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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

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Original poster

I love my cat so much!

17 replies

Dancergirl · 31/01/2013 23:26

We've had her a year (adopted from CP) and I'm besotted!

I was a cat-lover as a child but my mum would never allow one so it's like a dream come true for me. The dds love her too, especially dd1.

She's got such a lovely nature, sits on our laps to be stroked and purrs constantly. She looks especially cute when she sometimes sleeps on her back with her paws up, looks like a furry baby! She doesn't even mind when dd3 picks her up and lugs her around.

Amazing how much love you feel for an animal. How on earth do people cope with the loss of a pet?

OP posts:

andubelievedthat · 01/02/2013 02:05

oh ! trust me on this one > when my cat was killed i wept buckets for friggin weeks ! it was an a dreadful time/experience , so much so i doubt i"ll ever have another, way way to painful !

Lonecatwithkitten · 01/02/2013 11:21

You grieve for your pet in exactly the same way as you would for any other member of your family. You keep getting up and one day it gets a little bit easier.
You never get a replacement, if you do get another cat it is someone different.
Fortunately they all have their own special unique ways to make this the case.

woozlebear · 01/02/2013 15:10

It's ridiculous how much me and DH love your two rescue cats. Had them for about 18 months and I get more besotted every day.

I have lost much-loved cats before, but not as an adult. It was horrible at the time, but the bond I have with my current two - I think because I look after them and am responsible for them - is such that I think I'd be in absolute pieces for weeks if not months if I lost them.

Glad you feel the same.

Fluffycloudland77 · 01/02/2013 17:27

Me too!

He runs up to the garden to me and my heart literally bursts with love for him.

He's a snuggly boy too so comes on my lap for tummy fuss, he touches my face with his paws while we discuss what a pretty boy he is and how much mummy loves him.

Dh gets a bit left out really, but he shouts at him! I always say he doesn't know he's being naughty, it's just mischievous behaviour.

(Actually sometimes he does know its naughty but I cover for him)

soaccidentprone · 01/02/2013 17:32

I love all my cats too, and when previous cats died I have cried. when my first cat just disappeared one day when she was about 4 I thought I would never come to terms with it. but I did, and have had many cats since then.

we currently have one of 15, one of 3 and one of 18 months and they are all extremely loving.

cats are great

Original poster

Dancergirl · 01/02/2013 17:44

Nice to hear from other cat lovers

She's also so funny - the way she squeezes herself into the smallest spaces, cocks her head to one side and races up the stairs if she sees one of us going upstairs.

I didn't have pets as a child and it's so lovely to see how attached my dds are to her.

OP posts:

kizzie · 13/02/2013 17:40

I'm so glad I found this thread - my lovely lovely little cat died very suddenly yesterday from heart failure. She was only 7 - and such a gorgeous affectionate little thing.
I've been taken aback by just how devastated DH and I feel :-(

soaccidentprone · 13/02/2013 17:43

ah Lizzie, that's so sad

I don't know what to say, but be kind to yourself. losing a pet is , especially if they were young

soaccidentprone · 13/02/2013 17:43

stupid auto correct - kizzie

JakeBullet · 13/02/2013 17:57

Aw kizzie so sorry

I lost a 7 month old on the road back in 2007... I still have his sister who is a healthy girl if nearly 6 but I still look at her and think ...."my Spike should be here too". Am ridiculously soppy about my cats....cried buckets when Spike died (thankfully instantly) a d also when I lost my precious 15 year old Persian also in 2007.
Now I have two cats...Dru who is nearly 6 and Whiskers who is 3...both much loved and much pampered girls.

Fluffycloudland77 · 13/02/2013 18:16

Oh poor you kizzie, I'm sure you gave her a good life and loved her very much.

kizzie · 13/02/2013 18:17

Thank you - she was a little Persian cross. So affectionate. I've just been to vets to say goodbye. (it was all a shock - went to work conference Monday afternoon and she was fine. 24 hours later she had died :-()
The staff at the vets were absolutely lovely

thecatneuterer · 14/02/2013 02:06

That's awful news Kizzie. I'm so sorry.

