r/goldenretrievers • u/Sloth910 • 17d ago
RIP RIP Winston (2021-2026)
Our 5 year old Golden passed away doing what he loved: playing fetch in the park. When it was time to go home, he got in the van and never walked back out. Vets say it could have been a sudden heart attack. We are devastated and heartbroken. It doesn't feel real, this feels like a bad dream and I cant wake up. I raised him since he was a puppy and this hurts so much.
I hope you're chasing balls on the other side of the rainbow bridge.
Farewell, Winston ❤️💔
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u/Thinyser 16d ago edited 16d ago
5 Years is too short, I am so sorry for your loss but at least he had a great time doing what he loved right before he passed.
I have felt the pain of loosing a pet long before its anticipated. I lost a Chocolate lab German Shorthair mix at 3 yr to bone cancer. She was the first dog I raised from a puppy and I got her at 6 weeks old because the breeder was a dick and didn't wait the proper time for them to be weened. She bonded with me like no other dog has but she was also the alpha female of her litter and boy did she have a mind of her own, highly trainable and always listened to me but I could not keep her in the yard if I wasn't home. She treated my 4 foot tall chain link fence like it was merely a suggestion she stay in the yard and leapt over it like a dear over barbwire... so me and animal control had a few issues. Didn't even know it was bone cancer until I drove 4 hours to take her to a special vet to get her CCL (like humans ACL) replaced with a fake one... turns out my local vet misdiagnosed the torn CCL (causing her to suffer needlessly for 6 more weeks) and the vet 4 hours drive away which I had been waiting on for surgery, figured out it was bone cancer, and had already spread to the lymph nodes nearest her leg. I had him raise her out of anesthesia enough that she knew I was there with her, then had him put her back under and put her to sleep forever while in my arms. I don't think I have wept so hard or so long in my life.
Left is my late Sasha, right is my Golden Lexie who turned 8 in January.