Try not to think like this because when it does happen, it won’t be anything like what you’ve imagined. I always thought it would be a sudden, heartbreaking thing, but instead it was a year long slide into cat-dementia. I was lucky in that he stopped being his usual self months before it happened, giving me time to wind down my emotions when the day finally came.
Simple solution from someone who has experienced a huge amount of pet death and legitimately find it intolerably horrible: stop getting pets.
Yeah once my boys are gone I think I’m done. My girl before them was actually the reason but I already had them when she passed. 13 years young, for a dachshund that is not old, died to an adrenal tumor giving her heart failure. She was still 100% there mentally, it broke me.
Nothing better demonstrates the cold, infinite indifference of the universe and the calculating efficiency of evolution than giving us the capacity to love so deeply, to care so completely for the people and animals around us, while giving us so little time with them.
It is almost cruel in its elegance. Evolution gave us the ability to form bonds that can feel eternal, but it never promised that the things we love would be.
Prepare all you want. Make peace with it. Tell yourself you understand that nothing lasts forever.
You will never be prepared.
Because knowing that something will end does not make losing it hurt any less.
Had one health scare with my cat that thankfully turned out to be manageable. A few years later had another that was not manageable.
Years later, It still haunts me. I feel the loss every day, and cannot imagine getting another pet.
That ain’t even funny.
My hen, I’ve had nightmares about the inevitable end of my time with her.
It does mean I value my time with her even more, but the specter of her last breath hovers ever in the background.
I remember having that moment with my dog when I was a teenager. I became suddenly aware of his mortality when he was only a few years old and held him while I cried. Unfortunately that didn’t make saying goodbye any easier 10 years later but I’m glad I got to have the moment with him.
RIP Bronzy 2001-2016
🫂
My large dog turns nine next month. The creeping dread is real.
I had to put my dog down 2 weeks ago, 11 years old, because of cancer.
It's rough
It’s pretty much as hard as you dread. I’ve cried maybe 3 times in my adult life (outside of the times I’ve drank a little too much and got emotional) and this one was by far the worst (and one of the others was also about the dog). I cried for a week leading up to it as she deteriorated and I had to make the choice, again the day of, and again the days after every time I was reminded of her, especially when I went to bed.
I got her with an ex, but for several years now I’ve been single and living alone with just my cat and dog. I also work from home and most of my hobbies are at home. So, literally, everything I do every day the dog was involved in. Wake up, let the dog out. Bring in a package or food, dogs sniffing it. I leave and come home, the dogs greeting me. Move from room to room, I’m checking where my pets are. Take a vacation, gotta make arrangements for the pets. Move slightly on the couch or, heaven forbid get up, the dogs checking what I’m doing. She used to lay outside the shower when I was showering. Making food, leaving the house for more than a couple hours, sleeping, eating, working, literally everything involved at least thinking about the dog briefly.
But I guess that’s the price for having that companion for the last 11 years.
Grief is love.
I mean, imagine if your dog died and you felt nothing. The memories will bring her spirit into the future with you.
I did like that one anonymous quote:
It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them, and every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are.
Try pet rats. Super intelligent animals who live for a max of 3 years. I have like 10 graves in my back yard. They are heartbreakers.
Also, if you have cats, don’t get rats. :D
I’ve wanted s pet rat for a long time. But haven’t for reasons you mentioned.
I’m convinced if I get a big ass-rat; It’ll live longer. Also I could take on walks hehehe.
Edit: Upon further review; As I expected these large rats getting loose could mess with ecosystems pretty quickly. Guess I’ll just have to spay or neuter.
I have 8 graves in my flowerbed, 5 of them rats. I had to stop keeping them because the heartbreak was too much.
Are… are you not gonna elaborate on the 3 other graves?
The others are my cats, currently down to just the one senior moggy now, and our pet cemetery was started almost 20 years ago.
Asking too many questions is how come there’s more graves, friend.
Also if you have rats don’t put up strobe lights for a Halloween party. Dead and dead by the next morning. Oops.
Wait, what?
Apparently it really stresses them out and can cause them to have a heart attack. Who knew.
Use that energy to love and cherish the time you still have with them now. So when they do go you and you ask yourself if you really did appreciate them you can honestly answer yes.
This will not spare you from tears but can be something to hold onto to help get you through it.
This little guy is a feral who showed up one day and moved right in. He disappeared for half a year and I thought he was dead. Turns out a neighbor’s daughter took him in and moved him to The City for a while. When he reappeared I felt the polar opposite of what the image in the OP conveys.
we thought our cat would die soon for about 3 years, 19 years and still going strong 💪
I don’t get it cause my cats are going to live forever!
I always said that too and then my cat got hyperthyroidism at like 16 and then she got cancer at 17 and my family kept telling me it was probably time to put her down through both of them because they’re shitty boomers who don’t care about animals. Needless to say, my cat turned 18 not too long ago and she’s still doing just fine, but it’s much harder to confidently say she’s going to live forever now 😢 I’ve settled for getting on the Wikipedia page for cats that live to be 25!
not if i kill you first - cat
“a little boop… aaaand now you have cancer. I just make the rules, don’t be mad at me.” -> “meow boop meowwwww meow meow, meow meow”
“aw aren’t you so sweet”
That will suck, though for their sake, it’ll be better than the alternative. I knew a rescue cat who was rehomed after her original human died and she had low-level PTSD.
