I had my cat put to sleep

morningstar, When we got Pooh's father he was from a friend that was looking for homes for a litter of kittens that he had. We later went back and got the sister. Pooh was from the union of those two. I've always taken in kitties either from a friend, an animal shelter, or from the street. I just don't want to think about another one just yet. DCMerkle

morningstar, I understood what you were saying. So, no worry there. My son is still feeling it hard. Somehow we got on the topic of dreams tonight. I told him that the first time that he dreams about Pooh, it would be Pooh's way of telling him that we was fine and happy. He was to listen closely and he'd be able to start to let the grief move onto the next stage. DCMerkle

Thats totally cool/. I meant when you are ready you seem like the kind of person that gives a wonderful home to your pets. It is a hard thing because when I lost my home the animals seemed to know something very bad was about to hppen. I sware some of them made a choice to just pass instead of go through it. My oldest dog also passed. It was a hard thing for me because here was really no physical reason other than they were the oldest of the crew. I wasn't trying to push you into another cat right away. I hope you understand I would never do that. Each person has to work through this kind of thing in their own way. Blessings!!!!!

Elic, I haven't heard of the phrase, "hidie hole" in a long time. I forgot that only cats can find those special little places to hide. We've been lucky, so far, in not hearing that "it was only a cat". We know a lot of people that are cat lovers and they all understand what we are going through. SOme of them cried to. I use to take Pooh over for play dates with their cats when he was younger. I have seen that site about the Rainbow Bridge. I wen there tonight and they have a chat and they do a candle lighting ceremony online every Monday night. I think that I will join in next Monday for Pooh. DCMerkle

I didn't know they did candle lightings. Have ta remember that... I never have taken a cat to a play date, my cats don't generally like strange cats that much. And they don't like the car, they don't like traveling, they don't even like me to leave! I'm glad you have understanding friends, I don't even have understanding family, at least not my brother.

Elic, The kitties that I took him to were neighbors that lived in my same building. All I had to do was walk down a hall or hop the elevtor with him. I would let him walk by me to get to where we were going. I have a power scooter that I have to take to get around sometimes. I would just pull him up in my lap. He would pull himself over my shoulder and off we'd go. My scooter buddy. DCMerkle

wyomugs, Thank you. It's been a week now and I think we are moving on. I did take a look at the link that you provided, but with all the well wishes for my family and Pooh's travels, I think that we have all been given all the hugs that were from everyone here that felt for us. THANK YOU EVERYONE, I don't think that we would ahve been able to have gotten through this week without all the outpouring of support and love from everyone here. DCMerkle

mariedenae, I think that because I have always been around animals and was taught that you take care of an animal from the beginning to the end, that's why I was upset that I couldn't be with him in his last moments. I grew up with all sorts of animals. My grandmother raised and bred Pug dogs. My mother was the cat person. She raised and bred Siamese and Persians. My brother, sister and I loved them all, but we were content with any animals, creepy, crawly and furry...lol There were plenty of times that when either my grandmother or mother had a puppy or kitten that wasn't born healthy that they tried to nurse the animal until they knew that there wasn't any hope. I went on many trips to the vet with them when the puppies or kittens had to be put down. So, the final act to me wasn't horrifying, it was just a natural, gentle means to the end. DCMerkle

Oh, I understand better now. In this instance then, I wish that you had been able to be with him. I hope time heals this pain. :)

Gauci, I know and that was our main goal in this with Pooh. We didn't want him to be in anymore pain. Cats will go off by themselves when they know it's time, but Pooh, no matter how tired or weak he was, would drag himself across the room to sit in the doorway to wait for Paul to come home. Paul, my son, would feel so bad for Pooh to have gone to all that trouble just to say "hi" to him when he came in from work. We know that we all made the right decision. DCMerkle

kellycat, You are either a vet ot a vet tech, but it only takes a cat lover for you to undestand people and the bonds that we have with our animals. I noticed suvtle changes in Pooh about 6 months ago. He was sleeping more, but I thought that his age was finally catching up to him. He acted like a kitten all the way up to the end. Your little grumpy kitty must have trusted you if you had the patience to keep her as long as you did. That's where bonds come in. If you respect an animals personality then they are your best friend. Pooh was just such a loving, all forgiving, and sweet cat. We all are doing a little better as each day goes by and today I was able to take up his blankets from his basket and put them in the laundry. I think I am going to put them away with the things that we have kept that were his father and brother's things. DCMerkle

Hi, I am neither a vet or a tech, but I was the office manager for a vet for the last 10 years and a receptionist at another for 9 years. I love animals and learned all I could from the doctors and staff and helped in every part of the hospital. But I connected with the clients and their pets every day and made many friends and cried through many passings, along with the pet parents. I JUST LOVE ANIMALS!!!

