Have You Ever Lost A Pet?

I don't mean lose a pet to doggy/cat heaven due to illness or old age. I'm not a writer so I'm not sure if this will make sense because I write this hub out of grief for the loss of our loved Chihuahua Pinto.

We, my husband & I have made a habit of going to Las Vegas in November to celebrate our grand daughters birthday & mine. Due to the fact that there are few places that allow pets(those that do are dumps) we could never bring Pinto. Pinto is very loving but only to us & not sure of other people. Through the years she has learned to trust & stay with two other friends of ours which brings me to my story.

This past November we planned to meet with my son, daughter, son-in-law & grand daughter in Las Vegas. One of our friends said she would be glad to watch Pinto for us. So on the morning of November 10 we packed up Pintos food, bed, blanket, jacket, treats, vitamins & dropped her off at the dog sitters house. While in Las Vegas I text to check on Pinto & make sure she was doing alright. We had a great time but couldn't wait to get home & see our baby. We left Las Vegas mid day on Sunday November 21 driving the long 30 plus hours home to Panama City Beach, FL. I text the sitter on Monday to ask what time she got up to get ready for work so we could plan to pick up Pinto. I even thought about asking her to take Pinto home so she would be there when we arrived. Don't know why but I didn't, little did we know that our worse nightmare was about to begin.

Crossing into Florida on I10 that night was very foggy so the trip was slow & we arrived in town at 4:05 AM. Too early to stop & pick up Pinto so we went home to unpack the car & put things away. 5:45AM my husband leaves to gather up our bundle of joy, I decide to stay behind & wait, check e-mail, pay bills ... 6:35 AM I hear the door open i jump up excited to see Pinto & there stands my husband emptied handed. No Pinto beside him, I ask him "Where is she"? He replies "she is gone, she got away last night". I can not believe what I was hearing.

I can't tell you the pain I felt as I ran to get dress to go find her. My whole body was trembling, I felt sick to my stomach as the tears poured down my face. The next five days are a blur of looking, walking the streets calling her name, talking to any one I could find to ask if they had seen her. Trying to figure out how to make posters to put up, who to ask for help. Let me tell you there isn't much! I asked radio stations, TV stations & only one was kind enough to reply & tell me they couldn't do it. Why is that??

They have the time to talk about killings, robbery & etc. but no time to help a lost pet be reunited with it's owners. I was told you can place an ad in the paper, you can list on Cragslist, & check with petharbor. But what if they don't have a computer or get the news paper? Every one has a TV & most watch the news! There just isn't any real good way to get the news out that you have lost your pet. I put up posters & yet while walking the streets I came across two ladies putting up Christmas lights that hadn't seen the posters. What if your pet is no longer in the area you are putting posters up in?? How do you recover your pet??

If we could find a way to get the news out about our lost pets maybe more could find their way home. I have done the posters, placed all the free ads I could, paid $45.00 to run the ad in the paper for 16 issues with her picture, & offered a reward. When just offering a reward didn't bring her home I let it be known that I would pay CASH $500.00 no questions asked. I even inquired about renting a billboard, with no reply. I also paid $75.00 to a psychic in hopes that she could tell me which direction to look or if she was even alive. The out come of that a blank, but she did try to help me.

Right now as I write this to help ease my pain it has been 29 days & nothing.The grief I feel is eating me up, I can barely eat or think of anything else but finding her. I can not give up hope, even though I don't know where to look. I had little cards made, I will begin knocking on doors & taping the cards to the doors. Tomorrow is her birthday, she will be 5 yrs old.

Now my next concern is that some one was able to get her, since it has been very cold out & she is now hungry & thirsty. They decide what a cute dog & don't even bother to look for her owners. I can't even begin to tell you the pain that my husband & I feel. He does a better job of hiding it then I. Me, there hasn't been a day go by that I haven't cried for her. She was just so very special to us. Every night she would give me kisses good night, till my husband would say that's enough. No matter what time I came to bed or how late it was when I came home, she was there for me. Two years ago when I was told I had breast cancer she was there for me when I cried. When I went through the 7 weeks of radiation treatments, she was there to lay by my side when I came home tired. When my husband had knee surgery, she was there by his side. We can't find her & I feel as if I have let her down because I'm not there for her.

I don't want any one to go through the pain of having lost a pet. Losing a pet is worse than having it go to their special heaven, especially when you were not the one that lost the pet. You have no closure not knowing is she alive being taken care of by someone else or something worse. I try not to think of my last statement. I've been told that coyotes come into the neighbor hood. I pray one day we will have her back again, no other dog can take her place in our hearts.

As of today Pinto remains missing. I still search housing areas & watching the cars that go by looking for her, hoping to see her little face looking back at me.

It has now been 8 months since Pinto disappeared, & still she isn't home. I was told that someone found her dead in the road. That I don't believe because I traveled that road for weeks looking around the area for her. I want to believe that some one has her... Though, they haven't taken her to any vets in our area. Which makes me worry since her shots & heart worm check ups are way over due. I will continue to search for her .........