Our beloved cat is missing, Any advice? Options

[NigelC]

We've talked about another cat but not sure if we have the heart to love another one in the same way again and be scared of losing him/her. But, perhaps, one day.

Thank you all for understanding. Not many people do.

Very sorry to read this. Losing a pet is devastating, but Harry was much loved & was fortunate to spend his life with you. Do take care & one day you will be able to enjoy the memories without so much pain XX

This post really hit home to me.

This is exactly how I felt when we lost our darling Fluff back in 2008. After she died I thought I would never have enough room in my heart to love another dog.

Then just over a year after Fluff died, my wife really took to a little dog who had just come into the animal shelter where we were volunteering. We then adopted two dogs Oliver and Enya, who we simply adore. They haven't replaced Fluff (they never could) but the penny has dropped that it's not about us - rather it's all about giving two elderly dogs a good home.

When we took them, Enya was 10 and Ollie 8. Ollie needed major surgery for a constantly dislocating kneecap and a lengthy course of Hydrotherapy followed. He is now fantastic and runs quicker then any dog I have ever seen (OK maybe proud dad is a bit biased!!). Enya, a nervous little collie/corgie cross has settled really well and just soaks up the love.

We light a candle to Angel Fluff most every night and she is always in our hearts.

As they say, time is a healer and hopefully one day another kittie looking for a good home will find you.

All the best,

Kind Regards

[a mum]

We've talked about another cat but not sure if we have the heart to love another one in the same way again and be scared of losing him/her. But, perhaps, one day.

Thank you all for understanding. Not many people do.

Very sorry to read this. Losing a pet is devastating, but Harry was much loved & was fortunate to spend his life with you. Do take care & one day you will be able to enjoy the memories without so much pain XX

This post really hit home to me.

This is exactly how I felt when we lost our darling Fluff back in 2008. After she died I thought I would never have enough room in my heart to love another dog.

Then just over a year after Fluff died, my wife really took to a little dog who had just come into the animal shelter where we were volunteering. We then adopted two dogs Oliver and Enya, who we simply adore. They haven't replaced Fluff (they never could) but the penny has dropped that it's not about us - rather it's all about giving two elderly dogs a good home.

When we took them, Enya was 10 and Ollie 8. Ollie needed major surgery for a constantly dislocating kneecap and a lengthy course of Hydrotherapy followed. He is now fantastic and runs quicker then any dog I have ever seen (OK maybe proud dad is a bit biased!!). Enya, a nervous little collie/corgie cross has settled really well and just soaks up the love.

We light a candle to Angel Fluff most every night and she is always in our hearts.

As they say, time is a healer and hopefully one day another kittie looking for a good home will find you.

All the best,

Kind Regards

Thank you very much for your very kind words. I can understand what you mean. We have started looking at rescue centres for another dog or cat, to give an animal a loving home, especially as we realised that our dog has begun to miss Harry. It's so sad that he can't voice it or understand what he's missing but just feels the absence of a little furry companion, and looks around for him all the time.

Time is certainly a healer. I especially hope this for our daughter who is distraught and finds it surprising that most of her peers cannot understand why she is sad about losing a 'cat', and has been making silly jokes to her about it. I don't understand it at all. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[Hardying]

We've talked about another cat but not sure if we have the heart to love another one in the same way again and be scared of losing him/her. But, perhaps, one day.

Thank you all for understanding. Not many people do.

Very sorry to read this. Losing a pet is devastating, but Harry was much loved & was fortunate to spend his life with you. Do take care & one day you will be able to enjoy the memories without so much pain XX

This post really hit home to me.

This is exactly how I felt when we lost our darling Fluff back in 2008. After she died I thought I would never have enough room in my heart to love another dog.

Then just over a year after Fluff died, my wife really took to a little dog who had just come into the animal shelter where we were volunteering. We then adopted two dogs Oliver and Enya, who we simply adore. They haven't replaced Fluff (they never could) but the penny has dropped that it's not about us - rather it's all about giving two elderly dogs a good home.

