We lost our beautiful cat 😔

[thewindbeneathmywings]

We lost our beautiful cat on Friday. I can’t believe how much it still hurts.
She was a wonderful sassy, loyal affectionate tortie. She chose me as her human almost 16 years ago. We were visiting relatives and their cat had recently had a litter. This wee scruffy little thing climbed into my lap and curled up and that was that! We didn’t even know we wanted a cat!

Shes been with us through everything. She was with me when I delivered my preemie baby at home. She loved my 3 boys so much. We all miss her like crazy.

She went out for a wander on Thursday evening. We started to wonder where she was at tea time and bed time. She’d always be curled up on one of the ends of the beds. I went out to look for her at midnight. She’d recently lost her hearing so I just walked up and down the roads with a torch in the hope she’d see or smell me.

I called it a night at about 1am, I left some food outside and was just about to go to bed when i heard her meow outside the cat flat. I brought her in. She was wobbly on her legs, blood on her face and coming from her nose and breathing strangely.
I cleaned her and sat with her. She settled on her bed. I woke my eldest son, hoping seeing him would perk her up but also knowing if she died in the night he’d be devastated to not have seen her.

She made the night. No interest in food. Still breathing heavily. Took her too the vet first thing after the school run. Turns out she had pneumothorax. Looks like she’d probably been clipped by a car. The vet tried a chest drain 3 times but the area around her lungs kept filling with air and her lungs were collapsing. I had to make the heartbreaking decision to let her go.

We brought her home and said goodbye. The boys held her, spoke to her and gave her a kiss on the head. We took paw prints and fur and wrapped her in her blanket so she was cosy and buried her in the corner of the garden.

I feel so lost. The house and garden have been eerily quiet all weekend. Everything reminds me of her. I just want to hug her. I don’t want her to be in a hole in the ground.

Im so grateful that she made her way home to us. My son keeps going through the ‘what ifs’. What if he’d kept her on his bed. What if it was raining and she didn’t go out.

i miss her so much 😔

Your poor little cat 😢 it's only been the weekend so it's not surprising that you miss her - she'll leave a big hole for a long time. Why of why though didn't you get her to the vet immediately? Pneumothorax has a good prognosis if treated promptly but the lungs get harder to reinflate, and stay inflated, with time.

Awwww, I'm so sorry @thewindbeneathmywings It's hard isn't it? She had a wonderful life with you though, and at 16, she was an old lady!

Don't beat yourself up with 'what ifs'. It is what it is, and all you can do is cherish and remember the 16 years you had with your Tortie Angel. 😘

I wish I could have got her there sooner. My kids were in bed and partner away at work. I had no one to sit with the kids😔

I'm so sorry. We lost our female cat several years ago (kidney failure). We got her from a cat rescue and like your cat, she chose us. They leave such a big hole in our lives. Thinking of you.💐xx

Sending love to you- I have an old girl too, not sure how much longer we’ll have her for- they are such sweet little members of the family aren’t they? She knew you loved her xxx

Old cats are the best, especially those who've been part of the family for ages, and I am so sorry for your loss.

Awwww this was a very hard, sad read Op…..I’m so sorry you are all going through this right now.😞
Unfortunately it’s part and parcel of having what we call ‘Fur babies’ They are part of the family and we love them SO much and grieve them when they go.

We had a family cat when my daughters were small who made it home only to die in our back garden ….the girls were devestated and we did as you have, wrapped him in his blanket to say goodbye. We buried him under a magnolia tree in the garden 😢…. We had a family discussion the next day when we all calmed down and rescued two tabby kittens from the local RSPCA a few weeks later. We adored them and they moved with my eldest daughter when she moved into her own home only to return to be placed under the magnolia tree a few years later when their time came too 😢
We had to make that choice for our first dog Leo after he collapsed with a canine stroke, yes you guessed it he went under the magnolia tree in his blanket ! 😢….not to be too dramatic but I thought I was going to die with him! The pain I felt was real and I grieved for him for months ! Just as I would any family member 😭 It did get a little easier as time went by and eventually we adopted a rescue dog … Louie, who we love just as much and will grieve him too when the time comes …not for a while yet I pray !!
The girls affectionately refer to that area of the garden as Pet cemetery 🥴 🫣 and my magnolia tree is huge and beautiful in early spring all thanks to the help of our beautiful well remembered and often mentioned Fur babies !
Talk about your fur baby with your children let them grieve and maybe think about planting a tree or a rose bush close to your kitty’s grave in remembrance. Maybe in time you will think about getting another ? A house is always a home with a pet in residence 🐈🦮 So sorry for your family’s loss X

@Louiesmomma1Thank you for posting. I’ve spent the weekend looking at roses, memorial stones and things we can do with her prints and fur.
I can’t get over how quiet the house is. With 3 kids and the youngest being 3 it’s so strange. She was such a big part of our lives. I think we probably will look at getting another. Not just yet though. She was one of a kind 😔

Beautiful!

What a beauty! Please be kind to yourself and as others have said, don't dwell on the 'what ifs' which can make your very natural grief much harder. 💐💐💐

Way to kick her when she's down, as if she's not feeling wretched enough!

Oh she was beautiful, I think that cats choose us for a reason and it sounds like you gave her a wonderful life. I hope you will be ok soon and you can remember her fondly x

Sorry for your loss, she was beautiful and it sounds like she was adored and had a wonderful life. Her making her way home to you all is testament to how much she loved you all.

I lost my boy just over 2 weeks ago and totally understand the emotions you're going through. The what ifs are the worst. It's an emotional rollercoaster but it's the price we pay for the love we share with them. Take care of yourself 💐

Oh @thewindbeneathmywings my heart goes out to you. She looks so beautiful and sounds like she was just the most lovely cat, a real part of your family. It is heart wrenching. I have 2 torties and they have really exceptional personalities. We had to say goodbye to our old boy last February, he was a big old ginger tom and our big pet. We still miss him. Although our two girls (we adopted them last July) definitely have helped with our grief. Be gentle with yourself OP. I know how hard it is on everyone, they are such a big part of the family.

She was so lucky to have such a loving family

What a beautiful cat, OP! I'm so sorry she's gone.

@thewindbeneathmywings what a lovely cat, so sorry for your loss. I am sure the house does seem quiet as torties are so vocal. Hope you can look at lots of pphotos and remember the good 16 years

I'm really torn here, because it's too late to do anything about it now, but this was definitely an emergency night vets job with kids on tow if needed - not because it wasn't important enough for partner to leave work for it, but because you couldn't wait for it.

Regardless though, it's clear that you loved her and she'll be very missed, and I'm very sorry for your loss.

@Throwawayusernameforme how is that comment in any way helpful to someone who is already grieving and probably already feeling immense guilt? No need.

It might save another cats life in the future, whether that's another cat of the OP's, or someone else's.

Yes it's horrible to drag kids out of bed, but it's better than waiting until the following day to get medical help for a cat that's clearly injured, struggling to breathe and you feel might die.

This realistically isn't going to make the OP feel any more or less guilty than she already likely does.

I’m so sorry for the loss of your beautiful, darling cat 😞💔 💐

I am so so sorry, sounds like she was a very special little girl and loved so much xx

So sorry for your loss @thewindbeneathmywingsits always devastating to lose a DCat. They really are members of the family. And she is beautiful. I have one with exactly that colouring who I adore. Sending love to you all ❤️🫂

What a lovely send off for your lovely puss cat. I found that very moving.