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Lisa wrote: "Read On! wrote: "My dear cat, Pharaoh, of nearly 16 years passed away at 4pm yesterday. I live alone. He was a house a cat and I've had him since a kitten, so all he's ever know in his life was me...."That is a beautiful testimony to your little friend. Please accept my condolences. I'm so glad you were there.
Sorry to hear of the loss of your dear friend. As others have said, at least he had had many happy years with you and the comfort of your presence at the end.
Thank you for all your kind messages.
Have another hug Read On! I hope the memory of your happy times together help you through this difficult time. He was lucky to have such a caring owner.((HUG))
Massive hugs Read On! I'm so sorry to hear about Pharoah.
I had a sad moment on Friday. I came home and was just putting my key in the lock when the radiator in the hall gave a 'dong'.For a fleeting moment I thought it was Leo thumping his tail against it. Intellectually, I knew it was impossible, yet emotionally I was performing a Pavlovian response. I was still disappointed when he wasn't there to greet me. How stupid is that?
Geoff (G. Robbins) (The noisy passionfruit) wrote: "I had a sad moment on Friday. I came home and was just putting my key in the lock when the radiator in the hall gave a 'dong'.For a fleeting moment I thought it was Leo thumping his tail against ..."
Not stupid at all. I find it really weird going to the local shop on a Thurs now, as most weeks Buster would follow me, it's odd walking there and back without him.
Not stupid at all Geoff, all it shows is how much you love him to miss him so much, it's easy to sometimes forget and not nice when reality hits you seconds later. Same for you too Desley, very strange when they have been with you for so long. I don't know if you have ever heard the poem by Maggi Moor. I will put it in a separate post in case people don't want to read it, they can just scroll past.
Familiar Shadow, by Maggie Moore.I see a familiar shadow
Moving by my chair,
I reach down my friend, to touch you
But you're no longer there.
I suddenly remember you had to go away,
It broke my heart to loose you
But I knew you couldn't stay.
Yet I look into my garden
I'm sure that I can see,
You running chasing butterflies
The way you used to be.
I'm sure I heard you barking
It wasn't a mistake,
I strain to hear it once again
For any sound you make.
When I walk down country lanes
I know that you're there too,
You're racing through the bracken
Just like you used to do.
The rustling of the undergrowth
That only I can hear
I know it's just to let me know
That you are still near.
I feel you by my bed at night
Your warm breath on my cheek
But I know you'll disappear
If I try to take a peek.
So I just lay here quietly
And be content to know,
That in spirit you've come back to me
And you'll never ever go.
Geoff (G. Robbins) (The noisy passionfruit) wrote: "I had a sad moment on Friday. I came home and was just putting my key in the lock when the radiator in the hall gave a 'dong'.For a fleeting moment I thought it was Leo thumping his tail against ..."
Anything that brings back a memory is good. You are human. It hurts to remember, but it is necessary. They will eventually hurt less, but you want to remember.
Hugs for Geoff and Desley. Grab them quickly before I soak you with tears after reading that lovely poem. Thanks Anita!Whenever I look from the front of our house up the path to the moor I imagine I can see our wee Misty running ahead of us stopping only to look behind and make sure we are following. Have had many dogs since but for some reason she is the only one who 'haunts me'. The hole she left in my heart has been repaired but never mended completely.
Philip (sarah) wrote: "Hugs for Geoff and Desley. Grab them quickly before I soak you with tears after reading that lovely poem. Thanks Anita!Whenever I look from the front of our house up the path to the moor I imagin..."
Sometimes when I am in my bed with my cat curled up beside me I feel something jump on then when I look there is nothing there. I am sure it is Woolly.
I think you are right Lisa and it is your Woolly, Sarah I'm sure Misty is still running ahead, maybe calling to Holly to come and play. I have had quite a few feelings of furry bodies on the bed or brushing past me and even felt a nudge not long ago. I was on iPad and it was a definite nudge on my leg, I caught sight a black Labrador tail walking toward the hall door out of corner of my eye and thought it was Emma, my current little girl. I got up to get ready to go out and couldn't find Emma, when I looked in the garden there was Emma fast asleep exactly where she was before I sat down to look at my iPad. I don't know which one of my special " little guys " it was but that doesn't matter, I just take comfort in the fact that they still want me to know they are still with me. Aren't we all so lucky that we have had such wonderful furry friends in our lives and still have hearts full of love whenever we hear their names or they pop into our heads.
