Sad sad day

[bigfatgypsy]

Today I had to make the hardest decision of my life and have my poor old lady put to sleep at the vet. I am absolutely distraught, dh couldn't stay in the room when they gave her the injection so I said I'd stay with her but she got a bit upset and bit the vet (she always was a biter) and I couldn't do it. I think I must have upset everyone in the waiting room because I ran blindly out of the room saying 'I can't do it, I can't stay)

Both dh and I were I floods of tears and the poor vet nurse had to come looking for us. We were clutching each other by the side of the road, god knows what the rush hour traffic made of us :-(.

Anyway it's all over now and we've buried her in the garden. I'd really like to get some kind of memorial plaque or headstone to remember her. Not sure what yet, any ideas? She was very old, about 18 we think. We got her just before we got married, before the children and everything. The house is very empty tonight.

[riverrock]

maybe a little rockery where she is buried might be a nice
reminder of her.

[ripstheirthroatoutliveupstairs]

That's hard. One thing I would say is put a paving slab over her. My parents buried their cat, a fox kept digging her up.
Much sympathy from me.

[futurity]

Much sympathy...I've been there and know how hard it is. My DH and I wept buckets after we left the vets...it was so hard.

One thing that helped us was that later that day we took our remaining "old cat" cat food to the local cat rescue place. They were very appreciative and we were able to look round at some of the cats who would benefit from the food. It really helped us (especially as it was where we had got the cat all those years ago..we talked about him there but in a good way..talking about his life)

The house was very quiet without him and so one week later we went back to the rescue place to register our intent to rehome again. Whilst we were there we saw photos of cats who were available and saw two 1 year old girls...we went to see them and now we've had them a year! They in no way replaced our old boy and I was not planning on any more cats so soon ..it just worked out that way and was a great healing process for us..we had cats in the house again so that felt normal, we could talk about how we missed him...but we could also focus on the new cats (and be reminded how different young cats are to old!). x

[LittleJennyRobyn]

so sorry for your loss
we lost our ragdoll cat suddenly 3 weeks ago and i buried him under the rockery we have in the garden and placed a little cat ornament and a garden solar light next to the rocks for him. Not much but enough.

20 months ago we lost our 6 month old kitten, and buried him in another part of the garden and placed a stepping stone where he is. He also has an ornament and a solar light.

[LadyDamerel]

I'm sorry for your loss. We had the same happen a fortnight ago, I wasn't prepared for how upset I actually was. Be gentle on yourself for a while.

Someone linked me to these memorials, if that's the sort of thing you were considering.

[bigfatgypsy]

Thank you everyone for your kind words, and especially the memorials link, they're beautiful. Dh wants to get a little piece of granite engraved but I'll show him those because they're really lovely.

Dh is feeling guilty now but we've all agreed it was the right thing because she was going downhill fast. Dd is still devastated but ds (he's only 4) hasnt really said much yet so I need to keep an eye on him. I'm sad but ok. Work was really busy which took my mind off it.

We've still got another cat at home but it's still really quiet. I'm not sure yet whether we'll get another. I'd like to but the pain is unbearable when they go isn't it? We'll have to see.

Hope everyone who've lost their cats recently are ok. It helps to know we're not on our own .