A Couple of Old Cats
I’ve had a few friends and patients recently convey the news their pets have died or were put down. For someone who does not own pets, this may not sound too bad, but it is very tragic for those who loose Puss or Fido. I notice this is more so in people without spouses or children. Friends whom I have never seen crack have done so when the four foot companion departed. It is a loss without adequate words.
After a life time of dogs, I got two cats back in the early 90s. I was ready for disappointment. I think I was also thinking ‘short term’. To my surprise they have been good companions. Quite unlike each other, they make a good ‘couple’ < a skinny, black cat and a fat, white cat. I often wondered and worried ‘what would happen to them’ if I were to go before them. I had visions of them lost in a pound or on the street.
That was 15 years ago if it was a day. I am older and show no signs of going soon. But they show signs of aging as well. They are slowing down, not as frisky. The white cat has a haggard look around his face. Both seem OK but these recent announcements from others make me sit up. Cat days are numbered. I too will be quite overwhelmed when they go. I am getting tearful as I type the thought.
I once asked my English Lit professor which of the Shakespeare plays is the most tragic. She replied without pause it was King Lear. Why is that? “Because Lear sees his children die before him, the greatest tragedy there is. No one should see their children die before they do”.
It is a stretch, but apt for pets as well.
After a life time of dogs, I got two cats back in the early 90s. I was ready for disappointment. I think I was also thinking ‘short term’. To my surprise they have been good companions. Quite unlike each other, they make a good ‘couple’ < a skinny, black cat and a fat, white cat. I often wondered and worried ‘what would happen to them’ if I were to go before them. I had visions of them lost in a pound or on the street.
That was 15 years ago if it was a day. I am older and show no signs of going soon. But they show signs of aging as well. They are slowing down, not as frisky. The white cat has a haggard look around his face. Both seem OK but these recent announcements from others make me sit up. Cat days are numbered. I too will be quite overwhelmed when they go. I am getting tearful as I type the thought.
I once asked my English Lit professor which of the Shakespeare plays is the most tragic. She replied without pause it was King Lear. Why is that? “Because Lear sees his children die before him, the greatest tragedy there is. No one should see their children die before they do”.
It is a stretch, but apt for pets as well.
posted by Ur-spo at 12:19 PM
2 Comments:
That is NOT a stretch, sir. Only species prejudice keeps a pet owner from feeling it when the pet dies. In my experience, and I am a trained observer of human behavior, it is harder to let go of a deceased pet, because you don't have all the complications in the relationship you'd get with a hairless biped. And I don't mean an ostrich.
The 2 cats that I posted about 2 weeks ago in "even CO was speechless" Were the last thing me and my mom got together.
We went to the pet store looking for a calico cat, the kind with every color.
We found her but while looking her over, this meow was so loud, I looked down to see this little orange fur ball. He had climb all the we to the top of the cage. Even if the cat we had taken was very affectionnate with my mom, I asked the girl to give him to me.
He was affectionnate with me.
Me and my mom switch cats, and they almost didn't move.
We switch again and they started again. I told her I'll take him if you take her. We did.
It turnse only 5 weeks old, I had to force feed him for a week. She was fine. They were real brother and sister.
He got diabetes at 12 years old. I took care of him. He went in to remission 3 years later, and lived another 3 years. I had to put him to sleep due to some deidration problems. He was 18. It killed me.
She died a year later, at 19 of 3 lumps inside of her. One was pushing on her heart.
They were my kids. I loved them like kids. Since they were so young when we got them, they took me as their mom.
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