I've seen movements like that, just this morning I was in the house alone and I saw a shadowy movement out of the corner of my eye but not really. It's hard to describe its as if you've just missed seeing something, but it was at knee height so it must have been one of my lovely spaniels. When my beloved dobe went, I had her ashes in a lovely pottery sealed urn. It's very tactile and I put my hands on it and I had the most vivid image of her running freely in fields in sunlight. It was wonderful, I do it regularly when I dust as I couldn't bear to put them in the earth they are in a corner on a shelf, but I've never 'seen' her again. It was just as if I'd released her. It was magical.
The nearest thing I've ever seen to a ghost is three or four years after one of the best dogs I'd ever had died. I was standing in the yard and a border collie bitch, the absolute spitting image of old Lassie (but as she was when she was only 8 or 9) walked in off the lane, straight down the yard to me, let me scratch her ears, and then walked straight on, out of the other gate and into the field and disappeared out of sight.No, I haven't a clue what was going on
Anita wrote: "I think you are right Lisa and it is your Woolly, Sarah I'm sure Misty is still running ahead, maybe calling to Holly to come and play. I have had quite a few feelings of furry bodies on the bed or..."We are lucky. Another strange thing happened concerning my first Persian. After we lost her to cancer I often saw cats that weren't there. We adopted Wools and Mew from a persian rescue, then Amberleigh who was not very sociable. She became upstairs cat and one day I saw what I thought was her running through the room, the hall and kitchen. Woolly saw something too and she quickly turned to look. I shouted to Colin upstairs and asked him where Amberleigh was. She had not moved off the bed. When my Canadian friend came to visit, we both saw a greyish shadow rush past us in the kitchen towards the front room. All of the other cats were accounted for... To this day we are convinced it was the ghost of Tahsy. She was a subdued tortoiseshell who looked grey at first glance.
Jim wrote: "The nearest thing I've ever seen to a ghost is three or four years after one of the best dogs I'd ever had died. I was standing in the yard and a border collie bitch, the absolute spitting image of..."Equally spooky, Jim. We had an Afghan hound when I was young. After he passed away I was convinced I could sense him walking by my side when we were out. This impression was physical too. It lasted for several days.
There are too many of us having things like that happen for it to just be imagination. You are right Lynne, it's very hard to describe but you know what you saw and are glad for it to have happened. I have my last 3 little guys in their wooden caskets on a shelf in my study and loads of photos of them on the walls, I need to see them wherever I am. My one extra special dog was Amber who died 3 1/2 years ago, we had thatextra connection, knew what each other was thinking, I often feel her at my side when I am out in one of her favourite places, Jim, that was wonderful ! I have never seen them that clearly, how lucky you are to have that happen. I once had a lady come here to give us a reading ( not sure if that's the correct term ) the first thing she said when she walked through the door was that she had never seen so many animals waiting for one person, and that they were around me constantly, she went on to tell me all sorts of the funny little things that each dog did, I just don't know how she knew what she did if she couldn't see them and I had only booked the appointment the night before, she lived right out in Derbyshire and this was before the days of Internet. Goodness we could go on all day about all the lovely animals that have returned to us in spirit form. Once again I just feel so lucky that we have all shared our lived with the love of so many wonderful animals.
I wish I could see my old dog again. His ashes are kept with both my parents ashes, and when I go I hope they can all be scattered together.
I thought I was strange keeping my pets ashes but my friend also has her cats. My daughters friend has her horse's in her room. The idea was to put them in the garden but at the last moment no one wants to be parted from them.
That was my idea too Lynne but I just can't do it so like You Vanessa we have left instructions with Nikki that when we have joined the dogs she can scatter us all together at once. It's something that is different for each person and it's what is right for you, that's all that matters really.
I've never had mine cremated - couldn't afford it when I was younger and now it doesn't feel right. Mind you, I have lost 16 cats and a rat, so not sure where I'd put them all.
That's quite a lot Desley ! It's only in the past 25 years that cremation was an option, i think it was available a bit earlier down south.
