I held Princess while she passed

[haele]

She was 18, pretty old for a cat who started life with us as an untrusting, grumpy lynx-point polydactyl pixie-bob mix who might have been three but was most likely five or six.
She quickly became a daddy's girl with Laz, took her about four or five years to warm up to me. Eventually, she became a happy cat who actually loved car rides to the vet (mainly because it was only to clip her claws and everyone lived her brilliant china blue eyes and cuddle bug attitude. She took to a leash, loving to visit people.
But she started fading last week, and took to just hanging out in the main bathroom. She was still eating up until this morning, so we were going to call a home vet tomorrow, but she started having seizures after dinner and passed within an hour, after cuddles, pets, and murmurs on how she was a good girl and it was okay to go.
The granddaughters didn't really understand what was going on until we started wrapping her up to take to the pet cremation place tomorrow. They are still crying. So am I, now that it's over.
The other cats left her alone all week, they figured out what was going on.

Farewell Princess, we will see you on the other side of the rainbow bridge.

Haele

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. RIP, Princess.

"We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own, live within a fragile circle; easily and often breached. Unable to accept its awful gaps, we would still live no other way. We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan." - Irving Townsend

[pazzyanne]

23. Beautiful! nt

[SheltieLover]

2. Deepest Condolences

[Leghorn21]

3. (((I am so awfully sorry)))

Truly, haele

Sending best wishes to you and grand babies and darling Princess as she meanders down the path to wait for you...

- Sandy

[3catwoman3]

4. On at least 3 occasions, Mother Nature has...

...”beat me to it” on the same day when we were to go to the vet for what we call liberating the spirit. I have always been grateful for those times, as euthanasia is difficult even when it is the right choice.

I’m so sorry you had to say farewell to Princess. There is something particularly enchanting about blue-eyed cats. We have had 3.

[Drum]

5. Condolences,

And RIP Princess...she’s lucky to have had a wonderful human community

[Blue Owl]

6. Would that it were not so

[skylucy]

7. I'm so sorry.

[Jeebo]

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

... was when I had to have my old orange tabby cat put down. I adopted him from the Humane Society in December, 1984. I called him "Boy" while I was trying to think of a name for him, but I never came up with one that stuck and I just ended up calling him "Boy" for the entire 17 years and 4 months that he and I were best buds. He got cancer in his jaw about 1999 or 2000 and the vet had to cut it out, but she said she couldn't get it all without removing his whole jaw, and that there would come a time when I would have to perform a certain melancholy duty. "You'll know the time," she said.

Well, she was sure right. One Monday morning in 2002 -- I remember the date because it was coincidentally Income Tax day, April 15 -- I got up and gave him something to eat. He nibbled at it for a minute or two and then wandered over to his current favorite perch for a nap. When he was settling in, he looked at me. He looked me right straight in the eye.

Who was it who said that "The eyes are windows into the soul" ? I always think of Voltaire when I hear that, but you can correct me.

Well, the eyes certainly are windows into the soul, and for a couple of seconds on that Monday morning, my old cat and I were looking straight into each other's souls. For those two seconds, there was a nonverbal communication that was passing between him and me. And I knew that this was the time the veterinarian had told me to be on the lookout for.

I called the veterinarian's office and told them that the time had come for me to carry out a certain very melancholy duty for my almost-18-year-old cat. They asked me how soon could I get there? I said about 35 or 40 minutes. We'll be ready, they said.

The veterinarian told me, while the lethal drugs were just beginning to flow into a vein in his right front paw, "Now just pet him and talk to him and let your voice be the last thing he hears." Until that moment, I had been kind of emotionally numb, but when she said that, the realization suddenly hit me, like the proverbial ton of bricks, that I was never going to see my feline friend again. A flood of memories came into my consciousness, overwhelming me, memories like the way he used to jump up into my lap when I was on my computer checking e-mail, always cross-ways in my lap, with his head on my left and his tail on my right, and I would rub his back and he would just purr. The realization hit me that none of those things were ever going to happen again. I just lost it. I tried to talk to him but I was too choked up, couldn't talk, the veterinarian's assistant handed me a kleenex. I guess I must have really loved the little guy.