When we took them, Enya was 10 and Ollie 8. Ollie needed major surgery for a constantly dislocating kneecap and a lengthy course of Hydrotherapy followed. He is now fantastic and runs quicker then any dog I have ever seen (OK maybe proud dad is a bit biased!!). Enya, a nervous little collie/corgie cross has settled really well and just soaks up the love.

We light a candle to Angel Fluff most every night and she is always in our hearts.

As they say, time is a healer and hopefully one day another kittie looking for a good home will find you.

All the best,

Kind Regards

Thank you very much for your very kind words. I can understand what you mean. We have started looking at rescue centres for another dog or cat, to give an animal a loving home, especially as we realised that our dog has begun to miss Harry. It's so sad that he can't voice it or understand what he's missing but just feels the absence of a little furry companion, and looks around for him all the time.

Time is certainly a healer. I especially hope this for our daughter who is distraught and finds it surprising that most of her peers cannot understand why she is sad about losing a 'cat', and has been making silly jokes to her about it. I don't understand it at all. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

Yes, giving a home to another pet when you are ready, will at least mean some good has come out of this very sad situation. I suspect Harry would be pleased to see that someone else would be able to enjoy his former home, rather than having a good home unoccupied.

Here's a poem by Thomas Hardy, which although sad, beautifully describes the feelings when a much loved pet has been lost.
LAST WORDS TO A DUMB FRIEND



Pet was never mourned as you,
Purrer of the spotless hue,
Plumy tail, and wistful gaze
While you humoured our queer ways,
Or outshrilled your morning call
Up the stairs and through the hall -
Foot suspended in its fall -
While, expectant, you would stand
Arched, to meet the stroking hand;
Till your way you chose to wend
Yonder, to your tragic end.

Never another pet for me!
Let your place all vacant be;
Better blankness day by day
Than companion torn away.
Better bid his memory fade,
Better blot each mark he made,
Selfishly escape distress
By contrived forgetfulness,
Than preserve his prints to make
Every morn and eve an ache.

From the chair whereon he sat
Sweep his fur, nor wince thereat;
Rake his little pathways out
Mid the bushes roundabout;
Smooth away his talons? mark
From the claw-worn pine-tree bark,
Where he climbed as dusk embrowned,
Waiting us who loitered round.

Strange it is this speechless thing,
Subject to our mastering,
Subject for his life and food
To our gift, and time, and mood;
Timid pensioner of us Powers,
His existence ruled by ours,
Should - by crossing at a breath
Into safe and shielded death,
By the merely taking hence
Of his insignificance -
Loom as largened to the sense,
Shape as part, above man?s will,
Of the Imperturbable.

As a prisoner, flight debarred,
Exercising in a yard,
Still retain I, troubled, shaken,
Mean estate, by him forsaken;
And this home, which scarcely took
Impress from his little look,
By his faring to the Dim
Grows all eloquent of him.

Housemate, I can think you still
Bounding to the window-sill,
Over which I vaguely see
Your small mound beneath the tree,
Showing in the autumn shade
That you moulder where you played.

October 2, 1904.

[a mum]

That is a lovely poem, Hardying. Sad but lovely.

Thank you so much for sending it through.

[Colin4May]

My cat, Sparky is very dear to me and my kids, and I'd be distraught if something happened to him. Sorry to hear of this. Thoughts with you!

[Chris H]

What a lovely poem, thank you for taking the time to post it.

My son's friends joked about his cat dying too, being a teenage boy, it didn't really bother him, but he did say that those of his friends who had cats were sympathetic and the rest didn't really understand.

I think it's good to get another cat, you miss that presence around the house, otherwise.

[Auricula7]

I am so sorry to hear about Harry. It's really tough when we can never know what happened. If you need to talk to someone the Blue Cross Pet Bereavement Support Service can be really understanding -
Blue Cross PBSS

I volunteer for a cat charity and we often meet people who wonder if they can ever love another cat as much as they loved the one that was lost, but they always find that there's more than enough love to go round, and so many needy cats and kittens just waiting for an opportunity to be one of the loved ones.