sbeauty, the vet gave us the option of having his ashes returned to us or there was a farm in Pennsylvannia that they took the remains to and sprinkled over the farm there. We let the vet keep the reamins. He wasn't an outdoor cat, but the few times that he would venture out to sniff the grass he hissed at a dandilion, so we knew that the farm was where he should go. DCMerkle

sudallunts, We name dhim that because when he was a kitten he was always getting himself in situations that only were the kind that Pooh could. He reminded me of winnie the pooh and his problems. SO that was our Pooh. DCMerkle

paula, We all have had tears in our yeyes here. Everytime we get ourselves under control we remember something else about Pooh and we just start tearing up again. Thank you for you kind words as well. DCMerkle

rosaliekg, I don't see any of my family getting over it too soon, but it will be a slow process. DCMerkle

Crivas, Sometimes people just don't realize how much of a bond that they have with a cat until they are gone. I think what makes it especially hard for all of us is that for a time Pooh was owned by my father-in-law. He was a cat lover himself. We all had to move into an apartment where no animals were allowed at all, so my father-in-law offered to take all our cats so they would stay in the family. He had them for about 8 years and there wasn't a week that wouldn't go by that he didn't give us an update on all the cats. Pooh was his favorite. My father-in-law passed about 4 years ago and he had willed all the cats back to us. All of us, exceprt our daughter were iving in a place where we were pretty much all back together as a family. When we were able to take the cats back, none of us had the heart to ask for the cats back. They had been offered to be returned, but we all knew that my father-in-law made the offer out of the polite thing to do. He had a tone in his voice where he was hoping that we would turn him down. We did and he was the happiest, old man that we knew...lol Out of the 3 cats that we had, we got back two. Pooh's brother got sick and Walt had to put him down. My hubby and son went with Walt to the vet to say good bye to Fergie. We still had Bird and Pooh. Bird had to be put down about a year after we had him back because he had developed hypothyroidism. The vet had told us that it was an inherited trait in cats, so we all knew that Pooh could also develope it as well. He was the healthiest cat that we had out of all of them. He had the least out of the vet expenses when we had him and when my father-in-law had him, so we all thought that Pooh was going to be the one that wouldn't get the same disease that his fahter had. As it turned out he did and it happened all of a sudden. I think that's why it hit us all so hard. I said earlier in a post that Pooh was the last of the Mohicans and that's why. It's been tough these past few days, but we all all getting through it. Even my daughter has called every day to talk about her memories of Pooh with us. DCMerkle

intari, We always knew that Pooh would get the best place in heaven. He was just the best, smartest, sweetist, happiest cat that there could be. DCMerkle

Bohemian, Thank you. It has torn me apart. I'm having a hard time sleeping tonight, so guess why I am here? All animals are children and I will never understand people that never want an animal in their lives. I do know that for some it's a case of alergies, but for the other's, they really don't know about that kind of love that they are really missing. DCMerkle

chameleon, Cats are good people and the best friend that you could have. I love all animals, but cats just were easy to snuggle up with and they always had a purr for you. I'm sure that Tom Boy found a good home. That's another thing cats are ggod in doing. DCMerkle

xboxboy, It is tought and I really can't see it getting any easier, but I'm told that it will. I just have to take it one day at a time. DCMerkle

raxxie, Thank you. Hug taken and one returned. DCMerkle

ljbinkop, I know he's having a family reunion as we speak. His favorite food was Pounce treaties and pork. He was also known to hiss at dandilions. DCMerkle

Anora, Even though we all knew that Pooh would have to be put down, it was still the hardest thing to do. I'm disabled and I was not able to go with my hubby and son to the vet. I feel like I let him down in his last moments. I took care of him the best that I could for the last two weeks. I did everythng for him but give him his morning bath and wash his face after he ate. I hope that he knows that I love him and miss him. Blessing accepted for all here. DCMerkle

daneg33, Thank you for those kind words. Pooh is over rainbow bridge now. We also had his father until 3 years ago and his brother until 5 years a go. We all know that they are allup there smacking each other the high paw sign. Pooh and Fergie, his brother, were buddies to the end. Pooh was a little on the non-fighting side and Fergie was always there protecting him from the other cats that went after Pooh. Wehn my hubby and son got home, we all sat around and reminiced about Pooh and had nothing but happy memories of him. He was a great cat and the one thing that we were so lucky that Pooh never did was forage inthe trash can. His father and brother did, but Pooh knew that was a baaaadddd thing to do. The one thing that he did wrong though was when we had chicken bones. One time my son forgot to put the trash right out. We had had hot wings and the bones were in the kitichen trash can. The next morning we got up and found the can pulled over on its side and the chicken bones scattered around the room. Now Pooh was the only cat that we had then. When we asked Pooh if he did that, he just gave us that look that said, "Not me!", but there was hot sauce smeared on his lower jaw in his white fur. Was he ever busted! Pooh will always be inour hearts. DCMerkle