I put him to sleep yesterday.
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@IzzyChambers you’re wonderful. I bet she loves you with everything. And I love she gets to see a pup!
@flexghost I'm very lucky!
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I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.
But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.
I miss him.
If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.
@flexghost I'm so sorry for your loss
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@flexghost this is Minty, came from an animal shelter as kitten, together with pepper, also a kitten but not from the same nest. Minty doesn't like other cats, we tried with three. She's not very good at defending herself but also not very scared. She's particular where you can and can't pet her. We love her a lot. Oh and she's good at catching mice and brings them to us inside the house. yay
@hanscees gorgeous. Why are the persnickety ones the most endearing?
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@flexghost I'm very sorry. It's hard, because they give us far more than we give them, and they're better people than we are. I'm certain, though, that he and our Aubrey (also a rescue) are goofily and joyfully playing together right now.
@msbellows I knew it. I knew you’d see this post and have the perfect reply. I can’t stop crying I’m sure you know that. Woke up reaching for him. Aubrey is gorgeous and so sweet I’m sure Hemingway would love your baby so much
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@flexghost I’m so sorry.
I have 2 dogs adopted from our local SPCA a few months apart. Bandit (right) is Ivy’s emotional support dog.@superflippy omg the look they give each other you can feel the relationship immediately. Thank you for sharing this
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I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.
But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.
I miss him.
If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.
@flexghost. My condolences, losing a pet after so many years hurts like hell...
Two years ago I had to put my cat Super to sleep. She had very slowly become sick, I didn't recognize it in time, because I thought she was just getting old.
At some point she started throwing up after eating and drinking, and the vet told me she had a very serious problem in her digestive system, that would require serious surgery and her chance of survival was slim.
She was already 15 years old, a respectable age for a cat, so I decided to spare her the misery...
She died in my arms, I still get tears in my eyes when I think about that moment. Like now... -
@hanscees gorgeous. Why are the persnickety ones the most endearing?
@flexghost if I understand you right probably because they like us are individuals with their flaws too? Loved once don't have to be perfect and share their whole life, not just the shiny bits?
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@flexghost if I understand you right probably because they like us are individuals with their flaws too? Loved once don't have to be perfect and share their whole life, not just the shiny bits?
@hanscees perfect.
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I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.
But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.
I miss him.
If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.
A lifetime of cats occupy my past, I'm 60 and I've had a cat in my life almost every year since I was 15 or so in 1980. Frodo was the first, my dad was allergic and had asthma so he had to go through a regimen of allergic desensitization to get to the point where he could have a cat in the house. Frodo the magical cat was the result! He was magical because gravity didn't apply to him and we'd find him on top of anything in the house with more than 6 inches of clearance at the top. He would just silently cast himself into tiny spaces up against the ceiling as I remember it!
Magic, I'm fairly certain.Fast forward through many, many cats to 2005, now I'm newly married, living in Denver, one baby shrieking in the background and we have two cats we'd adopted while living in New Orleans for a year and a half, Grendal and FatCat. We got a call after Katrina from a friend who was displaced by the hurricane who tells us that they got two of their three cats out but weren't allowed to take the third on the flight. They were allowed to return months later but now had a small apartment in LA and were wondering whether they could re home Opal with us via an airport drop-off. Of course they could! Opal had survived Katrina and had no care for something like four months but she was sitting on the front porch of the house when they got through the rubble! Thin as a rail but apparently pleased to see her family again!
Unfortunately Opal had a fungal infection in her lungs and didn't live more than a few months after we took her in. FatCat passed due to an impacted gut and Grendal took on a Toyota truck and lost, all within a year. All of them are buried under flagstones in our back yard.
We're back up to three adopted cats again but I feel each and every cat that I've shared space with in the past. Sometimes I remember that I've forgotten one and as soon as I do, there they are as a group of lovely memories! Like I said, a lifetime of cats. Sorry for your loss.
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I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.
But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.
I miss him.
If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.
