I'm sitting with my cat for her last half hour

[Laurelin]

We're leaving for the vet soon to euthanize her. The vet was too busy today to come to our house, and we couldn't get her in earlier. She seems to be sleeping atm so I hope she's not feeling too awful. I know the pet lovers here understand how hard it is to say goodbye. We've had 161/2 years with her but it was not enough; she'll leave a huge void in our home.

[godsentme]

1. So sorry

My heart hurts for you. It's good to know your beautiful girl has you to help her cross in peace. Blessings.

[Laurelin]

22. Thank you, godsentme

Love your name, btw.

[brer cat]

2. I'm so sorry, Laurelin. We know your pain and grieve with you.

[Laurelin]

23. Thank you, brer cat

I know there are many animal lovers here...

[COL Mustard]

3. I'm so sorry

I know what you’re going through but please go easy on yourself, and remember the good times you had.

[Laurelin]

24. Thank you, COL Mustard

[multigraincracker]

4. When I get old and sick...

Take me to a vet.

[EverHopeful]

8. My cousin used to work in vets' offices

And she always promised she'd steal some of that pink juice to help me cross over if the time came.

[multigraincracker]

13. An Ex was a Euthanasia Technician.

I helped lots of animals merge with Universe.
So peaceful if done correctly.

[EverHopeful]

15. Yes

My cousin used to say it was the final gift we can give them.

[Laurelin]

27. Thanks multigrain

It was peaceful.

[Laurelin]

26. I hope that will be many decades away, Hopeful

Thank you.

[Laurelin]

25. True that

Thanks

[Nululu]

5. That's so rough.

Glad you're there to comfort you kitty. My sympathies.

[Laurelin]

29. Thanks Nululu

[jtb653]

6. so very sorry

i wish the best for you and yours.

[Laurelin]

43. Thank you jtb653

😽

[Karadeniz]

7. The hardest part of being a good pet caretaker....hugs to you both...

[Laurelin]

42. Thank you Karadeniz

It really is the worst part, isn't it?

[EverHopeful]

9. I'm so sorry

Sending hugs

[Laurelin]

44. Thank you EverHopeful

[Walleye]

10. So sorry I know how you feel the last cat I had to put down was 16

People who don’t have pets don’t know, but it’s one of the hardest things in the world. They love us unconditionally

[Laurelin]

41. Thank you Walleye

I thought it should be easier with a 16 year old because it's a pretty good lifespan for a cat, but it's not easier. When she came into my life I had children at home. She was there when they left home through so many other chapters of my life. They leave a void behind.

[Niagara]

11. My condolences on the loss of your beloved feline companion, Laurelin

[Laurelin]

39. Thank you Niagara

That is such a true saying. I've not heard (seen?) it before.

[Evolve Dammit]

12. I am so sorry. The loss and hole left is so painful.

[Laurelin]

38. It really is

Thank you Evolve (and from your name to God's ears).

[Evolve Dammit]

55. May the memories stay in your heart and comfort you.

[Siwsan]

14. My heart goes out to you

It's a heartbreaking experience.

[Laurelin]

37. Thank you Siwsan

I think you've had your own losses recently. DU is a nice place to find support.

[niyad]

16. Lady Bast, please take Your little one gently home in Your loving arms, and

send peace and comfort to her grieving loved ones.

I am so very sorry for the loss of your precious little girl. We who are fortunate enough to be owned by the furpeople are here for you. Do not be surprised if she comes to visit you. And please, be very kind and gentle with yourself.

[Laurelin]

36. Thank you for your prayer, niyad

I hope the Lady Beast has a lap for my girl...

[Sanity Claws]

17. It is so hard

The last time I went through it was in February. I kept hoping that Zuzu would pass comfortably in her sleep but she didn't. I had to bring her in to the vet to help her pass and end her pain. Zuzu was a good girl.

[Laurelin]

35. It is hard

I'm sorry for your loss of Zuzu. I had to euthanize my dog in February too. February really was an awful month, wasn't it?

[AltairIV]

18. My deepest sympathies

My deepest condolences, hold onto the memories the two of you have created and know that she will be waiting for you on the other side of the Rainbow bridge.

[Laurelin]

34. Thank you, AltairIV

It's getting crowded on that side..

[keithbvadu2]

19. They become an important part of our lives.

[Laurelin]

33. They really do.

Thank you.

[Skittles]

20. so very sorry Laurelin

Grieve not
nor speak of me with tears
but laugh and talk of me
as if I were beside you
I loved you so
’twas Heaven here with you

- Isla Paschal Richardson

[Laurelin]

32. Thank you Skittles

What a lovely poem.

[Skittles]

58. it was on a card my vet sent when my cat died

I have never forgotten it......

[debm55]

21. Laurelin, I am so sorry. May the memories you have of her bring you peace. Take care, cry and grieve for furbaby. Love.

[Laurelin]

31. Thank you, debm55

Sorry to be slow with thanks but I've been too sad.

[DarthDem]

28. Oh, I am so very sorry to hear that

All my best to you. She sounds like she was as wonderful to you as you were to her.

[Laurelin]

30. She was wonderful

Thank you, Darthdem

[onecaliberal]

40. I'm so sorry.

💔🐾

[Laurelin]

46. Thank you onecaliberal

🐾 💝

[Island Blue]

45. I'm so sorry.

Hugs to you, your family & your sweet baby girl. Having to say goodbye to a pet is one of the most difficult things in life.

