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Be kind to the old fellows
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2024
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Man I'd love to be able to do that and give cats a good run-in for their twilight years but I don't think I could - partly because one of the household is allergic to cats; but mainly I don't think I could deal with the repeated emotional devastation of having to let them go at a much higher rate than a "normal" pet owner.
Fair play to those that do. Pretty ballsy.
I thought the same thing till I met a beloved old cat-daddy neighbor. Before he passed away he had asked if I could help find homes for his kitties. I took his two oldest cats without knowing what I was getting into (mostly) in a good way. I found out old cats howl and even though they are so rickety they move like an At-At from Star Wars they’ll scamper like a fool given the right stimulation. Totally worth it! Seven years later I still have one of them who is now 21 years old. She sleeps a lot but loves a good scritch and pet session. I wish I could make all of my cats infinite cats. Having lost pets just means I cherish them all even more.
Lovely photo.
Yeah, I could never do it, but mad respect to those who do.
As an old cat adopter I want to add one thing to this. Yes, it hurts to lose them when their time comes, but something I didn’t expect is that after the mourning I’ve always started to feel a sense of urgency to find the next old timer to rescue. I’ll remember the time and love I had from the ones before and I curse how much time was wasted while they waited in a shelter for someone to come for them. Why couldn’t I have found them sooner? They deserved so much more love and comfort, where the hell was I? Then we go out and find our new friends that have been waiting for us for so long and our family gets better again.
It’s always tough knowing that our time with them is short, but that’s true of any animal relationship. In the end we’re left with the love for them which in my experience never diminishes. We may say more tearful goodbyes when connecting with the old ones, but over time the wonderful memories and love in our lives just accumulates more and more.
I agree the responsibility (and occasional expense) of caring for older animals is not always in everyone’s capabilities, but I implore you not to avoid considering welcoming one (or more) into your life solely because of aversion to the pain that comes from losing them. The love they give outweighs it a thousandfold.
giving them a good last couple years is totally worth any pain you will feel. You will know they died happy and loved instead of scared in a cage alone.