Loss of a friend

[lingooisit]

Recently my Central American boa, Hebe, passed away. I love all of my animals, but I'd had him for years and developed a serious emotional attachment to him. What happened was I saw he was uncomfortable and had a retained eye cap, so I attempted to take it off. That didn't work, so I took him to the vet and spent about $100 for him to say it wouldn't be a problem and to leave it. I checked on him every day, and made sure he was alright. Saturday night I checked on him before heading to bed, and he looked fine (as fine as he can with a swollen eye).

The next day I left for a reptile expo and didn't look at him in the morning. I looked at him Sunday night and found him dead, looking severely dehydrated and, frankly, emaciated. He had eaten about three weeks prior to his death.

I may post something more about his actual cause of death (because the vet proved to be NO HELP whatsoever), but that's not what this thread is about. I want to know some coping skills for when an animal you loved passes away suddenly. Any help will be appreciated, as I'm having a really hard time dealing with this at this point in my life. Thank you.

~AJ