[Laurelin]

47. Thank you IslandBlue

❤️‍🩹

[I_UndergroundPanther]

48. It's awful to lose a cat

Wish cats lived as long as we do. So we would keep them as long as we live. There is promise in a new vaccine to protect a cats kidneys. Kidney disease takes out way too many cats and way too early.

Anyways my heart is with you and your sweetheart

[3catwoman3]

49. It's always hard, even tho it's right, and the time together...

...is never long enough. In our family, we call that difficult decision "liberating the spirit."

One of our vets once said to me that we welcome our animals into our lives knowing that we will outlive them, but we do it anyway because life with them is so much better than life without them in it.

[Different Drummer]

50. Very sorry for your loss, Laurelin!

No matter how long we have our furkids, it's never long enough.

[BlueKota]

51. I am so sorry

[LoisB]

52. I am so sorry.

[BeyondGeography]

53. My heart goes out to you

I lost my two cats in ‘21 and ‘22. They were such great companions and utterly irreplaceable. Just writing these sentences now makes me sad all over again.

[MOMFUDSKI]

54. My heart is

with you. You are doing the right thing. Take care of yourself

[Jeebo]

56. One of the most profound experiences of my life ...

... was when I had to have my cat Boy put down. (I tried several times to come up with a name for him, but none of them ever stuck and I just ended up always calling him Boy.) I adopted him from the Humane Society in December 1984 when he was four months old and I had to have him put down on April 15, 2002, when he was 17 years and eight months old. I remember the exact date because it was coincidentally income tax day. The veterinarian had operated on his jaw to remove a cancerous tumor a couple of years earlier, but she said that she couldn't get it all without removing his entire jaw, and the cancer would come back, and that when the time came for me to perform a certain melancholy duty, I would know it.

Well, that melancholy time came, and I did know it. It was a Monday morning when I gave him something to eat. Something soft, I think it was Tender Vittles; by then I was never giving him hard food because I knew it must have been too painful for him to try to eat it. He ate and then settled into one of his nap spots and looked up at me. That moment was one of several profound, mystical moments on that day. Who was it who said that the eyes are windows into the soul? Was it Voltaire? Whoever said that, I discovered at that moment that truer words were never spoken. That cat's eyes and mine met, and for two or three seconds we were gazing deep into each other's souls, and it was at that moment that the realization immediately hit me, this is the time the veterinarian told me that I would know, the time to perform that melancholy duty. It was a completely nonverbal communication that passed between that cat and me at that moment. It was something that can't be said in words, but I just knew, I need to call the veterinarian right now. The receptionist who answered the phone asked me, how soon can you get here? A half hour, I said. We'll be ready, she said.

Forty minutes later, with the cat on the steel table and the veterinarian, her student assistant and me standing around, an IV started, and the veterinarian told me, now, just pet him and talk soothingly to him and let your voice be the last thing he hears. Until then, I had been kind of numb, but in that moment, which was another of the profound, mystical moments of that day, the realization suddenly hit me about what was happening. Memories started flooding into my consciousness of the events of the past 17 years and four months, which was the longest time I have ever lived with a fur friend. I thought, for example, of all the times when I would get out of bed and sit at the corner computer desk in my bedroom and crank up the computer to check e-mail, and he would jump into my lap and stand there crosswise and purr, wanting me to pet him, and it was an annoyance because I wanted to check e-mail, but it was a lovely, comforting kind of annoyance, so I would rub his back, pet him on top of his head, hug him, and he would purr louder, and here he was on that steel table with that lethal IV and none of those lovely events of the past 17 years and four months would ever happen again, and I just lost it. I tried to do as the veterinarian suggested and talk soothingly to him but all I was able to do was whimper and blubber. The veterinarian's assistant handed me a kleenex.

Another 40 minutes or so later, back at the house, my brother, who was living with me then, was just getting out of the shower. He gave me a questioning look and I answered, yes, the cat's dead. He said, that's funny, I thought I just heard him meowing in my bedroom. And then, a second or two later, I heard it too. That was another one of the profound, mystical things that happened on that day. I distinctly heard my cat meowing in my brother's bedroom. It wasn't another cat outside the house. It didn't have that muffled quality it would have had coming through the bedroom walls, but more than that, you live with a cat for 17 years and four months and you KNOW his meow. You know what it sounds like, and I tell you, that WAS my cat's meow. I have always believed, and I believe to this day, that my little orange tabby buddy was there, saying good-bye to me on his way from this world to wherever good kitties and puppies go on their way to the next world. What was it Niyad said in an earlier post in this thread? Maybe he'll visit you some day. Well, bless his noble little heart, he was visiting me on that day, saying good-bye.

I guess I must have loved the little guy.

-- Ron

[SWBTATTReg]

57. Wow. Thank you for sharing this profound experience, it had to be difficult. Peace to you and all.

[electric_blue68]

59. So sorry. One of my good friends lost hers a few yrs back...

so I get the pain.

Your fur bud knows she was loved.

[sky_masterson]

60. :(

The life and love you gave her is much to take solace in. Nothing sadder than a goodbye.

[Stuart G]

61. So sorry

[Emile]

62. Sorry 😔 I have an 18 year old female cat

and I will probably have to euthanize her before long too. I know it will tear me up