I lost my adored rescue cat at the end of January. She'd been abandoned by her previous owners and found living in a garden, severely overweight and with lots of other problems like a heart murmur and arthritis. With me she lost all the excess weight and was unrecognisable- and of course very bonded to me as a result, at my side all the time.😔
A year ago she had a stroke and I paid through the nose for a specialist referral, all the scans and then an operation to remove what turned out to be a hormone-producing tumour. I didn't think twice, even if I suspected friends thought I was bonkers!
And this this year it just all happened really fast- she was slowing down in the run-up to Christmas so I took her in and they did a scan that showed her liver was huge. In the end it turned out to be carcinoma, but she declined very rapidly at the vet and they told me they didn't think she'd even survive a referral to a specialist and that she was in pain, so I had to make the tough decision even before we had the results back.
I scattered her ashes in my garden, which helped, but I still feel very sad, and cheated- she didn't even make it to 12 & I'd only had her for four years.
What I can't decide is how I'll know I'm ready for another one. The house feels wrong without a cat in it, and I keep looking at the website of the shelter where I got her, but I don't want to do it too soon and risk being disappointed because of course a new cat won't be my girl brought back to life.
When did others know the time was right? I've read lots of posts from others and I know you won't say the answer is "when you don't miss her any more".