Please send loving thoughts for a safe passage to Baast
Yesterday was one of the worst days of my life.
I had to euthanize my beautiful, beloved house panther, Bellatrix. I can't stop ugly crying and I had to call out sick from work today because I just can't cope with this.
She had just turned eighteen years old (88 in human years). Old enough to vote, and I wish she could have, because she was smarter and kinder than many who do. I don't know how to post photos yet. She was a gorgeous dark black that looked almost like a chocolatey red in the sunlight, with black toe beans and huge, luminous eyes that could switch between green and hazel. Her long black whiskers had turned white over the years and she had the sweetest meow I've ever heard.
She loved laying in the sun on her window ledge or sitting on my lap every evening, whether I was reading, writing postcards to voters or just watching TV. At night, it would never do to just sleep next to me or my adult daughter (who had just turned 16 when Bella came to us and is about to turn 34); she had to climb onto your body and sleep on TOP of you.
Sadly, on her birthday just six weeks ago, her heart and kidneys started showing signs that her thyroid had finally caught up. I am beyond grateful that we managed to keep her going for four years after the hyperthyroid diagnosis. She was so social and attached to us, I couldn't have put her through the radiation treatment because the isolation afterwards would have broken her heart. I realized this morning what a gift it was that I've been able to work from home for the last six years of her life.
After ten rescue cats, I hate to ever say I had a favorite, but she was it. She was the last of my four (now three) cats who remembers my late husband (and oh, HOW she adored him). An animal communicator told my daughter that my dad (whose death in late 2005 was the first of many, many holes that have since been blown in my family's life by loss after loss after loss) sent Bellatrix to us to watch over us. She did him proud and lived up to her role as the family sentinel and protector.
Rest in power, my beautiful little lady. Born January 23, 2008, end of watch March 8, 2026. I love you forever.
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My indoor cat is about 13 I think but the outdoor cat I know he’s been around 16 years, was trapped neutered and released as a kitten. He’s now living on my back porch and I’m dreading the end of his life. Please learn to love another kitty. It’s hell being alone. we know when we get a pet we will outlive them. But we give them our hearts anyway.
because I would love to see her. My heart aches for and with you... I've lost a few beloved feline companions also.
I hope the loss becomes more bearable with memories that bring comfort and peace... it sounds like you provided her with a wonderful loving home and cared greatly for her...
What a beautful tribute. Your Bellatrix sounds like such a wonderful cat.
I know the pain is unbearable right now, but I hope that eventually memories of your precious girl will bring you some comfort and peace.
RIP, Bellatrix, you were very much loved and will be forever missed.
With deepest sympathy,
MIButterfly
💔
Good kitty
In our family, we have chosen to call this liberating the spirit. I found some comfort in this wording because it doesn't sound as clinical as euthanasia, it doesn't sound so cold and harsh as put down, and it's more honest than put to sleep - we wish they were only sleeping.
Wishing you strength and courage.
And may you be at peace, knowing you helped her to happily live the life she was intended to live.
And can it be that in a world
so full and busy, the loss of one
creature makes a void so wide
and deep that nothing but the width
and depth of eternity can fill it up.
~Charles Dickens
I'm terribly sorry for your loss.
this is how i post photos
1. i save the picture in a file on my computer
2. go to https://imgur.com/
3. near the top is the word imgur & next to it is a small green box with a + sign. click on that
4. it takes me to a page that gives me the option to drop photo here (but i don't know how to do that). it also gives me the option to choose photo/video. i click on choose photo/video
5. for me it opens a file on my desktop. i look for the photo i've previously uploaded to that file, and click on the photo and click "open"
6. the picture opens on the imgur page. on the top right of my photo it says "copy link" but i click on the three dots next to that.
7. there is a little drop down menu ("edit image" "get share links" "download image"
. click on "get share links"
8. another menu opens that gives you 4 options. the third one says "BBCODE (FORUMS)" & that's the one you want. click on the green square that says COPY LINK.
9. now you've got that link copied. come back to DU and paste the link. i did a picture of a clock (it's 5 o'clock somewhere).
you'll see brackets before and after the link with the word "img" and you can backspace over those brackets so they won't show in your photo. or you can just leave it and post the entire link. if you post the link with the brackets here is what it will look like: (and we'd love to see a photo of your beloved Baast. i'm am so sorry you are going thru this heartbreaking loss.
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It never gets easier to lose a fur kid, no matter how many you've had over the years. When the time is right, I hope you can let another one into your heart--not to take Bellatrix's place, but to help heal your's.
Peace,
