When the moment comes...

my2cats67

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I lost my good friend this weekend her name was Smokey she is my avatar on the site we found her as  a stray cold skin and bones in feb of 2006. We found her cold and hungry in our driveway. She walked right up to me and  i picked her up brought her inside fell in love with gray color and her green eyes. She belong to us and our family we already had two cats plus kitten. She took right to the other cats and kittens like she belong there. Eight years ago did not know how to introduce one cat to the house kept her in basement for few days. She had plenty of love plenty of food we put some weight on her got her back to health and she was our since. Now she was 16 years old when she past. She was a beautiful loveing girl who liked any one and every one she would greet every one who entered our home with a rub up against your leg and a meow to welcome. It is hard but i know if we had not found her or her found us she would not have made it that winter i tell my family we gave her a good home full of love plenty of  food and a lot of nice warm soft places to sleep. Her favorite place to sleep was right next to me under the blankest. 


I still have my two other furr baby's at home tigger with IBS and Zoey who was a foster for one  my sons friend who could not take the cat with her to collage and her mother threaten shelter so i took her then she took her back two years later then she found her self homeless again i took  zoey back. So now she is my cat not going to put her into a shelter she would not know why she ened up there and she is six years old so she is now my cat no back and fourth now she has a stable home with me and tigger they are both morning the loss of smokey zoey stands vigil where she passed and tigger is trying to help me mourn her loss.
 

bgregory

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Thank you for these beautiful words.  I just had to make that decision a week and a half ago, under so much trauma that I couldn't think straight, therefore leaving me with horrible feelings of guilt and pain.  Thank you for easing those feelings, if even just a little bit.  I am grateful.
 

gordonsmom

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This Saturday the 18th will make it one year since we lost Gordon. My husband and I finally realize that we were ready to open our hearts and home to another cat.we have 2, a 2 1/2-year-old and an 11-year-old. I started volunteering at our local shelter a couple months ago and have been keeping my eye on a 10 year old cat that nobody ever asks to see or hold. We adopted Shotsie yesterday. There will never be a cat to replace Gordon, but there is always more love to give. It does get easier.
 

mnm

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bless your heart! Hope you can post a pic...and I hope he/she adjusts well into your family!
 

fazmaster1

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Hi Gareth,

I'm trying to make sense of what you and many others have gone through. It's our turn. Alto came into our lives a few years ago at the venerable age of 14. He was already ill with a hyperactive thyroid but we took great care of him and love him and as you describe so well, he loves us back. My wife and I aimed at giving the happiest and healthiest remaining few years he has. I knew this time would come. We are never ready for this I guess.

He stopped eating and became very weak but he still finds the strength to lay down on our chests and cuddle, purring away and giving us that deep look of genuine love. It's here that the pain is excruciating. So excruciating. I can't imagine that he will no longer be with us and his good friend and guardian, Boules Noires.

I'm thankful for your very wise and soothing words even though there is no possible way other than to take on the pain.

Farewell my friend.


.

Your buddy Boules will miss you too.


And thanks again Gareth for the deep and thoughtful words.

Federico and Johanne
 

gordonsmom

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My prayers are also with you. Gareth's post has touched so many of us, I found it a year ago when we lost our 18 month old kitten. We now have a two year old and have adopted two more who are now 10 and 11, so I know it will happen again sooner than we wish. We had to give them a home though, could not see them living the rest of their life in a shelter because everyone wants kittens. I know, as a volunteer At our local shelter. I took the ones that nobody else ever looked at. And they are a pleasure.

Even though it has been a year as of last Saturday, we still miss Gordon, but the excruciating pain of his loss has mellowed,and we can now talk about him sometimes with laughter at his escapades that we used to watch.not to say it still doesn't bring tears to my eyes, as it does now just writing about him.

There are no words to make you feel better. Just know that you have been there for him and you have gotten as much back as you have given. sometime in the future, you may decide to get another cat. It will not be a replacement. But it will be another fur baby to love when you are ready.

Peace to you and your family.
 

gordonsmom

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And to all of you who read this who have adopted from a shelter! All I can say from the bottom of my heart is thank you for making a difference. See you and cats living in cages for months at a time is extremely sad. Unfortunately, we can only take so many.
 

fazmaster1

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Thank you so much for the heartfelt and kind words. Our hearts go out to you and all.

