Our Cat - best way to memorialize?

[Tazzy]

As some of you may know, we had to put our cat down on Tuesday.  He was almost 13.  We got him as a tiny kitten, younger than most are adopted out as he was a rescue, so he attached really strongly to my son.  (Each kid got a kitten - my son was almost 10, my daughter almost 6 at the time).

 

Mexico (named so because my daughter wanted a calico cat but couldn't remember the word and always said she was getting a Mexico cat - my son took the name for his cat because it just stuck.  We like Mexican foods / culture.  So we have / had cats named: Mexico, Salsa, Mojito and Kaluha) was the loudest purrer and had the cutest teeny, tiny face and that is what pulled my son to choose him.  

 

This cat was affectionate to the extreme (sometimes annoying - now I feel bad saying that - because he did NOT leave you alone EVER if you were in the room.)  He greeted us at the door every time we came home.  He rubbed his 'dirty' face all over the house (at the level of his face you can still see the markings I haven't yet wiped down - it was a constant job and now this will be the last time I do it).  He LOVED any kind of chips.  If he heard us eating chips, he was up on your lap trying to pawn one.  (We didn't give him many).

 

He also knew when to wait to jump up on my son during hockey games.  It was so funny.  He seemed to know when the game was at intermission / coaches corner,etc. and would leave my son alone (unless he heard chips being eaten - cause then, there was no waiting!) until an appropriate break.  (I guess he knew it would be dangerous to be sitting in my son's lap when a goal was scored, cause he could go flying...LOL!)  Mexico was our most sociable cat - he knew no strangers.  He had no fears.  Didn't care about the vacuum or a hairdryer, nothing phased him.  He had moved to 7 houses in his lifetime and he adapted to anything well.  Even van rides never phased him - not a peep.

 

He never scratched the furniture, he was always regal and well behaved.  He would sit next to my mom after she had been ill and returned from the hospital.  They became best friends around that time and whenever mom was here, he'd hop up on the couch next to her (if she hadn't left room on the left hand side, he would just look at her until she moved to make space for him - always on the left) and he curl up and nap.  (We haven't told mom yet that he is gone mainly because she won't remember for long but also because it is too emotional right now for the kids to do so.)

 

I know we did the right thing (I left the final decision to my son and he made it Tuesday) because Mexico had quickly progressed from Sunday to Tuesday into liver failure.  We never got a final diagnosis althought we'd been trying to help him since early November.  He was first having trouble eating (like dry food was getting messy and bits were falling from his mouth for a few weeks).  We noticed he was grinding his teeth and wondered if it was tmj or some jaw trauma / arthritis.  We started steroids & wet food (special diet because vet wondered if it was allergy related) and he put some weight back on.  His initial blood work in November even surprised the vet as it was excellent for a senior cat.  No signs then of renal failure or cancer or any other disorder. Then, xrays showed no tumours or any other signs of disease.  

 

Last week, the vet said he was now anemic - which no answer was given for other than it could be neoplasia or a tumour not shown on the xray and she recommended ultrasound but warned us it may not be curable if we did find something. Since we still felt something was going on with his jaw, we were scheduled for a dental / jaw specialist on Wednesday but on Sunday Mexico came down with a cold and stopped eating on his own.  From then it was quickly downhill, even tho we fed him from a syringe (watered down food and water).

 

By Monday, he was so weak he couldn't walk on his own to the litter box and I knew the end was near. (I found him near death laying half off his bed on Tuesday morning and I thought he was dead just hours before the vet visit... I gave him water by syringe but I knew his kidneys had shut down.)  My son refused to give up hope, although by Tuesday at the vet, even he knew he couldn't let Mexico suffer any longer.  The next estimate for care was huge and (feeding tube and more testing) and seemed as if it would have likely just prolonged the inevietable.  Plus he'd be in a strange place without his pals family.  My son didn't want a feeding tube to be that last step.  (And although we were able to afford vet care up to that point, it had taken lots of manuveouring on my part to find the funds and I was at my limit.  A friend of Craig's offered to help him pay for the next care but then together they discussed how far it had progressed and the final decision was made.)

