My cat Retro - my constant companion for the last 19 years, passed away this afternoon. I was with him, petting him and talking to him when he took his last breath. He has been going downhill for the past year or so…lots of trouble with his bowels, but he was lively and happy in every other regard…so we suffered through the incidents outside of the litterbox (daily) and talked about putting him down, but he was a member of the family. A few days ago, he stopped showing an interest in food. Last night he sought out a bathroom to lay down in and he never regained enough strength to stand back up. He was my buddy through a lot of good and bad times. I will miss him terribly.
I can feel for you. My Golden is reaching that time, too. She’s 15 years old and has degraded quite a bit. You best believe I will bawl like a child when it’s time.
Thanks guys. Years ago I used to do battle with Retro…he was a cable chewer in his younger days. My whole computer setup required cable covers. He gave that up about 10 years ago though. Here is a picture of him from 10 years ago…note all the cable covers under the desk…LOL…
So saddened to hear of your loss Chris. Even though I was exasperated to tears at times with my pets because of some undesirable behavior I wouldn’t give up a moment I had with them.
Better than me or my wife. LOL…we’ve been red-eyed all afternoon…and sort of wandering around the house. Kai knew Retro was sick and was told a couple days ago that he might be leaving us soon. But like you said, he doesn’t really totally understand it. After he passed away this afternoon, we called him back home from playing at a friend’s house so that he could say goodbye to Retro where he lay on a towel…he said some nice things, then asked if he could go back over to play at his friend’s house.
We live in a rural area, so instead of burying pets…we have a big firepit in the woods, so I made a huge bonfire and cremated his remains. A previous cat (an outdoor cat) had died last year and we did the same thing, and spread the ashes in the flower garden so we can think of them whenever the flowers bloom. I didn’t think Kai was ready for the whole “burning the cat” part, so I told him we buried him in the garden when he came home later. We’ll put a memorial stone in there to have something besides the flowers to look at.
19 years is a long time. He’d been with me longer than I’ve known my wife (by a year). Just a sad day today. But lots of great memories.
Sorry to hear of your loss, @BeachAV8R. It’s unfair that our little friends can make such a powerful impact on our lives and only be here for a short time. I’m sure you have lots of fond memories of him, and he was surely a happy kitty.