets are as kids to us we care for them and they care for us in return in the way they are able to. ❤great timing on this podcast!
If I’d listened to this 2 years ago, I would have thought that this is just some guys talking about random anecdotes. But now, listening to this podcast from the perspective of having a cat now, this podcast really hits hard. I realise that the odds of you reading this are so low, but I really want to say thank you so much for making this podcast, this really helps me value the good times that I might take for granted. Imma be honest, listening to this podcast is hard because I feel like I want to cry every 2 seconds, but you guys are so amazing and I just want to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you ❤
I lost a cat a little over 2 months ago. This was a cat I'd had since I was 7, who'd helped me thru my worst and loved me at my best. She was my first beginning to end pet, she was so young she had to learn how to purr from my mom, and her life was full yet cut short suddenly. She was a healthy senior cat that would get fat if she was kept inside, and I honestly loved being outside with her. She was attacked by two stray dogs, we rushed her to the emergency vet. She had always loved car rides, and I feel so bad that this last one was while she was in pain. Even if we had had the money to cover the treatment required, she would've lived in pain. We made a difficult decision
I was crying most of this episode. More of my life was spent with her than not, and it breaks my heart that that won't stay true
I like all animals, but there's a special place in my heart for cats. Pets are people, and pets are family
13 years for a lab is great Skizz. It’s okay to wish you had more time for him to run around but don’t beat yourself up thinking he’d have lived longer. ❤️ That’s as long you can really hope for a big dog
“Don’t be sad is over, be glad it happened” is a much better quote than the original. Thanks Skizz!🫶🏻
That 25 minute drive hit me hard. I had my younger dog Zero collapse not longer after I got home. Did not know what to do and my kids were freaking out. The emergency vet was 25 minutes away. Unfortunately he was gone before we got there and honestly I think he was gone when I loaded him into my car. Still the LONGEST 25 minutes of my life, even after I told my kids that he was gone but we're still going to the vet. He turned out to have a tumor on his heart we had no clue about and he was gone so quickly when it ruptured.
We had to put our older dog Ein down about a year later. After that, we needed a break from pets as a family. We wanted to wait a year before talking about another dog. Well, we lasted a couple of months before I gave in and let my wife start looking. A week later we met Rocky and he's been in our family for 9 months now.
Long story short, I still have a bit of PTSD from Zero, but we need the pet in our family. Even through the worst times, the overall is net positive.
For anyone wanting to help out animals in need but dont feel that they can afford to, there are great organizations in some places that do forever foster programs for older dogs.
Older dogs are expensive to take care of, so many get put down if they're in the pound too long. Forever foster programs allow the dogs to have a forever home, while volunteer donations to the organization take care of all of the vet costs, medication costs, and food costs if they have dietary restrictions. All you have to do is provide a loving home and be attentive to their medical needs.
I've had my old friend for almost a year now, and it blows my mind that he spent 2 years in the pound before getting taken in by the organization. He is the sweetest, most loveable dog and is absolutely a spoiled only-child now 😂.
We ended up doing our first in-home euthanasia completely by chance - In the mid 2000s, our Vet owned another business that we worked with and she offered to come by on a weekend rather than going into the office. After that we have always found a way to do it at home. Most recently, our beloved Boxer, Bella, had to be euthanized after a very long and crippling disease. In the end she went on her favorite bed, in her favorite spot, with everyone around her so it was only traumatic for us. For her it was peaceful.
As for you two Imp and Skizz, You are not supposed to make me cry!
We learned about pet blood donation the hard way. Our 13 yo cat Chanel ended up having a severe case of anemia that went undetected, and by the time we found her struggling and brought her to the vet they said that she had AB blood type, the rarest, and no blood bank in the immediate or neighbouring provinces had that type available. We unfortunately had to say goodbye the following day, it was the hardest. Having known years earlier, we would have considered donating hers although I've found its information mostly known when in need and not in prevention.