 

So I want to do something special for the kids to remember him by.  I am getting his paw print done and thought of doing a shadow box with that and pictures and something to print to remember him by (a poem or a short ode to him).  I don't want to overdo it but I do think it will help my son at this point. He is a private griever (except for the sobbing we've heard from his room this past week) whereas my daughter is a very public / verbal griever.  She wants to talk about every detail and my son can't stand to hear it -- it's made for an interesting week!

 

Any ideas of things you've done to remember a pet?  Of course, I know it is just a cat.... and some may not appreciate why I'd do a memorialization but for my kids this cat really helped them get thru hard times and was a huge part of our everyday life. There is a huge hole right now at home.     

Edited January 30, 2015 by Tazzy

[Jewelz]

Hi Beth, Sorry to hear your family has lost Mexico.

What if you and the kids take time to reflect on Jehovahs love and wisdom in creating a animals. How he provided the animals to bring us companionship and humor etc. How in doing this it has provided a way for the kids to cope with trials in the past. This way their focus can be on gratitude to Jehovah, and maybe that will shift their focus a bit.

I had a dog that as a child was a wonderful companion. She helped me through difficult times too. I still have fond memories of the time I spent with her. In looking back I realized what a wonderful gift Jehovah gave me.

This article may help too. http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102004122

❤️

[Jewelz]

This article too

[ReadYourBible]

Any ideas of things you've done to remember a pet?  Of course, I know it is just a cat.... and some may not appreciate why I'd do a memorialization but for my kids this cat really helped them get thru hard times and was a huge part of our everyday life. There is a huge hole right now at home.     

I so totally get this.  Reading about your son crying made me cry :'(  

 

With Buddy we buried him in an ice cooler in our backyard (3.5 acres at the time), because we couldn't bear to put him in our normal area for the garbage.  I've always buried my pets.  We put a little marker there, it was a sign we had above his litter box 'Cats are people too'.  My husband and I stood for a bit crying and I hugged him as he cried.   

 

This was him:

 

For Luey, I was more devastated because he met an untimely end in our dryer and I still grieve over the stupidity of how it happened.  Luey always loved water so much, he was attracted to it, so my husband and I boxed him up and set him adrift on the river.  I know this sounds completely moronic now, but its what we did.  

 

I have one photo tucked away in a photo album of Luey, not online

 

Edited January 30, 2015 by cerebral ecstasy

[Tazzy]

Thanks, Jewel.  I will go over these with the kids.  I remembered them... and I appreciate that pets have their place.  My son is in a deep depression so this was going to take him right over the edge and I knew it.  Reasonable / rational thinking is beyond him right now.

 

I have steps in place to get all in our family into proper long term counselling (finally - and I hope this attempt proves fruitful and accomplishes my goal).  I met with our new family dr - ball is started rolling (my daughter had her first appt for anxiety, etc) and I meet with that counsellor Tuesday to bring her up-to-date on the whole situation.  That Tuesday appt was set before the cat died so its a good thing because my son needs to get in sooner than later.  (He dragged his feet getting to his meet and greet so his file is a little behind us but at least he FINALLY did start the process.)  He puts on a good front for all outisde of me and my daughter so I'm really hoping that I get good support behind the scenes from this counsellor and that my son finds a good fit therapist (if not her, there is a man in the practice too - this team works in tandem with the clinic our dr practices in and it is literally around the corner from our house which makes it possible for us to attend.)  Sure has taken long enough to get to a place where I feel like maybe somebody will listen.  The cat dying was going to be hard at anytime but I was dreading the effects at this moment in time, knowing the severity of the situation surrounding us.

 

I really do miss the cat but have to keep my head above water and keep going.  Balance that with showing enough compassion and understanding but also trying to get real supports / therapy on board is a job in and of itself.

[Tazzy]

I so totally get this.  Reading about your son crying made me cry :'(  

 

With Buddy we buried him in an ice cooler in our backyard (3.5 acres at the time), because we couldn't bear to put him in our normal area for the garbage.  I've always buried my pets.  We put a little marker there, it was a sign we had above his litter box 'Cats are people too'.  My husband and I stood for a bit crying and I hugged him as he cried.   

 

For Luey, I was more devastated because he met an untimely end in our dryer and I still grieve over the stupidity of how it happened.  Luey always loved water so much, he was attracted to it, so my husband and I boxed him up and set him adrift on the river.  I know this sounds completely moronic now, but its what we did.  

