my cat has died

my cat was 18, just about my age. i've had him since i was 4. he wasn't doing so well this past week, so i suspected he'd pass soon. i was contemplating taking him to be put down, because he looked like he was in pain. tonight, he just got so bad. he barely was breathing and was losing the ability to walk. the past few nights, i'd stay up with him, and comfort him. i didn't know what else to do. about 10 minutes ago, he tried walking, but failed and collapsed into an arkward position. so i went over helped him into a better, more comfortable position. then everything just stopped, stoped breathing, stopped moving. he went limp in my arms. i knew he was going to pass soon, but i didn't expect it this way.

he's still in the same position he died in, in the same spot. i don't know what to do with him.

 

I'm sorry to hear that. When I was about 12, my step dad killed himself, and we went to stay with my grandparents for a while. My cat was sick at the time, and died when we were gone. I found him in my dresser drawer, curled up in a little ball, all stiff and cold. I couldn't bring myself to actually pick him up, so I had to have someone else put him into a garbage bag for me, and the next day I buried him in my grandparents backyard. I would recommend having someone else come over and help you with this, as it can be devastating to do it alone.

 

Damn, that's an old cat
Anyways my condolences.
I would just put him in a shoebox and bury him in the backyard.

 

sorry hear that.....

rap him up in some cloth and bury him in the yard in a special spot....

 

if i had a yard with grass and dirt, i'd bury him there...but i dont' have that kind of yard...hes wrapped up now though

 

well find a place.....maybe a spot in the park

 

thats my plan...

 

arrrr a depressed girl that loves cats more then any other mammal, including humans.

man, that sucks.

i had a cat that lived til seventeen and we put her to sleep cause her kidneys failed and she had blood coming out of her butt... and um, couldnt even sit up.

it sucked.

it's so horrible to lose a pet. i wish you the best.

i know how much a pet can mean and i feel for you. *hugs*

 

Well, he certainly lived a long life. Sorry to hear about your loss.

 

feel better.

peace love and laughter

 

i don't know if it's cuz im pms-ing or what the deal is, but i had to swallow tears when i was reading your post. Sorry about your loss man, i know that helpless feeling knowing that your pet is about to die. It reminded me so much of when my cat died.

 

The only cat I cared about that died was run over by a truck. Her eye was hanging out, her jaw was broken up, her skull was crushed in, and her brains were coming out her ear. It was so sick.

 

Sounds like he was very loved to live that long. My condolences.

R.I.P.

 

Sorry about your cat dying.

I live near the ocean. When my cat died, I wrapped her in a favorite towel, tied a symbolic three-strand braid out of cord made of her colors (black, white, and silver), and tied the towel closed around her like a burial shroud. My brother and I took our kayaks out on the Atlantic and we buried her at sea adjacent to a specific point of land where we had done the same with his two cats when they died several years before.

I don't know if you have the ocean available to you, but if you do, it's a nice way to let your cat return to nature.

-Jeffrey

 

As its been said, that reminds me too about when my previous cat died.

My Slate was 16, like I was at the time. He was the sweetest, most mellow cat... I kept telling my parents to take him to the vet because he was getting a runny nose and was sluggish, but they chalked it up to a cold. Although I'm sure they get colds, I've never actually seen a cat show symptoms. When they finally decided to take him, the vet was closed. I felt horribly guilty on and off for a few years because it was obvious he would die that night, shivering under the table and crying like a kitten, but I went to bed anyway like nothing would happen instead of keeping him company. In the morning I heard what sounded a bit like two peals of thunder, but it was Dad opening/closing the sliding glass door as he disposed of Slate. I finally felt better after the house was sold four years later. It's sad, but probably better that you got to be there for your cat when it happened.

Actually, if it weren't for what happened to Slate, my next cat, Spike, could've died from a blocked urinary tract; using Slate's story motivated my parents to take Spike to the vet in time, so I guess something good came of it...

 

awwwwwwwww I am so sorry, I don't know what I would if I lost my cat.

 

Wow... I think these stories have brought up a repressed memory for me. I never knew I could actually have repressed memories, I always thought that was bullshit.


But now I'm thinking back to when my cat, Storm, died in 2002. She had lost a lot of weight, and I took her to the vet. She was already about 16 years old, and I knew that was very old for a cat. They found that she had some sort of mass in her abdomen, and it was causing failure in some of her organs. I was shocked when the vet pulled her ear back and showed me how jaundiced her skin was under there.

It was too much to put her through, and also very expensive, to try to biopsy and possibly do surgery on a cat that old. It would have cost upwards of $2000 and put the cat through hell (feeding tubes and stuff), so I decided to let her die a normal death rather than after being traumatized and cut open and all that horrible stuff.

The repressed memory is that I could swear I remember that she spent some time in her last days wailing a really plaintive, "I'm-in-pain" cry... It's something I think I had blocked out! I'm amazed that I would have done that, though. It's like I'm not sure if I remember if she did this or not. But I also think I remember being so saddened by the crying that I begged her to not do it because it pained me so bad to hear it.

I can't even say that I'm sure this actually happened. I do know that she lay around sick and listless for a while until one night, I brought her into my bed because I was going to take her to be put to sleep the next day (she was just in too much pain). I made a plank ramp up to my bed because she could no longer jump up to it to be with me. Partway through her last night, I woke in the dark to see that she had at some point climbed/stumbled down to the floor, and was sleeping there. I went back to sleep, deciding that she knew where she felt like being, and I should just let her do what she needed to do.

I woke to find that she had died in the doorway of my bedroom. So very tenderly, I picked her up, kissed her, and proceeded to wrap her ceremonially for the burial-at-sea that I described.

It's so sad when you think of how a pet (or a person) has suffered, especially when you empathize with the sorrow and pain and loneliness of one who is facing death. The comfort I take is knowing that there is nothing at all that can cause her pain now, because she is completely free.

-Jeffrey

 

I'm so sorry, sweetie.

 

Hi Chris,

I'm so sorry about your cat hon How are you feeling? I hope you're doing alright, I'll PM you when I get back from class..hang in there. (((((Hugs)))))

 

Fitzy I'm sorry for your loss.

I know how your feeling, to some extent. It's only been a lil' over a week since my dog died. I'm still grieving.

You doing okay this morning? Are you alone or do you have people with you?