Lost a friend last night

[Liney Bear]

My cat, Harrison, was 15 years old. He had been suffering from lung problems for the last 6 months or so. Yesterday afternoon, I could tell he was feeling poorly because he cried out and it sounded like a baby crying. We petted him and soothed him, and then went to run some errands.

When we got home, he was lying very still on the rug, panting with his tongue out, and gasping. He flopped back and forth and tried to get up but just collapsed, time after time. I called the emergency vet's office and they said to put him in a kitty carrier or a clothes hamper and bring him down ASAP.

I put him in the hamper and left him in the entryway while I printed directions to the vet clinic, but as I came back in the entryway, I saw he had stopped moving. I took him out and laid him on the couch and saw that the spark of life had left his little body. We wrapped him in a towel and touched his paws and cried together as a family. I played Be Thou My Vision on the low whistle as we said goodbye.

It's hard to imagine that a cat could become such an important member of our family. I hope that his little spirit is now at one with nature and at peace.

Thanks for listening. Thank you Harry, for being in our lives.

[Loren]

My heart goes out to you and your family, I know how painful this can be.

FWIW, remembering the good times spent with my lost friend helped ease the pain, a little.

Best to you and yours,


Loren

[The Weekenders]

Very best to you. I been there.

[Redwolf]

I'm so sorry. It's so hard to say good bye to an old friend like that.

Redwolf

[Cynth]

I'm so sorry about your cat. I am glad your cat was an important member of your family, even though that is what makes it so painful for you now. I am sure he is at peace and he is no longer ill, he is untroubled by anything, no memories of sickness or fear or anything scary, everything is truly okay for him now. That is the thought that helps me out a bit when I think back on a similar time in our family. It is a real hard thing, though, for those who are left behind, no doubt about that. Best wishes to your family.

[Coffee]

CHOOSING TEARS


The little orange boy stopped.
Behind him, kitties were playing, chasing each other and wrestling in the warm sunshine.
It looked like so much fun, but in front of him, through the clear stillness of the pond's water, he could see his mommy.
And she was crying.
He pawed at the water, trying to get at her, and when that didn't work, he jumped into the shallow water. All that got him was wet and Mommy's image danced away in the ripples.
"Mommy!" he cried.
"Is something wrong?" The little orange boy turned around.
A lady was standing at the edge of the pond, her eyes sad but filled with love.
The little orange boy sighed and walked out of the water.
"There's been a mistake," he said. "I'm not supposed to be here."
He looked back at the water.
It was starting to still again and his mommy's image was coming back.
"I'm just a baby. Mommy said it had to be a mistake. She said I wasn't supposed to come here yet."
The kind lady sighed and sat down on the grass.
The little orange boy climbed into her lap.
It wasn't Mommy's lap, but it was almost as good.
When she started to pet him and scratch under his chin like he liked, he started to purr.
He hadn't wanted to, but he couldn't help it.
"I'm afraid there is no mistake. You are supposed to be here and your mommy knows it deep down in her heart," the lady said.
The little orange boy sighed and laid his head on the lady's leg.
"But she's so sad. It hurts me to see her cry. And daddy too."
"But they knew right from the beginning this would happen."
"That I was sick?"
That surprised the little orange boy.
No one had ever said anything and he had listened when they thought he was sleeping.
All he had heard them talk about was how cute he was or how fast he was or how big he was getting.
"No, not that you were sick," the lady said.
"But you see, they chose tears."
"No, they didn't," the little orange boy argued. Who would choose to cry?
The lady gently brushed the top of his head with a kiss. It made him feel safe and loved and warm - but he still worried about his mommy.
"Let me tell you a story," the lady said.
The little orange boy looked up and saw other animals gathering around.
Cats - Big Boy and Snowball and Shamus and Abby and little Cleo and Robin.
Merlin and Toby and Iggy and Zachary. Sweetie and Kamatte and Obie. (and Scampers)
Dogs too- Sally and Baby and Morgan and Rocky and Belle. (and Tristan, Shadow and Sheba)
Even a lizard named Clyde and some rats named Saffron and Becky and a hamster named Odo.
They all lay down near the kind lady and looked up at her, waiting.
She smiled at them and began:
A long long time ago, the Loving Ones went to the Angel in Charge. They were lonesome and asked the Angel to help them.
The Angel took them to a wall of windows and let them look out the first window at all sorts of things - dolls and stuffed animals and cars and toys and sporting events. "Here are things you can love," the Angel said. "They will keep you from being lonesome."
"Oh, thank you," the Loving Ones said. "These are just what we need."
"You have chosen Pleasure," the Angel told them.