Peace,
 

mnm

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Fazmaster1 I am soooo sorry you have had to face that most dreaded and difficult decision... as we did too 7 weeks ago. I can only say "thank you" as I'm sure your kitty would thank you as well, for not allowing him to suffer, but to have a life of peace to the end... bless you as you go through this sad time.
 

kmd

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Bad diagnosis Wednesday on our 16 year old... I came back to read Gareth's words again...
 

fazmaster1

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My heart is with you. I'm so sorry to hear this...I hope you can find all the strength you can muster to get through this difficult time. 

Federico
 

gordonsmom

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You are in my prayers. Gareth's words have brought comfort to many of us, but it is never easy to say goodbye.
 

fudgepop

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Gareth, your words had a tremendous impact on me. I put my 16-year old cat, Fudgepop, down on January 27, 2015. He was our family cat then became "my cat" after the kids were grown up and on their own. Fudgepop was the shoulder I cried on when my son died, when I went through my divorce, the death of both my parents and just because. His strength was something I took for granted and NEVER thought he would become ill with cancer. Or ill period. Or leave.But at the end of November of 2014, he didn't look quite right and a growth began to form on the bottom part of his mouth. He walked funny, and became slower. By the first of January, he was still eating, using the litter box, jumping up on the couch and bed and waiting at the front door for me when I came home from work at night. A week later, I took him into the vet. The vet gave him a shot of an antibiotic and said that his mouth was badly infected. She also said that despite his funny walk, he was very determined (although annoyed) to keep being, "Fudgepop. " if the infection cleared up then
we would have a better chance of finding out what the problem was. If the infection cleared up but the growth continued, then we would have some decisions to make. Either way, she wanted to see him back in two weeks. During that two week period, I tried twice to take him back in to have him put down. .....I just wasn't sure if it was the right time. He loved on me, slept with me, greeted me at the door! He ate massive amounts of food! I painted the bottom of his feet with green acrylic and let him walk ALL over the kitchen. I do have some paw prints on paper! But realistically, I was having to clean him up because he couldn't wipe his mouth. Food was hard for him to grasp hold of and it was taking him longer to eat because it was painful for him. He was steadfast in using the litter box even though I made a makeshift box for him using a Rubbermaid bin lid. Walking was harder for him. His gait was so crooked. On January 27, I took him in and the vet looked at me and said, "it's time." I loved him for 16 years and I hope that when we do meet again, he will come to me purring. .
 
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gareth

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Sounds like you made a painful decision that was in the best interest of your pet, precisely what I was trying to convey when I wrote the original post.

I'm sorry for your loss, but glad Fudgepop is not suffering. Treasure the memories.
 

riley1

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Gareth,

I show this post & wondered why it was brought up after so much time.  Great post from you & I can see why people come back to read it.  Loss my precious baby 2 weeks 5 days ago & your words really help!

Thank you
 

seaturtle

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Lovely post, Gareth. I had to make that decision recently, and you are so right about the intensity of the pain. He and my other one are daily on my mind. I so wanted not to have them go, but I had to remind myself that it was about the cat, about his suffering, not about me and my pain. Didn't help the pain, of course, but I made for them the decision I would want someone to make for me.
 

purdie

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Gareth,  I first read your words a while ago, when the time came for my dear Purdie. And I remembered them again when the time came for little Pebbles. I'm reading them again  now, just after little Whinnie went to sleep. They always help me, and give me such comfort. I've just passed them on to a friend who is struggling to come to terms with his decision.

What you say is so very very true, and now, reading them again,  I know that my last little cat, Whinnie, knows that I loved her. I didn't have very long to show her that I loved her in this world, she was only with me for 9 months. She was a rescue after a bad road accident, and, as we always do, I feel guilty about all the 'would haves' and the 'should haves'. We were just starting to really get to know each another when she had to go,  and it was so cruel. After her brave fight back following the accident, she developed kidney failure, a fight she couldn't win.

So thankyou so much for the way you have helped me over the years. You really are a very wise guy,

Many thanks and love to you, Jean xx
 

angelinacat

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I am so sorry to read of your loss, but wow, your Bullwinkle looks VERY much like my BrightSpot.


He is still a kitten here; I will have to take new pictures.

RIP Beautiful Bullwinkle, and all the other Angel Cats in this thread.
 
 
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