I hate to be the bearer of bad news today, especially on a Friday, but after 14 long and adventurous years, our pet cat, Bob, has finally passed away :( And even though he definitely wasn’t the healthiest of cats lately if you recall (what, with giving him IVs and medicines morning, noon, and night), it still is just as shocking when “the day” comes. Or in this case, when we’re out of town about to attend a wedding :( Which makes it all kinds of worse…
I’ve known Bob the entire time I’ve known my wife (6 years, who’s had him for 13 of his own 14 years), and he’s been there for her what seems like forever. When she was just a teenager, when her dad died, when she graduated college, when she met and married her favorite boy in the world (me), when she got into grad school, and finally through all the joys of our recent pregnancy. It’s been a sad week to say the least, and to top it all off my 8 year old fish happened to die right after too, jeez…
But the one thing that keeps coming to my mind is – ‘He’s in a MUCH better place now’. Pet Heaven, if you will. Where my grandparents and her dad all have easy access too any day of the week :) I don’t know if you’re supposed to believe in that kinda stuff as a Catholic, but I’m going to do it anyways… I’d like to think heaven encompasses all types of wonderful and loving things, esp. pets.
And while it’s probably inappropriate for me to talk about the financial aspects of this major change now too, you know it still has to be dealt with. Just like when we come into this world of ours, we spend a certain amount going out too. Which is the last thing you actually want to think about or manage during all that unhappiness (and also why it’s important to get things like wills done *ahead of time* if possible! It sucks, and it’s freaky as hell, but it makes the after-financial-life a ton easier on all other loved ones left behind).
Now with pets, of course, it’s totally different, but unfortunately we still had one last decision to make before we can move on thoroughly. And that was *what* exactly to do with his blessed little body :( According to our vet, we had three ways we could go:
- We could take him back, and then bury him on our own terms (Free). I have no idea if it’s illegal to bury an animal in your backyard or not, or even if you have to disclose that if you were to sell your house one day?, but it certainly crossed our minds so that we can keep him closer to us and visit anytime we wanted. Maybe in a warm sunny patch of grass somewhere where we knew he loved to soak up the rays? :) That would be nice…
- We could cremate him, and allow the vet to dispose of him properly ($30.00). That would be all there was to it in that case. We say our goodbyes, and off he goes to wherever all the other animals in that stage go :(
- Or, we could cremate him, and then get his ashes back and do as we please ($205). The most expensive route of them all, but also the most appealing in that you could not only decide to still bury him later in the backyard if you wanted, but you could also hold on to him more and maybe feel better as he’d be in a nice cherry-wood box as a wonderful memorial… kinda freaky, but still an option.
Before even going to the vet to see him one last time, we decided we’d want to keep his ashes as long as it wasn’t SUPER expensive like $500+, or something like that. Even while writing this we still don’t know what we want to do in the end, but at least this last option gives us more time to say good bye when we’re finally ready, as well as keep him close by for a little bit longer. So in the end, we decided to go for option #3 (and we should have him back again in about 2 weeks).
I really am sorry for all the freakiness/sadness of today’s post, but in some strange way it makes me feel a lot better getting it all out there :( And a lot of you know who he is too, especially as I’ve been blogging about him a lot more over the years, so I thought it would be good for you to know where he is now too. Maybe we could all shower him with good thoughts today?? And make it more of a celebration of pet love all around?! I dunno… that would be nice :)
I guess at the end of the day, it’s just the circle of life. One beautiful soul leaves this world of ours, and another one comes into it. It’s sad that Bob won’t ever get to meet our little baby boy in a couple of months, but at least we had the pleasure of knowing him for so long. And really that’s what’s important in the end :) If you have a pet or loved one around you right now, do me a favor and tell them you love ‘em! You gotta appreciate them every chance you get.
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