 

 

pawprints-quote_0.jpg

 

Oh, I LOVE that quote~

 

We can't bury or scatter ashes in the city limits (last thing I need is to go to jail / pay a fine! LOL!).  So the vet partners with a pet cremator who will dispose of the ashes (you can get them and an urn but that was a little much for my sensibilities).  The cost was ok for the option that they will scatter the ashes in their graveyard for pets. My son did opt for a paw print impression and it was really a reasonable price.

 

I am thinking of pictures to do a small collage and with a quote like the one you post it would tie in nicely with the paw print.  I may let the kids write a short snippet or two and put those by the pictures in a scrapbook style format.

[Tazzy]

And your Buddy was very much the same colouring as our Mexico.  Cutie!

[DLM]

Your post made water come out of my eyes! I love cats and have all my life and I always had a cat until we moved to Alaska 40 yrs ago. After I began having health problems and was home most of the time, I asked Tom for a cat and he always said "No, no pets in the house" but up here you can't have an outdoor cat --(too cold in winter and too many prey birds and animals in the summer). I gave up, but my kids and the friends in the cong.  put the pressure on hubby until one day when we went to town he drove over to the pet shelter and told me to go find a cat. Almost immediately, I spotted her- a little black and grey striped cat like I wanted. I named her Kitten Kaboodle, KK for short.  I can't tell you how much I loved that fur baby. She was like no cat I had ever had. Then Tom suggested we get her a companion and right away the new cat attached to Tom. The people at the shelter said it was a male but we said it was a "she". Sure enough, it was a she and my daughter  said her name should be "Heeshee" and so it was. A few months later, KK started acting strangely and it got worse and the vet said that maybe she had a brain tumor but by this time we had to make the decision to not it get worse. The cost to care for her was going be more than we could afford. When I read about your son, it brought it all back to me-the loss of my KK. AT TIMES LIKE THIS YOU JUST CAN'T CRY HARD ENOUGH !! It's just a cat but those paw prints on your heart just can't be erased very quickly. We still have Heeshee and she gets all the loving now. She has made great big paw prints on Tom's heart--and mine too. Tell your son I know exactly how he feels and I loved the poem Sharon sent.

[Tazzy]

A www, Dorothy... Now I'm watering again. I'm so sorry you lost your KK so soon!

I will relay your words to my son. He has deep paw prints on his heart. Pets give us so much and they leave such a hole that is hard to fill easily.

Our other cats have been very affectionate with him the past few days. He is letting them help him and spending time letting them cuddle him. They have been hanging out with him more than me or my daughter. I wonder if they sense he needs them more?

[ReadYourBible]

I love your kitties names lol!

Mexico and kitten kaboodle! So adorable!

Princess, Ewok and Totoro (daughters 'cat') are our current fur friends.

[cricket246]

I do understand how you feel..my first cat wasn't very nice but I still hated the fact he got loose and got hit by a car when I was around 5 or six...Then when I was a few years older my 2nd cat got mauled by a dog and I saw the aftermath while the cat was still alive and dying....Then later my family moved so I had to leave another cat behind because we couldn't take animals with us....Another of my cats got loose and got shot, survived but refused to come home...Then the next one got in the motor of a car and died...I love cats but up until the one I have now, I have not had any luck with animals...Most of them have died soon after I got them.....The tabby I have now I got when I was 11(I will be 27 in 3 days) which will make my cat 16 soon....I am soooo scared I'm gonna lose him...He's been having muscular seizures and allergies....The vet says he's good for his age but I believe each day I have with him now is a blessing from Jehovah...

 

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

[50gumbys]

I'm so very, very sorry you guys are going through this pain - all of you.

This system bring so much pain!

I just hate death to the max.

 

But I thank Jehovah that one day, all this will be done with.

No more sadness, death, pain.

I'm thankful for a future.

Doesn't make the pain go away, but it does make it easier than people in the world.

 

Love you girl!

Hugs to all of you!

Looking forward to seeing you soon!!!!!!!!! <3

[50gumbys]

 

 

He has deep paw prints on his heart.

 

I love that !!!!!!

I still have deep paw prints from Bob Dog!

[LeslieDean]

I hope this cheers you up or brings a smile.  First let me say I feel for your loss because we too have endured the loss of many of our four legged kids!

