Jericho: Goodbye Tigger
One of our cats, Tigger, has been sick for about two weeks. This last week she got pretty bad. She's been skinny for about six months now. We figured since she was around 13 (we didn't know her actual age) that she was just getting old. She never carried much weight to begin with.
Turns out her kidneys were failing. We took her to the vet. Her kidneys had gotten so bad her retinas had detached - she was effectively blind. She wobbled when she walked, which got worse and worse. She soon stopped eating.
We put her down today. I miss her already. But, she died a week or more ago. The cat we put to sleep today was no longer her.
I did the video below a year or so ago. Yeah, it's crap, but it shows Tigger the way I want to remember her.
Goodbye Tigg.
Turns out her kidneys were failing. We took her to the vet. Her kidneys had gotten so bad her retinas had detached - she was effectively blind. She wobbled when she walked, which got worse and worse. She soon stopped eating.
We put her down today. I miss her already. But, she died a week or more ago. The cat we put to sleep today was no longer her.
I did the video below a year or so ago. Yeah, it's crap, but it shows Tigger the way I want to remember her.
Goodbye Tigg.
posted by Jericho Brown at 11/29/2008 04:09:00 PM
7 Comments:
So sorry, guys.
That sucks. Sorry.
Words are always so inadequate...but sorry is all we have to offer. Hang in there.
I'm so sorry, Jer. It's so not fair our furry babies have to leave this place before us. But rather than thinking of how it ends... remember how much love and joy she brought you throughout her life. She would want you to adopt another cat... when you're ready.
((((((((HUGS)))))))
Thanks, guys. Sorry to be such a downer. I miss her. It's not like she was a family member or human or something. But, she was there everyday. She was sweetness with paws. I just hated watching her decline and there was nothing I could do to help.
Dude, she wasn't human but she was family. The bond between a pet owner and his pet his is deep. Hell, Laura's dog Willie was only my step-dog and it messed me up when he died.
Some people get huffy when pet-parents compare the loss of a pet to the loss of a child. But having been through both I can say that they're not all that different. It's never going to heal. There will always be a Tigger shaped whole in your soul that will never again be filled. But day by day you will learn to live with the "new normal", the new, slightly more defective definition of, "I'm okay."
No one can tell you how to feel or how to deal with those feelings. I know that when Adi or Minzy goes, a new puppy could not take the place of either. But a happy, energetic, dumb as a brick ball of fluff would help me on the road to learning to live on in the face of the loss. But that's me.
There are pet-parents who after burying their baby who know that they could never look at another pet without having their heart torn out all over again.
But beyond all that there is you. You who are in pain. You who have friends you can always count on. But most of all, you who must figure out how life goes forward from here.
Honey... I just want you to know that what you wrote made me tear up. It's all so very true and so well expressed. Even though I didn't loose Tigger, thanks for that post. I love you!
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