Had to say goodbye to my cat today

• Hanna wrote on 2014-08-02 02:44

  Quote from Aubog007;1236602:

  Yep. That's what happened with my cat. Got him before i could even remember, he got too stressed out from our other cat due to household dynamics changing. His age when we put him down? A whopping twenty three three years old. I was twenty four. That cat WAS a part of my life longer than my own mother was.
  
  Oh. Hanna. My cat was an outdoor cat for 5 years unsupervised, just opened the door and brought them back in when it was night. Year 5 it was skunked. Other cat brought him back to the house. We starting supervising a little bit when we moved, when it was 20, it was still catching rodents.

  
  "on average"
• Aubog007 wrote on 2014-08-02 03:02

  Quote from Hanna;1236604:

  "on average"

  
  
  Well when an average like that is really really low and being told it's a bad idea gets that kind of response from me!
• Kyouria wrote on 2014-08-02 04:12
  Post has been deleted.
• Campylobacter jejuni wrote on 2014-08-02 08:17
  3 years sounds reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally low. Are you quite positive, Hanna?
  
  Would be nice to have data for cats living in sparsely populated without dangerous wildlife, same with dangerous wildlife, medium populated and highly populated areas. It probbably varies drastically.
• Froglord of DESTINY!!! wrote on 2014-08-02 08:46
  I've never had a cat, but I've had an awesome guinea pig that brought life to my entire family.
  
  I've also had a couple dogs, which I've taken for granted just how amazing they were, but I still loved them to death til this day.
  
  Losing my dogs and guinea pig were really the last straw in my brain when it came to being attached to things emotionally. After they were put down the shock was too much, and I basically buried and killed off a lot of who I was at an early age. Of course I still lost previous indirect pets that other family members owned, and indirect family members, but even so, the loss of each one chipped away at who I was. It sounds really stupid, but when it comes straight down to it, I have a huge lack of humanity thanks to the significant losses I've endured over the years. I can still make friends, sure, but when it comes down to it I push people away from the constant trauma, and I don't take a lot of stuff seriously and come off as very condescending.
  
  Anyway, I've shared enough
  
  I hope you can pull through, and I hope you can find another source of happiness, or look back at your memories and gain happiness from your time with them. It doesn't matter what it is, a family member can be anything, and losing them is very painful.
• Elleanior wrote on 2014-08-02 10:30
  We've had 7 cats in my lifespan. My darling Patches (formerly known as "Socks") was with me for the depression in my middle school years, but left us a few years ago. She had finally decided to enjoy the outdoors again, and didn't return. I was upset that she was gone, but I was glad that she enjoyed herself. About a year afterwards, Mischief Wilson left us 2 years ago. She spent a lot of time sleeping on my bed towards the later end of her life. Our tsundere Sparkles is still with us, and is the only one left. She's getting old, and was having to fend off her territory alone when new cats started showing up in the neighbourhood, until she let me serve under her.
  
  All of our furry friends have been indoor/outdoor. We believe in letting them be where they want to be.
• Hanna wrote on 2014-08-02 12:28

  Quote from Campylobacter jejuni;1236673:

  3 years sounds reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally low. Are you quite positive, Hanna?
  
  Would be nice to have data for cats living in sparsely populated without dangerous wildlife, same with dangerous wildlife, medium populated and highly populated areas. It probbably varieys drastically.

  
  
  It really depends on where you live, I guess.
  If you live near busy roads, a large population of strays, or dangerous wildlife, your outdoor cat's chances of injury, disease, and death, are much greater than if you live in an sheltered laid back urban or suburban area. It still doesn't change the fact that cats hunting is causing serious damage to wildlife populations.
  
  
  I'd really like to stop derailing this thread
• Taycat wrote on 2014-08-02 14:58
  my family usually keeps 2 cats inside at a time
  we've had plenty of outside cats
  currently, we have 2 outside that stick around
  before, we would have 3 or 4 outside at a time, but they came to us as outside cats
  we recently had to put 2 outside after they got big enough
  only one has stayed around, but we've seen the other
  
  one of our outside cats, her name was goldie, lived for a long time until she died a year or so ago
  she died right by our front door
  she just feel asleep and died
  i miss her a lot
• Campylobacter jejuni wrote on 2014-08-02 18:00

  Quote from Hanna;1236697:

  It really depends on where you live, I guess.
  If you live near busy roads, a large population of strays, or dangerous wildlife, your outdoor cat's chances of injury, disease, and death, are much greater than if you live in an sheltered laid back urban or suburban area. It still doesn't change the fact that cats hunting is causing serious damage to wildlife populations.
  
  
  I'd really like to stop derailing this thread

  
  It's not drastically off-topic because being informed about the risks can help pat-keepers make informed decisions that can help keeping their pets alive longer.
• Rukuna wrote on 2014-08-04 07:23

  Quote from Froglord of DESTINY!!!;1236678:

  
  Losing my dogs and guinea pig were really the last straw in my brain when it came to being attached to things emotionally. After they were put down the shock was too much, and I basically buried and killed off a lot of who I was at an early age. Of course I still lost previous indirect pets that other family members owned, and indirect family members, but even so, the loss of each one chipped away at who I was. It sounds really stupid, but when it comes straight down to it, I have a huge lack of humanity thanks to the significant losses I've endured over the years. I can still make friends, sure, but when it comes down to it I push people away from the constant trauma, and I don't take a lot of stuff seriously and come off as very condescending.
  

  
  
  
  You're a special, unique little snowflake
• triforcefaery wrote on 2014-08-20 08:46
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  I have a similar story, I thought you may want to hear it.[SPOILER="My story about Zoe"]I had a cat named Zoe. I ended up with her, and another cat named Spike. One day my next door neighbor came over and asked my parents if we wanted to take their kids cats because they couldn't care for them, so my mom and dad said yes because of me and my brother. Spike was my brothers, and Zoe was my cat.
  Alas, last year in November, one day Zoe started to become very skinny, she quit eating, she started peeing and kept pooping everywhere. So we got concerned and took her to the animal doctor the next day and found out she was very sick and the only thing we could do was too put her down.. So that day me and my mom contemplated, and fussed because we didn't want our little girl to have to leave.. But, as soon as we knew it, we had to let her go, we knew it was the only thing we could do..
  So now she is resting peacefully in kitty heaven, just like your kitty. All we can really do is be happy that they lived a great life. <3
  
  Well I hope you enjoyed my little story about my kitty!
  Ciao~[/SPOILER]

  [/FONT]