Farewell my Sweet Herald

[Koronin]

I'm so sorry. (((HUGS)))

[Crankin]

Thinking of you.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Beth, I'm so sorry. Herald was a lucky kittie to have such a loving mother.
may you find comfort now in your happy memories of him. You did the right thing, of course.
I am actually going through the same thing with my kittie Pearl right now, who has been hanging on for dear life for the past two months, always faking us out each time and making 'one last stand' after another.
I am bringing her to the vet tomorrow, and depending on what the vet says about what awful new thing is going on in her poor little mouth now (on top of everything else she's struggling with), we may have to go home in an empty car, just like you had to do today today.
I would have brought her today, but we had a 22" snow blizzard and everything was simply closed and snowed in.

I feel for you- it's so very hard losing our 'babies', isn't it? But we just have to do the right thing for them if they are suffering.

[bmccasland]

Thank you everyone for your zen hugs and wishes. Bonnie cat is now sacked out on the woobie that our vet had ready for us - some final scent before he was eased out of this life.

BleekerSt - I was feeding Herald soft food mixed with warm water in his final weeks. He could lap it up. His soft food was a pate type, not shreds or flakes. Someone at the grocery store also suggested meat baby food as it's ground even finer. Herald liked it and ate a whole jar. Maybe Pearl would like baby food? Unfortunately it doesn't come in tuna flavor. Other option is to poach some meat, and then grind it in a food processor. Good luck, and you have my sympathies. It is hard.

[emily_in_nc]

Beth, so sorry to hear this news. It is always such a hard thing to have to say goodbye to a beloved pet. And at the holidays, maybe even harder. My sympathies - you were a good mom to Herald.

[NbyNW]

(((Beth))) So sorry for your loss. Reading your posts about Herald this last year or so, I got the impression that he was hanging on to make sure you were properly settled in your new life in the PNW.

It's funny, how our pets take care of us, when we think we're the ones taking care of them . . .

[azfiddle]

Sorry to hear about Herald- I know you will miss him.

[badger]

all too often I see these sad farewells to our friends, and I feel for them every single time. Herald is certainly in very good company with a lot of other friends who have crossed the rainbow bridge.

I'm really sorry for your loss, take care.

[Aggie_Ama]

Herald was lucky to have you and it sounds like he made sure you knew you were lucky to have him. Those little paw prints they leave on our hearts sure do hurt when they have to leave us for good. But then one day all you do is smile remembering you had a great friend. (((Beth)))

[PamNY]

I'm so sorry. It's hard to lose them. I hope happy memories bring you peace.

[Selkie]

"there is a cycle of love and death that shapes the lives of those who choose to travel in the company of animals. It is a cycle unlike any other. To those who have never lived through its turnings or walked its rocky path, our willingness to give our hearts with full knowledge that they will be broken seems incomprehensible. Only we know how small a price we pay for what we receive; our grief, no matter how powerful it may be, is an insufficient measure of the joy we have been given. Writing his essay, 'The Once Again Prince," animal lover and gifted writer, Irving Townsend summed it up: 'We who chose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own live within a fragile circle easily and often breached. Unable to accept is awful gaps, we still would live no other way. We cherish memory as the only certain immortality, never fully understanding the necessary plan.' It is a fragile circle. But it goes round and round without end." (from "If a Dog's Prayers were Answered...Bones Would Rain from the Sky" by Suzanne Clothier)

Herald is gone but he's not, Beth. Agnes and Maud, golden retrievers with angel wings, will watch over him at Rainbow Bridge...

[Bike Chick]

That's a tough one, Beth. I'm so sorry.

[channlluv]

(((Beth and Herald)))

Great story about his name. I like that.

Much love.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

BleekerSt - I was feeding Herald soft food mixed with warm water in his final weeks. He could lap it up. His soft food was a pate type, not shreds or flakes. ...Good luck, and you have my sympathies. It is hard.

Thanks Beth. Pearl has been lapping up soft pate cat food mixed with water for weeks now- it's all she could handle. But I'm afraid she is too far gone now, and likely tonight we'll be helping her go to play with your sweet Herald.

I like what Selkie wrote here about the 'fragile circle' we choose when we take creatures into our lives and our hearts.

Hugs of comfort to everyone caring for and saying goodbye to their precious fur babies...

[GLC1968]

((((Beth)))), I'm so sorry for your loss.