Unfortunately, as I have an average of 20 old, ill cats in my house at any one time (it's more like a cat hospice really), I average 5 deaths a year. I've had two in the last two weeks. So I suppose you could say I'm used to it. It still really upsets me though. But at least I can comfort myself with the knowledge that I made their last few years or months pleasant and gave them as good a death as I could. And also that now I have room for another desperate old, ill fluffy thing (there are so many needing homes), and that makes me feel a bit better.

catladycourtney1 · 14/02/2013 02:19

thecatneuterer that's a beautiful thing you're doing. And you must be so strong to be able to deal with that.

I agree, it's unreal how much I love my cats. I can't imagine losing them, I don't even want to think about it.

ILoveMyCats · 21/02/2013 22:16

I actually miss them when I go to work. I drove home the other day thinking how much I was looking forward to seeing them and there was lovely girl waiting for me on the drive. She greeted me and we walked through the door together and other lovely girl was waiting in the kitchen. Love it!

ZebraOwl · 21/02/2013 23:14

I adore my kittens: they are awesome company when I am Too Broken For Anything But Bed & seeing them enjoying using my wheelchair as a climbing frame (when I first got them blonde!kitten used to squiggle between the spokes!) makes me mind its presence in my life less...

Black!kitten is rather shyer than blonde!kitten - I almost cried the first time black!kitten purred because it was such a good sign he was feeling totally relaxed & happy. It was a funny rusty noise at first & he looked awfully startled to find That Noise coming out of him but now he has purring-like-a-piece-of-heavy-machinery down to a fine art just like his brother.

The kittens love to play hide&squeak with each other & get on really well despite (or perhaps because of) their very different temperaments. They seem to think I am Mummy Cat because they will tolerate a lot more from me than they'd permit from my brother & snuggle-in-a-bundling-way with me.

Blink-kisses & nose-boops & purring & snuggling & attempts to groom & wanting to play & watching out of the front windows for me suggest that the love is not one-sided, too.

I've never had cats-of-my-own before but was in bits when my almost-cat (my Granny's cat who I spent a LOT of time with as she looked after us lots) died & very upset when my other grandparents' cats had to be put down. Was horribly upset when the kitten I'd helped a family friend pick out & name when we were 15 or so was killed by a car shortly after she'd been allowed out for the first time. I still remember taking the call from M after he found her in the road: he could barely speak he was so upset. With my Daddy's cat having had to be put down last week - she suddenly became very unwell - have been reminded of how much I fear anything happening to the kittens. In the same way, tbh, I fear anything happening to the family members I have left, what with their distressing habit for leaping off this mortal coil

kizzie I'm so sorry about your cat... If anyone is so crass as to say something like but it was only an animal do not listen to them because they are obviously an eejit. It is upsetting & distressing & it is okay to need time to grieve. Be gentle with yourself.

thecatneuterer You really are doing an incredible thing by looking after so many ill & elderly cats. Allowing them to live as long as possible & providing them with love & dignity for the end of their lives even if they've not had as much of that as they deserve before coming to you is doing something incredible for all of them. You are amazing

StuffezLaBouche · 22/02/2013 20:56

OP, Im relatively new to cat keeping but totally get what you mean when you talk about losing hem in the future. When i first got Scabbers five months ago i really upset myself at work sometimds, panicking that he'd have bitten a wire, fallen down the stairs, etc etc and would be hurt and alone. It was awful. Kittens and cats are resilient though and know how to look after themselves.
Scabbers' best trait manifests at 5am when i start to stir. The second he detects my breathing change he leaps on my face and licks my nostrils!! :-) I then get up for a wee and he watches me like a hawk - if i start to grab my.clothes he's manically happy and dashes downstairs. If i lumber back into bed he climbs on the windowsill and does horrid, guilt inducing chattery crying. I hate him!! :-)

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