This is a tough one if you love animals, but I need your opinions. My companion of thirty plus years was kidnapped by a nursing home (oh, yes it happens read my other blogs . . . I will update), leaving her cat in my care.
I am very much a cat (and dog) person, and have had and rescued dozens and dozens of cats and dogs over my 60+ years. Diane's cat "Twizzler" is HIGHLY SENSITIVE! With her "family," suddenly gone (Fred, Diane, Sparkle - it's a long story) she went into deep mourning and confusion.
Of course I tried to fill their place, and I gave her the kind of loving that cats especially appreciate, but even with my decades of knowing what cats like, it took me months to gain her real trust, and she has known me for her entire life.
Even though I fed her what she liked to eat, and the most gentle and loving attention, she grieved for them constantly, would stare at their empty chairs, lost most of her fur, and was reduced to skin and bones. I truly didn't see how she could continue much longer. She looked like a walking skeleton with most of her fur gone.
However with my continued loving attention I slowly gained her confidence and she has returned to better health and weight, though she still looks awful.
HERE IS MY IMPOSSIBLE TO ANSWER QUESTION: Due to Pennsylvania's third world legal system and corrupt courts, I will be homeless in a couple of weeks. At 73 I will NOT be homeless; my plans to CTB are well set and I will cross over because I have no choice. BUT, WHAT DO I DO WITH TWIZZLER the cat? I have tried to re-home her, but no one wants her. She is almost 15 so is nearing the end of her life. The local shelter might take her, but I cannot imagine anyone adopting her. AND if she went into such an anxiety spiral with someone she has known and trusted her entire life, and while still living in the same house she has lived in for the last ten years, what might it do to her to be stuck in a cage in a place she doesn't know, surrounded by strange people and animals? I think it would be a living hell for her. A final torment in her last years.
Twizzler wants to be with me all the time. She sleeps on my shoulder all night, and is stretched out beside me as I write this. She is miserable whenever she is not with me.
I have read a great deal about life after death and there is a strong consensus out pets cross over just as humans do. But what is more humane? Do I abandon her when I CTB, or is it more humane to have her put to sleep and meet her in the next world?
The hardest thing I have had to do is to have a pet put to sleep to end its suffering, but that was always at the advice of a vet. Twizzler is very old but what is more humane? To abandon her here knowing her life will almost certainly be frightening and lonely in a cage until she dies, or let her cross peacefully in the hope we will meet in the next world within a few days? What would you do?
I am very much a cat (and dog) person, and have had and rescued dozens and dozens of cats and dogs over my 60+ years. Diane's cat "Twizzler" is HIGHLY SENSITIVE! With her "family," suddenly gone (Fred, Diane, Sparkle - it's a long story) she went into deep mourning and confusion.
Of course I tried to fill their place, and I gave her the kind of loving that cats especially appreciate, but even with my decades of knowing what cats like, it took me months to gain her real trust, and she has known me for her entire life.
Even though I fed her what she liked to eat, and the most gentle and loving attention, she grieved for them constantly, would stare at their empty chairs, lost most of her fur, and was reduced to skin and bones. I truly didn't see how she could continue much longer. She looked like a walking skeleton with most of her fur gone.
However with my continued loving attention I slowly gained her confidence and she has returned to better health and weight, though she still looks awful.
HERE IS MY IMPOSSIBLE TO ANSWER QUESTION: Due to Pennsylvania's third world legal system and corrupt courts, I will be homeless in a couple of weeks. At 73 I will NOT be homeless; my plans to CTB are well set and I will cross over because I have no choice. BUT, WHAT DO I DO WITH TWIZZLER the cat? I have tried to re-home her, but no one wants her. She is almost 15 so is nearing the end of her life. The local shelter might take her, but I cannot imagine anyone adopting her. AND if she went into such an anxiety spiral with someone she has known and trusted her entire life, and while still living in the same house she has lived in for the last ten years, what might it do to her to be stuck in a cage in a place she doesn't know, surrounded by strange people and animals? I think it would be a living hell for her. A final torment in her last years.
Twizzler wants to be with me all the time. She sleeps on my shoulder all night, and is stretched out beside me as I write this. She is miserable whenever she is not with me.
I have read a great deal about life after death and there is a strong consensus out pets cross over just as humans do. But what is more humane? Do I abandon her when I CTB, or is it more humane to have her put to sleep and meet her in the next world?
The hardest thing I have had to do is to have a pet put to sleep to end its suffering, but that was always at the advice of a vet. Twizzler is very old but what is more humane? To abandon her here knowing her life will almost certainly be frightening and lonely in a cage until she dies, or let her cross peacefully in the hope we will meet in the next world within a few days? What would you do?