 

I mentioned in reply to someones post that our 160# American Bull dog Mijo (Spanish for "my little boy") had an "accident" where his back leg was shattered.  Several vets, second opinions, and medical bill later he is still suffering.  I don't know if we did the right thing by not putting him to sleep.  But emotionally my husband could not bear it. 

 

After Mijo's leg was casted==unable to do surgery because it was shattered in to many pieces, he stayed for 5 weeks with my husband at the bar.  Everyone loved him and autographed his cast!  People would bring special treats in for him and he became quite a ladies man.  He loved the women more than the men.  But now he is back home with me.  Last week we had an especially warm winter day--it hit 80 degrees and made a record.  I took Mijo and a blanket outside and we laid down upon it.  I read a book and he enjoyed the warm sun and being outdoors.  Our neighbors from down the road walked by with their two granddaughters and they called out excitedly "Hey Big Boy"  Mijo raised up and I could honestly see him smile then bark deeply in a big dogs deep bark.  They ran across the pasture to greet hin and the granddad bent down on one knee and started scratching and loving Mijo and asked where he had been.  He informed that he and his granddaughters take a walk every day down to the creek and skip rocks and when they pass the house, Mijo joins them on their travels.  He said when they return home, Mijo cuts across the pasture and returns to his spot in front of the house to guard it till I get home.  I asked him how long they have been doing that and he replies "oh, about 3 or 4 YEARS!"  What!!?? Years???  Mijo never told me!  Then about a half hour later another young man drives by in a red jeep and turns his vehicle off and yells out the window "Hey big guy!  Where have you been?"  We chatted awhile and he told me he bought the house up the road from me on the hill and he net Mijo one day when he was in his yard doing some work.  Mijo approached him and with Mijo's huge frame intimidated the young man.  He said that Mijo sauntered up to him and nudged his hand then he saw how gentle and kind he was.  He said every time he is outside Mijo shows up a few minutes later.  He said when he goes fishing on his property--it has a big pond and canoe on it. that Mijo goes and sits with him while he fishes off the bank.  Mijo raised his head high in the air and barked again when these people stopped to talk.  He was still in to much pain to get up at will.  He requires much assistance because of his size and we have porcelain tile floors in the house so it is hard for him to establish a foot hold and fet up by himself.

 

I got to thinking how full Mijo's life is.  How he has made friends with the neighbors without my knowledge and all about his adventures.  Jules said his social life is more active than ours!!  Learning that it made me think about the Paradise and what it will be like for the animals.  Friends to everyone.  Will we actually own pets or will they belong to all of us?  Mijo is definitely an indoor dog and goes out while I work--so that makes for long days since I leave at 0545 and return home about 8PM or later.  Three days a week at least.  But he does go out for an hour or two several times a day.  I just am so crazy about that dog!

[GrumpysWife]

We had 2 dogs, a black lab named  Cinder, and a springier spaniel named Toby. Toby was a wanderer and very social and Cinder followed along with him. One day he was hit by a car during one of his travels and the neighbor who saw the accident brought him home. Toby was out of commission for about a month. Cinder stayed by his side until he got better. During that time we had so many visitors, for Toby. They brought him food, and toys, and also sent him get well cards. He was the best, and of course Cinder was too.

[hatcheckgirl]

When Pinky died, my youngest daughter who was 6 at the time wrote a little letter to her saying how much she was loved, and how much she will be missed. We buried her with the letter and planted a lovely bush over her.  The living bush was a lovely reminder of her loyal life as our loving pet.  However, we moved and had to leave the bush behind as I didn't think it would be good to disturb the soil.  Our other cat died suddenly a couple of years ago and we buried her in the garden and planted a daisy bush over her.  Her name was Baby, short for Babette.  She was anything but a baby in size   The daisy was a "baby daisy" and when it blooms, I have the happy memories of her life with us.

My only cat left is called Stella.  She's on in years now, so we'll see how she goes.  I plan on calling my first pet tiger "Stella" in her memory (in the paradise).  Poor Stella is anything but tiger-like; she's afraid of anything and everything she's so timid.  But, in the new world animals won't have these psychological issues and will enjoy happy lives free of trauma.

Yes, our pets show us the glory of Jehovah and his humour and love.