@flexghost
That sucks...we had to put Cheeto to sleep thanks to kidneys destroyed by a tumor or not even fully developed at barely 2 years old -
@msbellows I knew it. I knew you’d see this post and have the perfect reply. I can’t stop crying I’m sure you know that. Woke up reaching for him. Aubrey is gorgeous and so sweet I’m sure Hemingway would love your baby so much
@flexghost You named your dog Hemingway? I love that! My dad was a huge Hem fan and passed it along. Aubrey was named after a literary figure too: Jack Aubrey, the big and doofy but brave (and long-tellow-haired) naval captain by Patrick O:Brian.
Hang in there, my friend. The love doesn't go away; it's harder to see, but it's still there. Hold to that.
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I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.
But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.
I miss him.
If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.
I feel so sad for you, he looks wonderful . . .
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I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.
But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.
I miss him.
If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.
@flexghost We had to put Mac, our 15 year old golden retriever, to sleep in November. We had planned on having him put down on the following Wednesday but were unsure if we were doing the right thing. On the Saturday prior, he let us know that it was time to do it earlier. Typical Mac. Took the painful decision off our plate with a smile. His brother Jai, who is a 16 year old german shepherd and retriever mix, misses him but Jai also has dog Alzheimer's so he also is constantly looking for him.
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I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.
But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.
I miss him.
If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.
@flexghost i am so sorry for your loss … we currently have three dogs, two of which came from very poor quality & abusive situations … the first is only now starting to show signs of being completely comfortable here - that took a year … the second has been with us a few months and the process looks like it might require a longer timeline … it breaks our hearts knowing what they came from & lifts our spirits seeing them slowly enter back into a desirable life, happy & confident the way they were meant to be
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I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.
But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.
I miss him.
If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.
@flexghost After losing Yuri, my grey cat in 2024, I've started going to a shelter and spending my Saturdays afternoons with cats that probably will never be adopted. Last year, adopted 2 adult cats; a 2 year old black cat (adopted and returned twice) and an orange cat who was at shelters for 6 years. I have 3 cats now, and to see them looking happily at the birds is the best feeling.
All my cats stay in my heart, even if they already departed. I guess we carry them on until we are gone too. -
I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.
But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.
I miss him.
If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.
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I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.
But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.
I miss him.
If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.
@flexghost awww, I'm so sorry.
Losing a dear friend is always so hard. It sounds like you gave him a good, long life. I grew up with 2 dogs and a kitty, and I've had 4 cats as an adult. All were wonderful, and I carry every one with me. I feel blessed by all of them. Our psyches become so intertwined with theirs. In some ways they know us better than anyone else, and sometimes even better than we know ourselves. Now, I'm starting with kitty number 5-- just adopted her yesterday morning. I would post a photo, but she's still hiding.Sending peace and strength.
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I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.
But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.
I miss him.
If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.
@flexghost My daughter and I have adopted, nurtured, and lost many pets throughout the years, including cats and rats. We still cherish and honor the memories of them. Here are two of them, Spooky and Ohjay.
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I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.
But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.
I miss him.
If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.
@flexghost I’m very sorry for your loss, and their loss too. I have had 2 cats pass away in the past 10 years or so and I carry their spirit with me everywhere I go. They loved me unconditionally and I do for them. I miss them terribly.
Tobi and Frank both kept me together. I have neither now and I’m in the process of losing my family too. It’s gut wrenching but I know I can get through it. And one day I’ll have another cat. Not now, not just yet. But i will, if they will have me.
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I put him to sleep yesterday. My sweet boy for 15 years. He’d come to me from an abusive home. You could see it in how he held himself those first months, like he was always bracing.
But he figured it out. Not all at once but in small surrenders. Picking up a toy. Playing so free. The way he’d eventually push his head under your hand, asking.
I miss him.
If you have a moment, I’d like to hear about your animals. The ones you still carry with you.
Amber had a rough start - when she arrived at the shelter she'd already lost most of her tail so can't always land on her feet. A chronic respiratory issue, she's effectively mute as her vocal cords are saturated and can't make any noise so she can't meow or howl in defense. She also spent 5 years in the no kill shelter before she came home - mostly isolating in a back corner in as much of a defensive spot as she could find.
Two years later she's still skittish but is comfortable around people and has started "meowing" quietly. She's even had a few audible squeaks recently and kitten like meow noises - hopefully she'll get louder. She's adored and loved, and it's wonderful to see her with guard down snoozing at my feet under the table.
Adopt, don't shop.