But after a time the Loving Ones came back to the Angel in Charge.
"Things are okay to love," they said. "But they don't care that we love them."
The Angel in Charge led them over to the second window. It looked out at all sorts of wild animals. "Here are animals to love," he said. "They will know you love them." So the Loving Ones hurried out to care for the wild animals.
"You have chosen Satisfaction," the Angel said.


Some of the Loving Ones worked at zoos and wild animal preserves, some just had bird feeders in their yards, but after a time they all came back to the Angel in Charge.
"They know we love them," they told the Angel. "But they don't love us back. We want to be loved in return."
So the Angel took them to the third window and showed them lots of people walking around, hurrying places.
"Here are people for you to love," the Angel told them.
So the Loving Ones hurried off to find other people to love.
"You have chosen Commitment," the Angel said.


But after a time a lot of Loving Ones came back to the Angel in Charge. "People were okay to love," they said. "But sometimes they stopped loving us and left. They broke our hearts."
The Angel just shook his head. "I cannot help you," he said.
"You will have to be satisfied with the choices I gave you."
As the Loving Ones were leaving, someone saw a window off to one side and hurried to look out. Through it, they could see puppies and kittens and dogs and cats and lizards
and hamsters and ferrets. The other Loving Ones hurried over.
"What about these?" they asked. But the Angel just tried to shoo them away. "Those are Personal Empathy Trainers," he said.
"But there's a problem with their system operations."
"Would they know that we love them?" someone asked.
"Yes," the Angel said.
"Would they love us back?" another asked.
"Yes," the Angel said.
"Will they stop loving us?" someone else asked.
"No," the Angel admitted. "They will love you forever."
"Then these are what we want," the Loving Ones said.
But the Angel was very upset.
"You don't understand," he told them. "You will have to feed these animals."
"That's all right," the Loving Ones said.
"You will have to clean up after them and take care of them forever."
"We don't care."
The Loving Ones did not listen. They went down to where the Pets were and
picked them up, seeing the love in their own hearts reflected in the animals' eyes.
"They were not programmed right," the Angel said. "We can't offer a warranty. We don't know how durable they are. Some of their systems malfunction very quickly, others last a long time."
But the Loving Ones did not care.
They were holding the warm little bodies and finding their hearts so filled with love that they thought they would burst.
"We will take our chances," they said.
"You do not understand." The Angel tried one more time. "They are so dependent on you that even the most well-made of them is not designed to out live you. You are destined to suffer their loss."
The Loving Ones looked at the sweetness in their arms and nodded.
"That is how it should be. It is a fair trade for the love they offer."
The Angel just watched them all go, shaking his head.
"You have chosen Tears," he whispered.


