Death of a pet

[funtimewincies]

Our young cat is seriously ill (probable kidney failure) and is unlikely to survive. She's being taken into the vets tomorrow to be put on a drip and to have blood taken but I've been warned that the outlook isn't good.

I'm looking for some advice on explaining this to my 3 year old ds1. Unfortunately our previous cat died when ds1 was 18 months old (a liver tumour) and he didn't really have much of an idea of what had happened. Although we've only had this cat for a couple of years, ds1 is very attached to her. She is very young cat and it looks as if she has a congenital problem (she was a rescue cat and came from a house of many cats, so inbreeding extremely likely).

I've tried to tell him tonight that our cat is very ill and needs to go to the hospital. His response was 'never mind, it'll be all right'. I don't know whether to tell him that the vet might not be able to make her better. It's highly likely that she won't come home again .

Any advice gratefully received.

Our 15 year old cat Maisie was put down in May from mouth cancer (when DD1 was 3 & half) but had two weeks between diagnosis & her being put down. During that time we had to give her pain killers with every meal & we got DD (who normally puts the cats' supper bowls down) to help measure out the medicine - whilst we explained she was really ill & might not get better.

I then purchased 'Goodbye Mog' by Judith Kerr and we started reading that at bedtime, without referencing Maisie. She's a big fan of the Mog books already & this allowed her to ask lots of questions. Then when Maisie "died at the vet" we described as just like Mog and used the book a lot to describe what happened. We buried the cat in the garden whilst she was out with other family members but put a plant on top & a stone with 'Maisie' written on it. She now waters Maisie when she misses her.

The only disadvantage to the Mog book is she'd now like a ginger kitten! Also I've been warned not to say an animal has been "put to sleep" since this can put children of having operations where "you'll just be put to sleep for a bit".

God luck

Thank you for your kind replies .

Well, she's still here and doing better now she's hooked up to a drip.

I don't believe in an afterlife, so it's the finality which I'm afraid of having to explain. Ds1 gave our cat a stroke before she went in her carrier and I tried to explain again that, although the vet would do his best, she was very ill and might not get better. Good point about being 'put to sleep' GraceK.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow.