Sugar, our "miracle" cat has crossed the Bridge

Caspers Human

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Actually it's Requiescat In Pace
This is funny because I learned it the way you said. "RequiesCAT."

But I always try to check my facts before I say something and, when I looked it up, GoogleTranslate said, "RequiesCET," pronnounced "CHAY."

This is the first time I can remember, in a long time, when Translate steered me wrong like that.
 

Antonio65

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This is funny because I learned it the way you said. "RequiesCAT."

But I always try to check my facts before I say something and, when I looked it up, GoogleTranslate said, "RequiesCET," pronnounced "CHAY."

This is the first time I can remember, in a long time, when Translate steered me wrong like that.
Though Latin is a dead language, and nearly nobody speaks it anymore, it still appears in several inscriptions, especially in old churches in this old continent (Europe), and I remember it written -CAT in a few places.
So, I looked it up on Wikipedia, and it says -CAT
Requiescat in Pace , and it says the same in many other webpages.

Google Translate proved to be wrong before, especially with Latin, in my experience.
RIP = Rest In Peace (English)
RIP = Riposa In Pace (Italian)
Both versions serve the purpose in this case.
 

di and bob

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Those 'visions' accompany us for a long, long, time. Somehow we learn to live with them. There is nothing wrong with crying when remembering, it is an expression of grief, and you are grieving. We become somehow stronger as time goes on, it is time that does indeed heal a broken heart. But it will always leave a scar......
 
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les26

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As di and bob di and bob said, all of us who have gone through such these terrible and desperate moments, retain one or more final vision that will haunt us forever.
At first, the pain seems to blind us and we can't think of anything else but the fact our beloved pet isn't with us anymore. Then, these visions set in and they will be likely the only think that will keep us company.

I have so may of these visions before my eyes, everytime I read of some pets who leaves to the bridge, or anyway a few times a day. Because I never let a day go by without thinking of all my beloved cats who left me in tears.
So far, I didn't find a way to keep those images away from my mind, I'm sorry.
I think it is a way that the grief and the feeling of loss tries to focus on something to keep our minds knowing that we are grieving, if we picture a bad mental image it is easier to feel bad than if we just focused on the "feeling" of loss, we KNOW they are gone but this mental image seems to try to tie the pain of loss with an image of the cat, not just a general knowledge that they are gone, the grief and pain HAS to focus on an image of our cat if that makes any sense...
 

Mamanyt1953

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For what it is worth, my father journeyed to That Place Where All Things Are Known several years ago...I know him so well, and where the cats are, he will be. I have commended Sugar to his care until, in the fullness of time, you and Deb rejoin your precious baby!
 
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les26

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For what it is worth, my father journeyed to That Place Where All Things Are Known several years ago...I know him so well, and where the cats are, he will be. I have commended Sugar to his care until, in the fullness of time, you and Deb rejoin your precious baby!
This is wonderful, thank you so much. I know he will help out as well as my Nana and Deb's dad as well as all of the other cats and other animals that we have lost over the years. :rbheart:
 

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There is ALWAYS a 'last' vision you hold on to and it tears you in two.
With my Radar it was finding him circling after what turned out to be a massive seizure (almost certainly caused by an inoperable type of brain tumour), picking him up and putting him on our bed and seeing him just walk off the edge of the bed crumpling face first onto the floor with his little legs still going like he was still walking but completely out of it and unaware and so damaged. It will live with me forever, finding him like that (food and water bowls tipped over and some other stuff knocked over and messed on in the area where he must have been thrashing around and lost control of his basic functions).

I knew at that point that this was not something he could likely recover from but I got us into a cab and went to the emergency hospital holding onto the slightest bit of hope - my husband was on a very late shift at work and it was important that he was able to see his cat and know that this was it and to say goodbye - it was so sudden and such a shock to us. He was sedated at the hospital to monitor overnight, both in case it was a stroke in which case there might be some signs of improvement, or at least until hubby could get there to see him and agree that euthanasia was the only option and to hold him and say goodbye. Radar did recognise our voices the next day but was in a very poor neurological state, he'd had another massive seizure during the night and it was like he'd mostly gone already if that makes sense. Thankfully, I do not think he can have been aware of much after that initial seizure did so much damage.

I am sure most of us have been through some similar awful thing, we are here to share our stories of love and loss, and to listen to one another when tragedy happens to them. Some last images of our beloved cats that stay in our head are not the best - but it does get better in time and although you never forget, you do start to remember more of how they were when they were happy and healthy, and even smile remembering their antics and their unconditional love - even though it still hurts that they are gone (and not always in the most peaceful of circumstances).
 
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Antonio65

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With my Radar it was finding him circling after what turned out to be a massive seizure (almost certainly caused by an inoperable type of brain tumour), picking him up and putting him on our bed and seeing him just walk off the edge of the bed crumpling face first onto the floor with his little legs still going like he was still walking but completely out of it and unaware and so damaged. It will live with me forever, finding him like that (food and water bowls tipped over and some other stuff knocked over and messed on in the area where he must have been thrashing around and lost control of his basic functions).
When my sweet Lola left me, she left a similar mess behind.
It was a mess that I couldn't clean up, and I don't feel ashamed to say that I left it as it was for weeks :bawling2:
 
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les26

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Thank you all again for sharing your love and thoughts and stories, I know it is so so hard to relate some of the horrible images and rememberences but you are doing it to comfort us and I am eternally thankful. She is the 8th cat that we have lost, and it never gets any easier, but this one hits home harder, I don't know if it was because of that near death experience 4 years ago or just the fact that she was our little girl, but we are slowly coming to terms with it and know it will take a very long time to deal with, but we know that she is fine now, and looking back we can see that she really wasn't in the best shape for awhile, when they are gone your mind has a chance to think back on things and you can mentally see and realize some "signs" that were there but were missed because we are in it with them every day and too close to see them, but she wasn't horrible, just the last week or so, but we recognized that although we were trying to help her with the mushroom supplements and vitamins and fish oil that she reached the point where the only thing that would help was to be helped across the Bridge, and she is more than fine now.

And I was in the bathroom awhile ago with the window open and I heard the birds and smelled the air, and I remember I used to put her in the window so she could experience that when she could no longer jump in them, her last day here I held her so she could smell the air and hear the birds, but the thought came into my mind that perhaps when I saw the vet bringing her back into the room wrapped in a towel to be put down and her little head was looking around, that mental image that I said bothers me so much, I realized that now she CAN see and hear the birds again, and maybe at that point she WAS starting to see things again, maybe she saw a light as Deb said her grandfather who was blind was saying right before he died, maybe she could see the other cats that we have lost waiting for her and welcoming her and telling her it was alright, and that makes me feel a bit better, whether true or not, that is what I will tell myself, that she was looking around in amazement and seeing how wonderful it would be as soon as she left us here. :rbheart:

Oh man, this is really tough.....:sigh:

But I can't say THANK YOU enough to you all, God Bless you all...:rbheart:
 

Antonio65

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And I was in the bathroom awhile ago with the window open and I heard the birds and smelled the air, and I remember I used to put her in the window so she could experience that when she could no longer jump in them, her last day here I held her so she could smell the air and hear the birds
This image is breaking my heart, and tears are flowing down my eyes right now.
I can relate.
The afternoon when my Lola went to the Bridge, I asked her if she would like to go in the backyard for the last time, she said yes. So I took her into my arms and took her to the backyard. I put her gently down and she sat in the sun. She was blind, but she could feel the warm sun on her face and coat. It was the end of March, the birds would sing to spring.
I asked Lola:
"Lola, do you hear the birds?". She said yes.
She stayed there, sat, for a few minutes more, then she asked me to bring her back inside.

Those last few minutes of hers will never stop breaking my heart! :bawling2: 💔
My God, how much it hurts!
 
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les26

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This image is breaking my heart, and tears are flowing down my eyes right now.
I can relate.
The afternoon when my Lola went to the Bridge, I asked her if she would like to go in the backyard for the last time, she said yes. So I took her into my arms and took her to the backyard. I put her gently down and she sat in the sun. She was blind, but she could feel the warm sun on her face and coat. It was the end of March, the birds would sing to spring.
I asked Lola:
"Lola, do you hear the birds?". She said yes.
She stayed there, sat, for a few minutes more, then she asked me to bring her back inside.

Those last few minutes of hers will never stop breaking my heart! :bawling2: 💔
My God, how much it hurts!
We can just picture the two of them sitting in the gentle sunshine in the fresh air, listening to the birds sing their songs, both healthy and happy once again, no more pain, no more blindness, no more cancer, no more mouth issues, both just fine along with all of the other cats that we have lost, talking about how wonderful it was when they lived here with us, but how wonderful it is for them now, but also how wonderful it will be when we are all reunited again to live together with them once again FOREVER, to NEVER be seperated again.....:rbheart:
 
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les26

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I was the same way, I could NOT pick up the things that were hers, her tiny food plate, her collar with her name on it, her toy mice.....
We took her catnip filled "kicker" along with her the last night, she so loved to lick that and it probably helped clean her mouth of food and felt good, but we threw it out at the vets, we didn't want to see that at home plus it was full of slobber ha ha, and we also threw out the Chewy box that she loved to lay in, those two were too painful to keep. But we have a few things of hers here yet that we will keep, and of course the wicker chair that she used to lay on and the cat house that is in front of it that she used to use to climb up to the chair.

Deb pulled her records and read the ones from 4 years ago when she was in that specialty hospital, and it said there was a chance that the cancer could come back and if it did it would be an aggressive type, they told us about a 20% chance of it coming back but it did. She shredded all of her records, and it was very upsetting to her.

We are dealing with it as expected, sometimes you are okay because you are busy, other times it creeps back in, but we know how it goes. But it had to be, for her to be whole again and she is fine now....

I said to Deb "when we see her and all of them again you realize that we will then have 15 cats? 8 who have passed and 7 more to go? You think this is a crazyhouse just wait until that!" :) :rbheart:
 
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les26

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The other cats are grieving too, they are acting differently and we are spending time with them, they feel it too and realize that two have left us in 9 weeks, and they pick up on the sadness and emotions of Deb & I.

In the past when one would pass, within 3 months of it we would get another one, that seemed to help us focus our energies onto another one in need, but no more, we can't be getting anymore as we get older, so we will take care of the 7 that we have and put our energies into them.

And several times I have seen Stanley in not so good lighting and thought it was Sugar, and Deb did that too, but I tell her "she's still here, they're ALL still here" and they are.....:rbheart:
 
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les26

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I got home a bit before Deb and was in the garage, she went into the house but came out soon after and looked so sad, I thought something had happened to one of the cats but she said "Sugar is ready", so we drove over and got her ashes and the plate with her pawprint and some of her grey fur and some of the white tuft from under her chin that I had asked them for, so she is home now, where she belongs......:rbheart:
 

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I'm so glad she is home. She will always have a home in ger heart for your love which she treasures as much as you do hers. She soars through the heavens now, thankful for you and Deb, shining all her love down, a new bright star in the nightime sky....
 
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les26

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The cats have been acting very strange as they know what has happened and can read Deb & I and our emotions. Sylvester is giving Deb a hard time when she has to put his eye drop in, he used to go to his "spot" and let her put it in but now is wigged out and dances around, yet his eye seems fine so he is nervous. Last night Deb said she came down during the night and 5 of them were all laying in close proximity of each other over by the chair area that Sugar used to sleep on and lay on the floor near, I wonder if they just feel closer to her at that place or if her spirit and possibly Sabrina's whom we lost recently too is there?
 
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