On Jan. 3, we had to have our cat Cheese put to sleep. Then yesterday we woke to find our 9 year old cocker spaniel, Maggie, had passed away in her sleep. The night before she died, she was limping a little, and hubby thought she looked arthritic & we said we were going to make a vet appointment for her for today or Monday. Unfortunately, we didn't get that chance. After speaking to our vet on the phone, who just saw her in November, he said it sounded like she may have developed a blood clot in her leg. They can cause pain & cause an animal to limp. He said it probably dislodged while she was sleeping next to me and passed in her sleep. I was lying right next to her. She never made a sound, I would have heard it. So my only hope is that it was painless for her & she just went in her sleep. We try to take excellent care of our pets. They get yearly checkups & vaccines... hubby & I are just not sure what the hell is going on. Our vet did say what our cat had is unique to cats and not transmissible to other cats or dogs. So their passings are unrelated. It's just so hard. Two beloved pets in 2 weeks. Rest assured that the remaining 4 are all going to the vet next month, even though they were all just seen in October & November. We just feel with two furbabies passing, that we need to have the other babies checked out just to make sure everyone else is ok. Maggie was 9, almost 10. We'd had her since she was a year old. She was a fantastic dog, and we both love her & miss her very much. I really hope 2008 begins to improve. So far, this year has not been good.