Gee, where do I start?  Anyone who has ever shared their life with one or more four-legged babies, knows that dealing with the loss of a pet is, in a word hard.  I can think of more words, you probably can too.  This past year has been a hard one for people with pets.  Hurricanes, fires, tornadoes.  My emotional heart hurts not only for the people who suffer loss, but for the animals that never understood what was coming.  I feel empathy and am so sorry for the people in California right now, but I think I hurt more for the animals who have no way out.  Right now I am dealing with the loss.  Another pet.  Since June 1st of this year, we have lost four very loved four legged family members.

Nala

Back in early spring, a young neighborhood stray, a cat, had become (sort of) ours. We named her Kitty.  (Yeah… really original).  I finally got her where I could hold her and was able to get her vaccinated and spayed (this was after we discovered she was already knocked up and the birth of her litter who I sincerely hope are all in good homes).  She lost her life to a stray coyote that got into the yard.  A couple months later, two of our dogs had to be put down within three weeks of each other.  Pepper, our sweet rescue Yorkie got dealt a bad hand in the health department.  She had both pancreatitis and liver problems.  We fought a good fight, but the liver disease won.  She was only about 9 years old and I had only had her for three years.  Not long enough.  Our 16 year old retriever, Casey, had been dealing with quite a few old age issues for a while.  We knew our time with her was coming to an end, but you’re never truly ready.  My husband misses her terribly.  They were truly a “bonded pair”.  Two days ago, our 16 year old housecat, Nala, suffered a stroke.  She passed away on the way to the emergency vet hospital.  It was actually a blessing.  She was in bad shape.

Yes, there’s been a LOT of crying the past several months and my heart continues to feel the loss.  Pets are family and when dealing with the loss of a pet it is natural (and healing) to grieve, just don’t let the grief overwhelm you.  One good thing, we still have NuNu, another house cat.  She probably isn’t feeling very secure right now.  All her pals keep disappearing.  Though there has been a lot of crying, there has also been a lot of remembering.  I remember the fun times, the times they made me want to pull my hair out, the silly things each one did, the love they gave in return.  I am grateful for the time we had together, good and bad.  To conclude this, there are many things we say to ourselves and to others that suffer a loss of either a two-legged loved one, a four-legged loved one, the loved ones of all kinds.  Of all those things we say or hear or have read, I really like this one and have often said something like it to others as well as to myself…

“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” — Dr. Seuss

What happened, what we should smile about, were the good times and the life that was shared during the long, or sometimes short, time we had with them.  Smile with me.

#karrencaseart  #petloss  #dripsstrokessplatters