Hi, idk if you guys will see this but I want to share a bit about my experience with my dogs! So a few years ago I had a White German Shepherd and he got really bad arthritis in his body, he had had many allergy problems before but we didn't know what to do eventually we had to put him down and it was one of the hardest things I've had to go through. When we got other dogs later my family found a store in our town that does allergy tests and helps you find the food that is best for your dogs, we didn't think about how horrible most dog kibble is now days when we had out other dog, but our dogs now are so much healthier and thinking back I do remember when my German shepherd was on freeze dried food he felt so much better! Good options for dogs are freeze dried, raw meat or what we use after trying multiple foods is Honest Kitchen freeze dried kibble (they also have regular freeze dried) and it's much better for dogs then regular kibble!if you can get Human Grade it's best
Anyone with a dog who has allergy's/ internal diseases, please please try one or all of these things and see if it helps your dog! ❤
The pics of Luna always make me chuckle. She always looks like she's about to sass you with how she's laying your pets have some good owners ❤
This was a very touching episode and I thank you for it - our animals love us and they are such a powerful friend in our lives and we love them
That lil picture slideshow at the end was so cute and comforting in a way. Thanks for showing us the sweetest pictures!
I definitely think our animals can tell when we are feeling down. When I was 10 or 11, my family went to the pet store on the island to get fish for our little pond so they would clean it. And the pet shelter has a bunch of cats there that day. So we went in for fish and left with a six month old stray. We called him Hiro because of Big Hero 6. He was a family cat, but quickly became like my cat. Fast forward to 12 or 13 year old me, I was going through a really hard time mentally, and Hiro was always there for me. He would sleep in bed with me and always sit on my lap and just never leave me. I would go outside in a rain a lot bc I was just dramatic like that, and Hiro HATED the rain, but even then, he would come and just lay on my chest and purr. He helped me a lot and was the sweetest thing. Sadly, about two years later, we moved to a new place with neighbors and they... they didn't like Hiro..... My time with Hiro was cut short, but I always remember him. Rip Hiro
I had a dog that a friend asked me to "watch for a few weeks." That I owned for 19 years. He wasn't pure breed. He was a terrier mix. His name was LilMan. We just lost him August 14th. He had a heart attack on the 12th. And something happened to his brain. He was always confused and after I talked to his vet, it's very normal for them to have issues like that. I held on too long too him. I was always taking him to the vets and trying to keep him healthy. My vet screamed at me for it. "Are you kidding me! He's 19!! 19!! Most dogs don't live that long." I finally let him go. It was heartbreaking, but we were there to love him to the end. We did have him cremated. I still miss his face.
All my love and prayers for Prim
I actually teared up at end...pets will always be your best friend.. i lost my princess B.T a full black cat 10 yrs ago after 22 yrs... god bless skizz for his fostering and imp with prim.
It’s almost been a year since my family lost our coonhound mix Harley last october. We called her roo-dog, or harley roo roo because she would make these roo-ing sounds whenever she wanted something. That bond we share with them is so strong and it makes it hurt so much more when we have to say goodbye.
Had to pause this episode for a bit. It reminded me of a puppy we had briefly about 13-14 years ago. My parent's had a boxer that gave birth to a litter of about 6-7 puppies. The runt of the litter ended up having to be separated from the rest after a while as they weren't able to keep up with the others that wanted to roughhouse with each other. They slowly deteriorated and the vet couldn't identify what was happening, and explained that it would be a lot of suffering through endless tests to identify what it was, and that it would be best for us just to cherish the time we had left. I remember blowing off everything I had to do one weekend to just sit there with him for hours at a time. He still had the desire to be social and be involved as much as he could, but was nearly always in pain.
After he passed, the vet offered to autopsy for free since they were so perplexed as to what the cause was, and they found it was some rare type of meningitis. While I usually hang on every word Skizz and Impulse say, that memory hit me like a fully laden truck. I'm glad that these guys don't shy away from emotive topics, even if they are hard hitting sometimes.
I'm glad you mentioned the donations impulse because so many people aren't aware it's a thing, and it saves so many lives.
