Ode to a Good Friend

A good friend passed on today. It was evident to me that our 14 year old cat, Alsatia, was going to say good bye to us about 2 months ago. She had lost quite a bit of weight and wasn’t a big cat to begin with. I took her to the vet about a month ago and the only thing that they could find wrong with her was that she was slightly anemic. They suggested opening her up and as a family we decided that was not an option. It appeared that her time might be coming and we didn’t want to cause any undo stress.

I could tell she was beginning to slide because she was eating less and less. I was away on a ceramics course last week and when I returned, I could see that she was getting weaker. We had many family discussions this week about what to do. I asked my daughter who is 4 if she would like to come to the vet to put her down and she came back with, “I think we should let her die at home” , so we decided to let this be.  This week has seemed stressful because we were losing our friend and also because it was difficult to watch her deterioration.  I was quite thoughtful this week about the letting go process that happens with many situations in life.  The loss of a loved one, friend, pet, job and so on.  There is a definite process of letting go that happens with many situations in life and through my daughter, even though she doesn’t fully understand death, she was the one who wanted our dear friend to go in her own time.

You can allow yourself to be touched deeply by the experience of having a pet or not. I think they become a member of our family. They have a special place in our hearts and our lives. This particular cat was just that. A part of our family and we were touched deeply by her.  I know that all animals like people have a special connection to us and in the end it is our spirit that lives on in us.