Please don't laugh - cat loss

[shortchanged69]

Hello.
I am so sad. I lost my cat and had to have her put to sleep.
I don't seem to be able to get over it.
Every night I cry. I know I probably appear to be mental. "She was a cat" they say.
I have a fabulous family, children, a good life. But I loved her so much and watching her die - at my own instruction, has ruined me.
She was terminally ill and would have died a few days later naturally, but I have chose for the vet to put her to sleep. It as the most awful thing I have ever seen in my life.
I told my doctor who smirked at me and tried to suggest it was other reasons causing this pain. It isn't other reasons.
Does anybody else get that upset over a pet? Or am I just nuts?

OP - I truly feel your pain.

We had to have our wonderful cat put down at Easter and I was absolutely devastated.

This to the extent that I sobbed my heart out more than when my own grandmother died the year before. I can’t put my finger on why but I did feel very guilty about it.

I think it’s because pets are fully innocent and they become such wonderful companions with their own personalities, truly part of the family.

Please try not to focus on those awful last few hours but the wonderful life you gave a cat. We found it helped to get a few lovely photos of her framed. Like any grief, it does get easier, but you have to allow yourself to feel it.

Sending love.

I am so sorry OP. We lost our boy 18 months ago and we still can't talk about him- it is so painful. They complete our families.

OP for you. Pets are family too and you will miss them hard as well. My DCat went missing recently (we got him back thankfully) but I was out of my mind with worry and pain. When a neighbour came round to say they found him I literally broke down and I won't cry in front of anyone. YANBU at all. It's awful when they go and they leave an empty space that you can physically feel.

Be kind to yourself op! You’ve lost your pet and it’s devastating, I find people who say it’s only a pet strange, cold and lack emotion.

I can still get tearful when I think of my childhood dog, it’s normal, like others have said try not to think of the ending, but if the wonderful, privileged life of love you gave.

I am sorry you had such an awful experience with your cat being put to sleep, I am sure it was just physical responses and she was at peace and felt your love. It is a horrible decision to make, even when you know it is the best one. Your grief is normal, natural and understandable. Your GP was very unkind and ill-informed to respond that way.

I lost my elderly cat after a short, sudden illness in February. I chose to bring him home from vet hospital for a night to give him one last chance to rally, but had to ask the vet to visit to pts the following morning when he was clearly not going to get better. I took two days off work (my bosses were thankfully very kind and sympathetic) to cope. I sobbed and sobbed immediately after he had been euthanised, just as much as I did when I had a miscarriage a few years ago. I took the dog for a walk in a daze and just followed him round the woods crying.

It does get better, I found all my old photos of my boy from kitten hood and posted a few on the Cats Protection online memorial page. I still miss him every day and wish o had given him one last head bump, his favourite greeting. But I try to focus on the good memories of him. I got a new, young, rescue cat about a month after he passed and it hasn’t stopped me missing my old boy, but has given me a focus and helped me remember how funny and wild the one I lost was in his younger days and value all his individual traits.

Hope you begin to feel better soon and find some support and care in your grief.

My mother is deciding to rehome our cat due to his hair shedding a lot and other reasons. I’m honestly so sad and I’m going to miss him so much. I’m worried his new owners might hit/hurt him or something. He’s such a good cat he doesn’t scratch or anything so God forbid someone did something to him he wouldn’t know what to do 😭. I’m finding this so hard I’m going to miss him so much.