Dealing With A Death

I think the worst part of owning a pet is the inevitable passing of our fur-friend. Nothing can be done to stop it, it's just a fact of life and something that we all have to go through.

Mrs. Big Nate and I just recently lost our cat, Monster. She was my wife's first pet and it was devastating to her and to me. Monster was a curious and slightly eccentric cat, she was extremely

playful even at her very mature age of 12 years. Her loss was great to us and I'm feeling pangs of hurt as I write these words.

Monster started to show signs of not being herself for a few days. She was still eating and using her litter box but we noticed she was drinking excessivley and wasn't her usual, playful self. She wasn't sleeping in her usual spots and seemed very lethargic. We decided to take her to the vet where they instantly told us that she was extremely sick and directed us to take her to the emergency facility. The "doctor" at our usual office was disturbingly harsh saying that we were neglectful and irresponsible for not bringing her in sooner. This upset my wife immensely! I could get into this more but I won't. Needless to say we are not longer patients of this vet clinic! Anyway, she took Monster to the emergency hospital where we were told that Monster had contracted Chronic Renal Insufficeincy. Check it out here: http://www.felinecrf.com/

The last thing we expected was to leave her there for treatment. Then to make the decision the very next

day to let her go as she wasn't responding to the treatments. It's the worst feeling in the world to tell the vet to euthanize your very best friend. My wife was strong and we decided to be there for it. She held Monster while she passed peacefully without any further pain or discomfort. We stayed in the little room holding her and cried.

But what about those of us who have extreme difficulty dealing with the loss of our beloved dog, cat, bird, reptile, fish, rodent or what have you? Some pet lovers have a much harder time dealing with the loss that others. After all, many of us look at our pets as members of the family, as kids. We hold their lives and well-being in our hands and they rely completely on us for love, care and attention. They in return give us unconditional love and loyalty.

I did some research and found something I'm sure most people could find with a few choice search words in Google. It's a great site and has many helpful ideas to help those of us who have trouble getting over the unexpected loss of our fur-kids. I wanted to share it: http://www.pet-loss.net/index.html

Be sure to check out the 10 tips to coping with loss portion of the website. They have some great ideas for memorial products. Things like this may make things a little easier to deal with.

As for Monster, we are glad to have had her as long as we did. She brought much joy to our lives. We will miss her dearly and she will be forever in our hearts.