Losing a Pet

Yesterday afternoon we had to say goodbye to Piglet, our loving and faithful kitty of 17 years.  She was a real sweetheart.  She was always there for me when I needed comforting.  If she were here now she'd be on my lap purring and letting me cry into my fur.

Losing a pet just sucks.  Part of it is the lack of understanding on the part of non-pet-owners; they may be sympathetic, but in a lot of cases you can see that in the back of their minds they're thinking, "it's just an animal".  It's their loss.

It also sucks that animals can't tell us how they're feeling.  I don't know if Piglet was in pain in her last days.  For that matter, I don't know why she wasn't eating for the last two months.  I couldn't ask her what was going on, whether there was a food she wanted or could tolerate, or where the discomfort was.

The biggest part of the suckage, though, is the foreknowledge of the loss.  I wished so much that Piglet would just stop breathing and peacefully slip away.  I hated calling and making an appointment for her death.  Knowing that we had until 3 pm to spend time with our cat was a hard thing.  On the other hand, her last few hours were clearly hard, so it was also a relief when the vet showed up.  That also sucked.

Now I go back to a life where I'm not spending half my time and energy feeding my cat.  I have to adjust to not having her in the house.  If she were her right now, she'd be in my lap, purring, letting me dry my tears in her fur.  My other cat, CC, has a shit-ton of personality, but sweetness and comfort aren't really in it.  I lost the most comforting thing in my life yesterday.  And there are no two ways about it.  It just sucks.