Anita wrote: "That's quite a lot Desley ! It's only in the past 25 years that cremation was an option, i think it was available a bit earlier down south."Downside of adopting cats over the age of 12
I've got a good few in the garden too. My sister says she'll never move house because her dogs are there in her garden.
A couple of years ago I was knocked down by a car. The first night after it happened I was lying in bed and I was kind of out of it on pain killers and had this kind of waking dream that I could hear Chewie, our cat, purring like a motor boat. I felt him kneading my stomach and it was really lovely and comforting until I remembered that Chewie was dead and that we didn't have a cat (at that time). For a moment I was proper petrified and it all stopped and I woke up. Looking back on it now, I'm pretty convinced it was a kind of visitation. Chewie getting in touch somehow, to reassure me. I'm not sure he was actually physically there but I think he might have got into my dreams somehow. I have had a dream with my grandfather in it which I am absolutely convinced was similar more of a visitation than a dream because it was so astoundingly vivid and real.
I couldn't move house if mine were in the garden too Lynne. I think they might show up if we need an extra bit of love too Mary, and at the end of the day and it was a comfort does it really matter if it was just in a dream.
Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "Anita wrote: "That's quite a lot Desley ! It's only in the past 25 years that cremation was an option, i think it was available a bit earlier down south."Downside of adopting cats over the age of 12"
We lived in London and it must be 38 years now since Sandy died and was cremated. It's funny, I always remember his birthday, 15th November, and when we brought him home as a puppy, wrapped up like a baby in a shawl. He was a great character.
I think I've mentioned before how Misty intervened when we were driving along on a dual carriageway and she kept jumping at Phil causing him to pull over just as a car sped past going in the wrong direction, had she not forced us off the road we would have had a head on collision. She was normally very peaceful when travelling so we have no doubt she had a premonition of danger.
Philip (sarah) wrote: "I think I've mentioned before how Misty intervened when we were driving along on a dual carriageway and she kept jumping at Phil causing him to pull over just as a car sped past going in the wrong ..."Aawwaaargh! Goose bumps with the Bury St Edmunds jury! Wow!
Philip (sarah) wrote: "I think I've mentioned before how Misty intervened when we were driving along on a dual carriageway and she kept jumping at Phil causing him to pull over just as a car sped past going in the wrong ..."Wow!!
That's a really spooky one, Sarah. When something like that happens you've got to wonder what they know.
Animals do have a 6th sense, definitely.
The spookiest animal story I have is one Christmas we were back home and I was at mum and dad's with Oscar (our dog). I went to visit a friend just down the road and after a while Oscar suddenly sat up and went over to the window. Mum jokingly said to dad "I wonder if Judith has left Andrea's, we'll know in about 30 seconds". Lo, and behold! Not long after she said that I turned the corner :)Wee tyke knew I was coming somehow.
Vanessa (aka Dumbo) wrote: "Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "Anita wrote: "That's quite a lot Desley ! It's only in the past 25 years that cremation was an option, i think it was available a bit earlier down south."Downside of..."
Sandy was very special to you Vanessa, when I said about cremations I was talking about private cremation, before that the council would take them and you couldn't have their ashes back. I bet Sandy was a really lovely boy for you to remember him him so fondly and him arriving all wrapped in his shawl was so cute !
Yes Sarah I remember you talking about Misty, one very smart little dog, thank goodness he did what he did, I agree with Pam, animals do have a 6th sense.
Anita wrote: "Vanessa (aka Dumbo) wrote: "Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "Anita wrote: "That's quite a lot Desley ! It's only in the past 25 years that cremation was an option, i think it was available a bit earli..."I definitely agree with the sixth sense now.
When Pharaoh died I was on my bed. Whenever I go into my bedroom Pharaoh ALWAYS would take over the exact place I routinely sit on the sofa, curl up and sleep until I came back in.
When it came to his final breaths he made it into my bedroom and collapsed by the side of my bed and I believe his coughing was to wake me so I'd be with him at the end.
I bet you are so pleased that went in your arms, all my dogs went hearing my voice and my arms around them, we owe them that if possible and I know it's not possible in all cases.
