Feeling guilty about buying cat....?

I know exactly how you are feeling. We had our beloved cat Poppy put to sleep in February, due to hyperthyroidism. She'd been on medication for a couple of years and it just stopped working eventually.

It was a tough decision. We could have tried her on a higher dose, but higher doses tend to bring side effects, and she had been having constant diarrhoea, it would have been to cruel to risk keeping her alive another month on new meds that may not have worked. She was getting thinner too.

But she was still full of life and character, and apart from looking thin, she didn't look ill or appear to be suffering. But the reality is, she was suffering, she was having diarrhoea all the time, weight loss and a rapid heart rate, plus occasional vomiting. As our vet pointed out, it's what was going in inside her that counted, it's that that is important.

It was quite sudden for us too. We'd considered it in the past but then decided to leave it a little longer to see if things changed. On the Friday, she got very sick, and that's when my mum decided it was the right time, and that we had given it long enough.

It felt right to me as well. I wish we'd had more time to prepare (it was the next day that we took her) but sometimes these things are best dealt with quickly. The only thing is what happens afterwards.

We couldn't bury her in our garden, and we didn't really think the fees at the pet cemetery would cost so much! I wish we would've afforded to bury her there but we couldn't. We had a communal cremation done, and the ashes are buried in a special area of the cemetery.

It really upsets me that we couldn't afford to have something a bit more special or individual done for her. But I know she's looking down and happy anyway. We haven't visited the cemetery yet, but I bet it's lovely and peaceful with birds singing, and she loved birds, so I'm sure she's very content :) And we're going to get a nice memorial plaque :) It's hard to know if it's the right time because they can't tell us how they are really feeling.

But if they are ill, and you have tried everything, or there is nothing left you can do, then it is the right time. Any longer and they would suffer too much. You wouldn't have wanted your cat's last moments of being alive to be bad would you?

It's best they go before their quality of life starts to suffer :) The first few days are the hardest. I know it feels like the pain will never go away, but it will. I didn't leave my bedroom for hours after we got back from the vets, and that night, I slept in the lounge, next to Poppy's bed :( Within a few days, a lot of the pain had gone, but we were still very upset.

Three months on and we still think of her everyday and never stop missing her, but despite that, we aren't feeling as awful as during the first week. Don't feel guilty, you did the right thing at the right time. The longer you leave these things, quite often, the harder they are when the time comes.

In time you will look back at the memories of Zeffie and smile and laugh, as you remember all the lovely times you had together. I eventually put a lovely photo of Poppy in a frame on my bedside table, in some ways it helped me, because it made me feel closer to her. 14 is a good age for a cat, he was obviously well looked after :) Be strong, but don't be afraid to grieve.

There's a short poem called "Miss Me, But Let Me Go", the title pretty much explains what it's about. You can read it here http://www.eppingforestchurch.i12.com/pm... It made me cry when I read it, but in some ways it helped. Time really is a healer, hang in there and look out for each other :) xxx.

Aw thats such a sad story and I cant tell you if you did the right or wrong thing you can never know if something is right or wrong if people tell you what you did was the wrong thing don't listen because how would they know unless they've been in your situation but even then there cat might of been diffrent then yours if you are right and he dies soon don't get all upset about it things will be ok and time will go by you know it wouldn't last forever and crying about it won't help if I seen alittle un supportive im not trying to be im just telling you something you need to hear don't obsess over 1 little thing in life I understand that your cat might die and things seem pretty bad still your lucky it could've been much much worse some people in this world have it really really bad even worse then what your going through.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.