I just needed to post somewhere. Our dog, who we rescued from an animal shelter the same time we moved into our current house, passed away this morning. When we adopted him, the shelter had found him behind a McDonalds living off thrown away cheese burgers. He was two when we got him in 2005. They were going to put him down because big dogs don't sell like puppies do. I'm so thankful we saved him that day - they claimed boxers were mean, but there wasn't a mean bone in that boy's body.

I don't know if it was just old age or maybe he had cancer. He was a boxer, and they kept telling us they're prone to it. He'd had a lump on his stomach for years - the vet wouldn't touch it. They said since it wasn't attached to anything, it was benign and wasn't harmful to him. They said doing surgery would just be needless pain on him - that we just need to be careful not to move or hit it.

He was fine yesterday morning - he was barking at people walking by the yard as usual, running up and down the fence line, and playing with his sister. Then he just got real down, like he had no energy. We didn't take him to the vet because we just took him 2 months ago for the exact same symptoms and they told us it was just the heat. We've had the air turned on, he shouldn't of been hot.

He was so hyper and happy all of the time. When you'd say his name his tail would wag really fast and he'd howl at you and get really excited. We called it his whip because it felt like one when he'd hit you with it.

My brother's dad doesn't even get to say goodbye because he's still in prison. But, they were best friends - he and Buddy would go on car rides. I remember Buddy got to the point where he'd jump the fence just seeing David pull up. He'd try and get in the truck. He stopped doing that, but it was still cute.

It feels like I've lost my little brother. I've grown up with him since I was a little girl. My brother as well - Buddy always slept in his room or in his bed. Mom always joked that Buddy was his dog, even though he was hers. He'd sit at the front door and wait fro DJ to come home; when he'd see DJ coming up the side walk he'd howl and whine at the door, wagging that tail waiting for him to come inside. Then he'd bark and run around him, happy for him to be home from school or work.

We're going to have him cremated. We were going to give him a funeral in the back yard (we have about an acre of land), but we don't know how much longer we're going to be living here. We plan on moving once DJ is out of high-school. So, we're going to cremate him so it doesn't feel like he's gone.

I keep holding my cat, who is also 11 years old. I don't want to lose him. I adopted him from a shelter as well. He was 1 at the time. He was $10 because they were going to put him down the next day. I'm afraid he's going to go soon too. He's already stopped grooming himself as often. He does still hunt and run around a lot though.

I love you, Buddy. We all do. Even though your barking at every thing that went passed the house, be it living or just a leaf, was annoying at times... I'm going to miss it.

Faun cried for you, too. His sister. We let her say goodbye by smelling him. She started whining and then just laid down beside him with her head down; she hasn't moved from that spot. She's going to be lonely without you. We all are. You were not just the family pet, you were family.

I can't help but think we did something wrong. We should've taken you to the vet last night. But, you were acting like you were the time you were just too hot and needed to be in the air conditioner... we had turned it off yesterday morning because it was only 70 outside, but then he got real down. We turned it back on for him, but then we woke up and he'd passed beside DJ's bed.

I felt like something was wrong last night, he was whining/groaning. I woke up my mom, but she said it sounded like he had an upset stomach because his stomach was making noises. It was 5 in the morning and I hadn't been to sleep. I should've stayed up longer with him. I sat there for about twenty minutes with him, just stroking him, keeping him company. But, I was too tired and ended up going to sleep. Mom said he got up and was walking around, got himself some water so she also assumed he was okay, then went back to sleep since she'd only been asleep for a few hours.

We should've listened to you. You were crying for help, I knew it - I knew something was wrong. They had already said if he didn't perk up after being in the air for a bit we'd take you back to the vet. I feel like we did something wrong. But, if it was cancer, there was nothing we could do. Even the vet thought he may have it, they wanted to do $600 tests to confirm it, but we didn't have the money at the moment. We barely had the $80 to take him to the vet in the first place, just for them to say it was the heat.

I'm just trying to find someone to blame. I just miss you, so much.