Hello

Hi all - I'm Sue and new to this forum and I'm very pleased that I found it. I am at present for the first time in my 40 something years without feline companions. I had two beautiful chocolate Burmese in my former town, however events transpired and I moved to the city and unfortunately couldnt take my lovely cats with me. After much soul searching I decided to put them down. I couldnt bear to seperate them and I would worry about them constantly in the hands of others. They were both 8 years of age and I bought them both as kittens so they were grew up together and parting them would have been hard on them. They also were not good movers, having moved once within that town, they didnt venture out of my bedroom for a week. So I knew they would suffer if they were seperated from each other and me and in a new dwelling. Anyway what is done is done and now I suffer from the guilt and am missing my cats badly. I now live in a unit and cant have any cats. So please dont take your furry friends for granted. I do really enjoy your stories and pics. Thank you for sharing.

Sue

I think your advice is very good, we shouldn't ever take our furbabies for granted. Unfortunatley sometimes we make decisions that afterwards we regret, what's the old saying.... you don't know what you've got till it's gone.

I'm sure that you did, at the time, what you thought was best.

I think all of us can learn a lesson in this.

Ken

I agree with Ken - that must have been such a difficult decision to make. I'd be lost without my two boys and am certainly thankful for every day I get to spend with them.

Take care Sue

Welcome to the site, Sue. I'm so sorry that you felt you had to make that decision. It had to be heartbreaking. You are certainly invited to live vicariously through us and enjoy our furbabies, even if only through cyberspace.

hello and welcome to the site. i am sorry for the loss of your cats!

What a terribly difficult decision to make. Hope you get some comfort here and through the cat stories and pics around the site!

WELCOME

Thank you all for your warm welcome. I do feel involved again with cats through this site. It has been a long 8 months and I didnt even realise there were boards like this until a week ago. I am so impressed with your graphics and photos. Excellent. I have a lot of reading to catch up on, so will get it to. Thanks guys.

Sue.

although i am new i have had the chance to observe for many months this site, and while i extend my welcome to all comers as well as those who have posted to this thread i must say i am suprised that i have not read some basic information directed to this new member! to that most cats have an adjustment period of certainly days if not weeks or months when moving to a new home, and having spent the last year RESCUING cats i am a little upset at the lack of discusion concerning murder, euthanization or putting down is not for healthy animals, and adoption is a matter of a little hard work and adjustment for everyone, but there is a big difference when putting down an animal that has cancer and one that has adjustment problems. is it realy possible that no other person on earth could have made good parents?
i am sorry for you that you have had to reflect on this and feel as badly as you do but.....................

Shelly's Dad (I think I know you, or at least about you )

I can only speak for myself here, but while I disagree with the choice that Sue made and wouldn't do it myself, I think that chastising her in this thread for the sake of "education" about something that cannot be undone in this case would have completely undone any future education that this site could provide. My hope is that in time, when Sue has the chance to adopt other cats, she will know that this is a place to ask hard questions that I'm sure she had to weigh without much if any support just a short time ago.

I certainly appreciate your concern about this, and as you know this site is very much dedicated to education. We have also learned that you can't educate someone who isn't here because they got a harsh education on their first post.

And of course, welcome to the site Shelly's Dad!

shelly's dad,

I can understand your concern over things that were not said, but, I think I could address it this way.

There are many people in this world who, for whatever reason, do not have the same kind of information about cats as alot of us here do. Because of that lack of knowledge they probably don't have the same feelings as we do, well, at least as strongly as we do.

I myself wasn't an animal person, let alone a cat person, until I met my wife. Because of that, I've made decisions that at the time seemed the best thing to do, but looking back on it armed with all the things I know now, truly weren't in the best interest of the animals involved.

I can't see any point to belittle someone for something that has already been done, and who clearly has heartache over it. Fact is, we don't know the situation, we didn't live in their shoes.

I think we have an opportunity here to educate, and hopefully by doing that, people will make wiser decisions.. I speak from personal experience. I've learned so much from this site and the people on it, and it was done by folks, like Anne, Sandie,Hissy, Debby, Deb25, Air princess and the countless others who educated me.

Hope that explains some things....

i in no way wanted to chastise those who took the time to respond, so i am sorry if that was the impression i left. however i did not read any constructive criticism or discusion about what seemed to be the main issue here, sorry sue there was no intent to be mean, we all must face tough decisions in our lives. i meant nothing negative towards you, and i hope one newbie will not turn you away from a wonderful experience this site can provide. but in the end freedom to express concern over the issues brougt up here should remain a concern for all participants. i also wish to express that to post a first message on a site you have just joined can be akward and i should have been more sensitive to sue and her issues.
i have learned a great deal from this site as well and am grateful.

shelly's dad...

welcome to the site, as well. i appreciate your strong convictions and your concern towards cats' welfare. hope you will find a home here. it sounds like you have a lot to share.

thank you for clarifying your intent. words can often come across stronger than they are meant. after all, communication realies strongly on delievery and body language and we don't get that here!

anyway, welcome!

thanks jan. its just i was under an impression this was a site dedicated to cat welfare (at least thats what ldg keeps telling me) and no one had mentioned anything that was actually educational yet. i was surprised no one mentioned the issues or options in their welcoming replies and felt strongly it needed to be addressed. i used to hate cats, but even then this would not have been an option considering they were healthy 8 yr old cats. i disagree that i chastized or berated smc. i informed her that any move for any cat is stressful and that is normal. i know she feels bad she cose to kill her cats as opposed to find them a new home - but my thought was that like i said, this is a site dedicated to cat welfare and to simply sympathise without adding amything further doesnt help anyone. i hope she sticks around to learn all she can for the future.

SD-

It would only have done some good had Sue come here prior to making the decision that she did. What's done is done, and the lessons she can learn are already on this board, scattered everywhere you look, all she has to do is start reading, and she will become educated, if she is so inclined.

To jump on her now and tell her what she *should* have done, would accomplish nothing substantial. I am sad for the loss of such beautiful cats, and would hope that in the future, Sue can arm herself with knowledge so that history does not repeat itself again.

Thank you Shelleys Dad for your concern over what you deem my apparent lack of education, hence murdering my cats. I can only tell you that until you are privvy to my life and my cats you are not in any way able to judge whether I made an educated decision or not.

Sue

Sue...first of all, Welcome to a wonderful site! TCS will bring you lots of comfort during your tough moments. Secondly, I am so sorry for your loss. I too, am sad that this happened but there is no possible way to undo what is done, even if you would love to, therefore the only solution is to keep them close to your heart and remember them....hopefully you will learn alot here and join in on all of our chats....

BTW: What were their names? (can't remember if you wrote it)

Hi Ghyslaine, thank you for your kind words and yes they are never very far from my thoughts. My male was Sherlock and I would call him Sir as he was such a regal and snooty creature and would look down his nose at Sheeba my female, she was ever the kitten always finding something to play with. On lots of occasions it was Sherlocks tail much to his disgust, and of course you know the more annoyed he got the more he wagged it. Well it would just go on and on till he finally gave her a scathing look or growl and moved on to more peaceful quarters. Such characters they both were.

Sue