About a half hour later, when I got back to my house, my older brother, who was living with me then, was just getting out of the shower. He looked at me with a question in his eyes and I answered, "Yes, the cat's dead." He said, "That's odd, I thought I just heard him meowing in my bedroom." And at almost the exact same moment when he said that, I heard the meow too. You live with a pet for almost 18 years and you can recognize that pet's sounds. A dog's bark, a cat's meow. Just like a human voice, they're individual and they're recognizable. And I tell you, that was my old cat's meow that my brother and I heard, coming from that bedroom, a half hour after he was put down.

I've always believed that the little guy was just coming by to say goodbye on his way to wherever good cats and dogs go to in the afterlife.

Did I say that day was one of the most profound experiences of my life?

I can tell you really loved Princess too, and I am sure she is where my old cat is.

-- Ron

[More_Cowbell]

9. I'm sorry

Princess got the passing that most people would wish for: a relatively quick end to a long life, surrounded by family.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I believe you'll be together some day.

[catbyte]

10. I'm so very sorry.

The only time our furry family members are ever capable of breaking our hearts is when it's time for them to leave us. Tears are flowing in Michigan for your sweet Princess. Again, I'm so sorry.

[NewDayOranges]

11. So sorry for your loss...

Dr Seuss said: Don't cry because it's over - SMILE because it happened. I hope you will soon be able to remember your sweet Princess without tears...

[Gothmog]

12. I am sorry for your loss

It is hard to say goodbye to a family member we said goodbye to my bearded collie when he was 15.5. He was alert until the end but his hind legs stopped working. Two of my children got to say goodby earlier but my middle child was in law school in Iowa. we called here while we drove to the vet and she wanted to say goodbye. I pick my daughter up at the airport and we drove straight to the vet. They carried my beardie in to the vet’s business office and my daughter got to hold his head for a while. My beardie knew who my daughter was and was very happy while they gave him the first shot My daughter flew back to law school the next morning.

Again, it is hard to say goodbye to a family member. I am sorry for your loss

[sillywabbit]

13. I am so sorry.

I know how hard this is.

[Dem2theMax]

14. I am so sorry for the loss of your furry family member.

But I'm glad you were able to be there with her right to the end. It had to be comforting for her, to know that those who loved her were with her. And I hope it's comforting for you as well.

[Bayard]

15. I've lost so many over the years,

And it never gets any easier.

Princess had a good life with you. You were lucky to find each other.

[stopwastingmymoney]

16. I'm sorry for your loss

They break our hearts when they go, but they are worth it 💕

[pdxflyboy]

17. I am so sorry for your loss.

[irisblue]

18. Princess 🕯️

[radical noodle]

19. Such a lovely tribute to Princess

May that hole in your heart fill up with the happy memories you have of her.

[CentralMass]

20. :-( sorry for your loss. 18 years is a long time to build a bond.

[StarryNite]

21. I'm so very sorry for your loss of Princess.

RIP Princess, you left on your own terms.

[GoneOffShore]

22. Farewell Princess -

[Behind the Aegis]

24. Condolences.

[roamer65]

25. RIP Princess.

[pazzyanne]

26. It is so hard to lose that unconditional love when the time comes.

Gentle crossing of the Rainbow Bridge, Princess. Gentle healing for you and your family, haele.

[BainsBane]

27. I'm so sorry for your loss

[Lithos]

28. Hugs

Sending you many v-hugs

[DarthDem]

29. Oh, I Am So Very Sorry

Princess sounds like she was a wonderful cat. RIP to her and all my best to you in your mourning of her.

[pansypoo53219]

30. my chldhood boy died in my arms. he was 21. i finally decided it was time to let him go-

he got cryptosporidium that hit milw. but he had a heart attack. and he was buried by his sister.

[phylny]

31. I'm sorry for the loss of your beloved Princess.

I know you gave her a wonderful life, and she gave you one, too.