I´m glad pets can cheer us all so much up, I also couldn´t imagine living without them. It´s even a confirmed fact that they bring down the blood pressure and relax their owners, so they are actually like a medicine.
I had to have my 10 year old Staffie bull terrier "Jackson" put to sleep on the 9th December.
He had started to have fits and was becoming more aggressive with other dogs.
The vet felt that he was probably suffering from a brain tumour, which was putting pressure on his brain, so ifelt that the kindest thing to do was to let him go, much better than finding him dead one morning.
I held him while he was being given the injection and told him how sorry i was.
I'm 57 years old and i cried like a child when he finally slipped away.
****: My dog could be quite hard work sometimes, he had some very peculiar habits that used to wind me up no end, although it can be like that with small children, which is what our pets are to us i suppose.
Jack knew exactly what buttons to press to get my back up and we had our "moments", when both of us could sulk over whatever he had done to deserve a telling off, he had it down to a fine art, he would sit with his back to me and no amount of proding, poking or sweet-talk would bring him around until he was good and ready, then all would be good again.
I do miss him a lot but i doubt if i will ever own another dog again.
My family go back a long way with Staffies, i know them inside out and back-roads on, they are a very loyal breed and they bring a lot of love and companionship to a family household but i've been on my own for the last eight years, my choice but i don't feel that i could start over again with a pup, i've had two staffies and a pit-bull, all from pups to grave and i loved them all, they all had their own personalities and brought much happiness and tears into my life.
So i shall have my memories to keep them alive and that is all i could wish for.
Adios my furry friends.
G ; )
My granddaughter brought home the school hamster to look after for the holidays. Everything was fine until their cat decided to "play "with it! 
