I just lost my dog daisy to lung cancer on the 29th March, and the first few days were awful. The silence is the worst bit and also waiting to hear the patter of her paws in the kitchen. Being just a family of me and my mum, having a dog made us a family of three and even though we had 3 weeks between her diagnosis and having to have her put to sleep, and spoilt her to bits, it was still a horrible emotional kick in the stomach.
One thing mum and I did was to gather up all the pictures we had of our daisy and make an album. We bought a beautiful new frame and had a picture of her on our mantlepiece and on our laptop desktops. We also watched videos that I'd taken of her in her last few weeks, that not only comforted us to 'see' and 'hear' her but also convinced us that she was really really ill, and it wasn't fair to keep her with us just because we loved her so much.
we tried to go out as much as possible so we didn't have to be alone, but that's a personal thing. 3 days later we went to battersea but no luck, and 2 weeks later after lots of research on cockers and puppies (the only thing I could concentrate on except crying) we got poppy. For us, getting Poppy is helping to say goodbye and let go and know that Poppy can't replace Daisy but she can have her own role in our family (chewing things up).
It is true, every day makes it a little easier, and lots of hugs from everyone else helps
We're planning a spot to put her ashes in the garden at the moment and give her a nice spot to be remembered in.
What I keep telling myself is I only feel this bad because I loved her so much, and that helps a little. *hug*