When Texaco refinery caught fire and exploded after a lightning strike my Dobermann suddenly ran from the front of the house into the kitchen at the back, a few seconds afterwards we heard the explosion and our hall window shattered. She must have heard it coming. One of my neighbours front windows shattered and a week later all the cement fell off the other neighbours bay window. It was really bad and we are miles away. Luckily it was a Sunday. My husband was on call as a co ordinater for the hospital emergency so he was preparing for casualties but despite massive damage to the plant and all the shops in Milford Haven had plate glass windows blown in. There were only a couple of minor injuries. It was a miracle as the blast moved the brick built canteen block off its foundations. The glass in the supermarket hit the back wall and the force of the explosion sucked all the rolls of new carpet out of the carpet shop. People thought it was a bomb blast at first as its an Irish ferry terminal.
I'm dropping in for a hug this afternoon to cheer me up if that's ok.
Lisa wrote: "Read On! wrote: "My dear cat, Pharaoh, of nearly 16 years passed away at 4pm yesterday. I live alone. He was a house a cat and I've had him since a kitten, so all he's ever know in his life was me...."I've only just seen this - I had a similar situation with my first cat, she started fitting in the early hours of the morning, so we took her to the emergency vet - later that day, they gave us the option of keeping her on sedation to see if she could come round, or letting her go, and I didn't know what to do, so I took my neighbours advice and gave her the chance - got a phone call an hour after I got home to say she'd gone naturally, that was 13 years ago and it still gets me that I wasn't there at the end with her. There is only one other cat of mine I wasn't with at the end, but that doesn't get me as much - he went out one morning, and was found dead by my neighbour. My neighbour thinks I was lucky I didn't have to make that decision with him, but like Anita, I like them to go with me holding them
My dad was with Sandy when he was put to sleep. I'd left home by that time. It was the kindest thing because he'd gone blind and had lost his bodily functions and my dad wouldn't let him suffer. I only found out after it happened. I would have loved the chance to have said goodbye to him though. But at least he wasn't on his own.Damn! I'm going out this evening and have just put my make-up on and now it's all streaked where I'm crying my eyes out...silly me!
HUGS for anyone who needs one. We tried to do the best for them Desley, in Woolly's case I did not have all the facts or I would not have left her. To this day I blame myself for leaving her alone at the vets. My friend had a different perspective. She said Woolly couldn't go that first night because she knew how distressed I was and that leaving her gave her the chance to go in peace. I am not sure... I only ever once left her in a cattery and she hated it. There you go, nothing can change it just as nobody could know she had a heart problem. Even the vet missed it. It's life I suppose.
(((((((HUG)))))) extra big one Claire.Desley I guess it's not straight forward with cats as they go out on their own so it's not always possible to be with them. Nice that you are with them if you can be.
Oh Vanessa, we don't want to make you cry (((( Hug)))) I'm sure he knew how much you loved him anyway. As parents we all make some mistakes when we think we are doing the right thing, when we realise we were wrong it's too late and we can't change it. We did the same with Nikki, she was only ten but she had a very special bond with Chester and we should have let her say goodbye but we didn't and only told her when she came home from school. She always went straight to Chester for hugs but that day he wasn't there. We were very wrong to do it and even now she, like you, deeply regrets not seeing him before he went. Even though she has had 3 dogs as a adult she still says that Chester was her once in a lifetime special dog. Sadly we can't change it and I'm sure, like us, your parents regretted what we did. Enjoy your night out.
Hugs peps. I was with Chewie, I held him and he died in my arms. We knew we'd have to do it so we took him home for one last night. I regret that I let him walk up the stairs on his own. I was pretty sure he wanted to but I could see his pain, and I regret that I didn't just put him on my lap that night as we sat and watched TV. He sat beside me but didn't want to seem to get on and I didn't want to force him. It was very sad but also very peaceful. I had never witnessed anything die before and it was quite a profound experience.
Lisa wrote: "HUGS for anyone who needs one. We tried to do the best for them Desley, in Woolly's case I did not have all the facts or I would not have left her. To this day I blame myself for leaving her alone ..."We do, and my neighbours theory was that we should give her the chance to see if she could get better. She wanted me to do the same with Buster but didn't the her advice
eurgh. i need hugs and pillows. late nights and long hours staring at screens and i'm feeling it this week.
Have a ( hug ) and try to remember all the love you have for each other, that will always be with you.