"So it is," the kind lady told the kitties.
"And so each mommy and daddy knows. When they take a baby into their heart, they know that one day it will leave them and they will cry."
The little orange boy sat up. "So why do they take us in?" he asked.
"Because even a moment of your love is worth years of pain later."
"Oh." The little orange boy got off the lady's lap and went back to the edge of the pond.
His mommy was still there, and still crying.
"Will she ever stop crying?" he asked the kind lady.
She nodded. "You see, the Angel felt sorry for the Loving Ones, knowing how much they would suffer. He couldn't take the tears away but he made them special."
She dipped her hand into the pond and let the water trickle off her fingers.
"He made them healing tears, formed from the special water here.
Each tear holds bits of all the happy times of purring and petting and shared love.
And the promise of love once again.
As your mommy cries, she is healing. It may take a long while, but the tears will help her feel better. In time she will be less sad and she will smile when she thinks of you.
And then she will open her heart again to another little baby."
"But then she will cry again one day," the little orange boy said.
The lady just smiled at him as she got to her feet.
"No, she will love again. That is all she will think about."
She picked up Big Boy and Snowball and gave them hugs, then scratched Morgan's ear just how she liked.
"Look," she said. "The butterflies have come. Shall we go over to play?"
The other animals all ran ahead, but the little orange boy wasn't ready to leave his mommy.
"Will I ever get to be with her again?"
The kind lady nodded.
"You'll be in the eyes of every kitty she looks at. You'll be in the purr of every cat she pets. And late at night, when she's fast asleep, your spirit will snuggle up close to her and you both will feel at peace. One day soon, you can even send her a rainbow to tell her you're safe and waiting here for when it's her turn to come."
"I would like that," the little orange boy said and took one long look at his mommy.
He saw her smile slightly through her tears and he knew she had remembered the time he almost fell into the bathtub.
"I love you, Mommy," he whispered. "It's okay if you cry."
He glanced over at the other pets, running and playing and laughing with the butterflies.
"Uh, Mommy? I gotta go play now, okay? But I'll be around, I promise."
Then he turned and raced after the others.

Author Unknown.

http://www.petoftheday.com/talk/showthread.php?t=72445

[jsluder]

It's hard to imagine that a cat could become such an important member of our family.

Not hard to imagine at all.

You have my condolences and heartfelt sympathy. I understand exactly how you're feeling.

Last night we said goodbye to Morgan, our 20-year-old cat. She had liver cancer and was rapidly losing control of her body, so we decided it was time to let her go before she began to really suffer.

Of the four cats we've had in the last 20 years, Morgan was the one I bonded with most closely. When you live with an animal in your house for 20 years, they become family. (Actually, it takes far less time than that.)

Morgan was a cherished member of my family, and she will be missed.

Morgan (in 2005):

[chrisoff]

sorry to hear that. losing a family pet is never easy especially when they've been a part of your life for so long.


I miss my cats

[Liney Bear]

Thank you all for your kind replies. Harrison was so much loved in his life, and that is a stark contrast with most of the cats in this world. Someone told me earlier that Harry won the biological lottery in being our cat. Well, we won the cat lottery, because we could not have asked for a better friend.

Jsluder, Morgan is beautiful. In fact, Harrison was a short haired solid gray kitty too. I hope that they're playing by the edge of the water today, wrestling, and chasing insects. Your family is in our thoughts and prayers today.

[Loren]

Geeze, sorry to hear about Morgan Too



Loren

[anniemcu]

It is terribly sad to lose a furry family member. That lovely story tells it well though... tears help the healing, and the purr and soft nuzzle of a new love will echo those of the one you lost... eventually... when you are ready... I lost my dearest kitty almost two years ago, and only recently became able to have another housecat... two even... it's lovely, and it will hurt just as deeply when they move on over the rainbow bridge.

May your memories sustain you.

[DCrom]

My sympathy, also. Your post brought back the memory of every pet I've loved, and lost, over the years.

Every time I've lost a beloved pet it's hit me hard enough that I've questioned whether I wanted to ever go through the pain of loss again. And every time that I've dared love another pet they paid me back many times over, even with the bittersweet knowledge of how short our time together would be.

Cherish your memories, and when you've healed enough open your hearts to another pet.

[Nanohedron]

After the loss of a pet, hard as it is (for they're always family), it's usually not long for me until I get another. I'm always minded that there are animals needing loving homes, and unfortunately I can only offer that for one at a time, pretty much.

Sorry for your losses, Liney Bear and Slude.

[Cynth]

jsluder, I'm very sorry to hear about your cat as well. I was very shocked to read about her when I came back to this thread. I'm sorry for the rough time you and your wife must be having right now.

[jsluder]

Someone told me earlier that Harry won the biological lottery in being our cat.

Heh. We spoil our pets, too. Our veterinarian (who is also a good friend) told us that she hopes to be reincarnated as one of our cats. We were highly honored by the compliment.