I have had a long long history of caregiving to my cat Chester. He had a heart murmur at the age of 2 that was so bad that the cardiologist gave him a year to live with daily medication, maximum. When he was 10 he had Hyperthoridism and I had to treat with radiation because he was allergic to the medication. When he was 13 he started fainting randomly because his blood pressure had dropped. We had to say goodbye to Chester at the age of 14, shortly after our wedding in 2019. He had a disease that was making him bleed internally and there was nothing to be done. It was a very traumatic death despite the vet's best efforts. Chester didn't want to die and howled for 2 hours while they tried in vain to sedate him. Eventually he was able to leave peacefully while I was with him. I've gone through a couple of years of PTSD around it now, and am mostly handling it ok.
This past December, Dynah, his adopted sister who I hand rasied from about a week old, suddenly developed asthma. I fought really hard for her, but in March the steroids weren't working and she began hiding again, and I knew we needed to say goodbye. She left quickly and peacefully almost exactly 2 years after Chester died.
I've always had cats, longest I've been without them was 8 months between my first cat and adopting Chester. We have a cat in the house, but she is my husbands through and through and aside from getting me to feed her wants nothing to do with me. She also is lonely (only coming out when he's at home and we had a problem with her stopping eating for awhile after Dynah passed) and has always had other animals around.
I am still grieving my loss, but I know for sure I made the right decision in both of these cases now. I miss having a cat to hug and snuggle with, especially right now with my parents developing dementia and kidney failure during covid and my not being able to get to them, because covid. How does one know when it's right? Vet bills are so expensive now, and not having to constantly worry about my cats is nice...I did 14 years of it between the 2 cats and their chronic illnesses. I have caregiver burnout, and am so scared that a new cat will be sick immediately, or have litterbox behaviours or something. I miss the snuggles...Dynah wasn't a lap cat and I've been missing Chester's cuddles for 2.5 years now.
My friend has a no kill shelter that he has opened. He has a 2ish year old black cat with crossed eyes that only wants to love on people. He snuggles and loves him any chance he gets. He is fully vaxed, chipped and fixed, and loves other cats as well and seems like he -could- be perfect. I'm nervous to have my heart broken again though.
How do you know? I got Chester because I couldn't stand the pain of the loss of Natasha, my first cat, and Dynah fell into my arms. This new cat is about a 2.5hour drive from here, so going to meet him is more like going to get him. I kinda feel like we need each other, but also am scared.
Thanks
This past December, Dynah, his adopted sister who I hand rasied from about a week old, suddenly developed asthma. I fought really hard for her, but in March the steroids weren't working and she began hiding again, and I knew we needed to say goodbye. She left quickly and peacefully almost exactly 2 years after Chester died.
I've always had cats, longest I've been without them was 8 months between my first cat and adopting Chester. We have a cat in the house, but she is my husbands through and through and aside from getting me to feed her wants nothing to do with me. She also is lonely (only coming out when he's at home and we had a problem with her stopping eating for awhile after Dynah passed) and has always had other animals around.
I am still grieving my loss, but I know for sure I made the right decision in both of these cases now. I miss having a cat to hug and snuggle with, especially right now with my parents developing dementia and kidney failure during covid and my not being able to get to them, because covid. How does one know when it's right? Vet bills are so expensive now, and not having to constantly worry about my cats is nice...I did 14 years of it between the 2 cats and their chronic illnesses. I have caregiver burnout, and am so scared that a new cat will be sick immediately, or have litterbox behaviours or something. I miss the snuggles...Dynah wasn't a lap cat and I've been missing Chester's cuddles for 2.5 years now.
My friend has a no kill shelter that he has opened. He has a 2ish year old black cat with crossed eyes that only wants to love on people. He snuggles and loves him any chance he gets. He is fully vaxed, chipped and fixed, and loves other cats as well and seems like he -could- be perfect. I'm nervous to have my heart broken again though.
How do you know? I got Chester because I couldn't stand the pain of the loss of Natasha, my first cat, and Dynah fell into my arms. This new cat is about a 2.5hour drive from here, so going to meet him is more like going to get him. I kinda feel like we need each other, but also am scared.
Thanks