I had to put my dog down last month and, though I have absolutely no qualms about putting an end to his suffering, it was one of the hardest things I’ve had to experience. Seeing him forced to sleep, and then knowing the second injection would end his life.

I miss him so much.

Last night, I dreamt I was in a large, hospital-like building, and Skunky was walking towards me, slowly. He was so thin. He wasn’t having breathing problems like he did on his last weekend alive, but he was malnourished.

In my dream, the drug used to end his life didn’t work, and he awoke, and was looking for me to feed him. I was tortured in this dream, crying, repeatedly pushing on an elevator button so I could take him back to the vet (in my dream, he was on another floor in the same building) to have him put back to sleep. So, I dreamt I was trying to have him euthanized — again!

What does it mean? Here are a couple of interpretations I found online:

From the Times of India: If you see your pet suffer in it along with yourself, and wake up with a sense of loss, it’s most definitely a negative dream that is indicative of a burdened subconscious. Adds Sheesham, “It is important to let go off the emotion; by clinging to it you are only nurturing negativity.”

When the emotions are extremely deep-rooted, we may try to seek solace in our dreams and eagerly await one in which we can be together with our pet. But do such unions in dreams have a bearing on our real lives? Elaborates psychologist Dr Kamal Khurana, “Death of a pet is an emotional break off, and it’s our mind’s way of grasping the events by trying to complete that thought in semi-sleep state. But if such dreams have a disastrous effect on you to the extent of hampering your social life, it’s time you corrected it.”

From Dreaming the Dreams: If the dog is dead or dying in dream, then it symbolizes a loss of a good friend.

And from a random message board on ParanormalSoup.com: I agree that it may either be a visitation (using dreams as a medium for cummincation) or your heart’s way of reassuring you that you did the right thing and that your puppy is at peace and still loves you as much as she ever did.