The Hardest Thing I've Ever Done


Today was a truly awful day, and if you have ever had to put a pet down, then you know how I'm feeling right now. I've had my cat since I was 9 years old. She was my best friend, my sister, my baby. And this is my first night without her. The pain is just…indescribable. Her kidneys were failing and we knew it's what we had to do, but it certainly didn't make things any easier.

Since I've gone through this, I thought that I would write a post with helpful information if you're going through the same thing.

Tips:
Don't go alone
Make sure you stay with your pet while they're putting them down - it's unbearably hard, but they're your family and it's important to be there for them
Ask for the ashes
Pay in advance so that you don't have to pay afterward while you're a blubbering mess
REMEMBER that once they're gone, they're not gone! Your little baby is in heaven and will someday greet you when it's your turn
REMEMBER that you're doing this because you love them and don't want them to suffer
REMEMBER all of the good times that you had with your pet and that you have given them a full and beautiful life with tons of love

Afterward:
You will cry an ocean of tears
The worst thing you can do is go home and deliquesce into a pile of tears and sadness
If it's hard to be home... go to a friend's house, go to church, go for a walk or bike ride, listen to music, hug everyone you can, keep yourself busy
Don't swear off pets. I had a little kitten to come home to and he gave me the strength I needed to keep going. He's not Sweetie, but I love him to bits and that love helps heal.

I cried at everything today. I cried before we left. I cried the whole time we were there. I cried on the way home. I cried when I saw her empty carrier. I cried when I saw her empty bed and her food bowl. I cried when I saw my little kitten and when I looked at my phone and realized she is my phone background. I don't think I have any more tears to cry. My eyes are so swollen that I'm surprised I can keep them open. The last day I lived without her, I was nine years old. I wish I had someone here to just crawl up into and cry, but my pillow will have to do.

About Sweetie:
She was a lot like me
One time I put a binder clip on her tail when I was nine and I'm so sorry for that
But I made up for it when I saved her life and pulled a string out of her mouth that she was choking on
She's been to three homes with us, and when we packed up our first house, she thought we had left her and was hiding in the island - poor baby
Her left paw was white and her right lip was white, her right paw and left lip were gray, and she had the cutest little flame of blonde on her forehead
She enjoyed eating my cereal when I wasn't looking
I drove home from college just to see her
She would always "talk" to me (meow) and I would meow back to her
She hated having her tail or paws touched
Every night she slept on my Mom
She loved looking out the window and taking naps on laps
Her tail would always knock ornaments off the tree
She got her head stuck in a chair once
She evacuated with us to Vegas (Four Seasons) during hurricane Rita and got stuck behind a curio cabinet. So she's been on a plane twice!
She hated the doorbell and the vacuum and thunder storms and the vet
She LOVED when we changed the sheets. She'd hide in them and play around with us in the blankets.
Sometimes we held her like a baby and she didn't like it
She's a published cat! She's in the book "Review of My Cat"
She LOVED playing in drawers and digging through the clothes
She lived to be 16 years old
She was the most loved cat on the face of the Earth










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