Also I wish people would stop supporting the backyard breeders, real ethical breeders are important as they continue breed lines and actually work to improve the health and quality of dogs and those ones don't end up in the shelter, even if the owner can't care for it it's in the contracts the breeders take them back, mine have fines if I were to try to surrender them (not that I would)
But those breeders are so rare and hard to find and the vast majority of these breeders are truly "greeders" and adding to this overpopulation problem and its so sad
I've worked as a vet tech, and I've joined vets on home visits for euthanasia many of times, and also assisted when it's done at the clinic a lot of times. It's not as bad as you'd think, especially because you know these animals aren't suffering anymore once they're gone, they've lived a long and happy life most of the time, and their loving owners are there with them when it's time to go.
During the covid lockdown our clinic decided we wouldn't be doing home visits for the forseable future, because of risks. It was hard having to disappoint people that needed it, be it for euthanasia or other reasons.
My family has four cats. Long before the last two were even born, our second cat, Sugarplum, was basically the neighbourhood queen (not in the mama cat sense, though). There were a few other cats, but a new one came around and caused trouble. He was a big white cat, and we believe it was him who attacked her. Sugarplum came in with a serious injury to her backside and had to be taken to the vet. It would've cost thousands, and at the time, we couldn't really afford it. I was heartbroken, especially when my dad just wanted to put her down (he can be a little apathetic in high-stress situations, which I didn't realise back then). My mum, however, took matters into her own hands and chose the third option nobody else thought of: she took care of Sugarplum everyday until she was all better. I was pretty young, so I don't remember it, but I'm thankful to this day. It was something I couldn't have done because I was a very sensitive kid. Sugarplum has always been my cat, but it's thanks to Mum that she's alive today.
Sugarplum came from a foster family (where her name was Sugar). We also became a cat-fostering family later (could've been before tbh, I'm not sure). Our first foster cat was named Meg. We named her after a friend who had a cat with my sister's name. We found her in our garage, and despite my parents' warnings, I went up to her and pet her. (she was super sweet, so I was fine, but seriously don't do that with unfamiliar or possibly wild/feral/rabid animals lol) She ended up actually being named [Nut]Meg, and her family lived pretty far away. She'd probably hopped into their truck and gotten off in our area. Since Meg, we've fostered around 40 cats and kittens, some only staying for a weekend or even an hour or two while others stayed for months. We've only had one foster fail and one foster-to-adopt (that one was on purpose so it's not a fail lol)! There were so many I wanted to keep, but the one we kept is named Appa and he's a shy, floofy, adorkable grey tabby with the poofiest bum I ever did see! Appa had three sisters; we've received a photo of the sweetest one with her new brother, and she's even fluffier than Appa! We adopted Momo after him to keep him company (A:TLA anyone? :3), and Momo came to us with his mother, who was very shy, a little aggressive, and very poopy for a while... but she's a resident at the shelter I work for now. Her name is Diamond, and Momo's original name was Tanzanite. I see Diamond from time to time and say hi to her for her son! It's so cute how much they remind me of each other! (except now Momo's *FAT* lol)
Our cats seem pretty happy, even our 16-year-old Miriam. She's old and skinny, certainly slowing down, but she doesn't seem to be in pain. She's just gassy from a food change now (lol). I was a toddler when we got her, and it's my earliest memory. She wasn't a kitten, maybe about a year or so, but she was the most exciting thing in my life at the time. I may have pulled her tail because I didn't know how cats worked... (I'm sorry, Miriam! That one time, though, you just had dandruff in your tail, so the claws in my head were unnecessary! >:/ lol) But she's always stuck up for herself very well! Sugarplum bullies her from time to time, but she's too busy getting bullied by Momo to go after her now. Appa and Momo, who were supposed to play with each other, gang up on Sugarplum... *sigh*...
Either way, we've got a relatively peaceful household of four cats and five humans. (If you read this, please pray for my grandmother who lives with us. She had a heart valve implant thing go a bit wrong and she's in the hospital still. She really loves Momo and Sugarplum really loves [biting] her [ankles].)
Absolutely amazing pod cast. I don't tend to comment but I have to make an exception. Both of you couldn't have described what been a pet own is better than you did. You both hit the nail on the head. Thankyou for sharing your stories aswell. I hope they all live full lives and full your hearts with more joy.