# Alfie :(



## freekygeeky (May 25, 2007)

Alfie had to be put down today - garahm took him to the vets with my grandad got im put to sleep and burried him 
Alfie was a beautiful tabby cat with a verrrry annoying meow!!! 
He was my grandadas and grandmas - they brought them the same year as me (him and his brother - who got put to sleep before christmas) so i could grow up with them - they both reached the ripe old age of 19 
i still cant stop crying 
Gllad i didnt go and see he put to sleep though - 

now my grandada who has had a cat since he was born - has no cats.. strange


Everyone will miss you alfie...
now go beat up your brother max!!!


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## cupcake.1978 (Aug 14, 2007)

RIP Alfie x


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## ANT (Nov 11, 2007)

sorry to hear about the loss freeky R.I.P alfie


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## freekygeeky (May 25, 2007)

thank you everyone


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## Iliria (Jan 19, 2007)

r.i.p


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## linda.t (Sep 28, 2007)

so sorry for your loss
linda


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## freekygeeky (May 25, 2007)

thank you everyone


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## stephenie191 (May 29, 2007)

It's always sad when you lose a pet. Espeshially one thats older 

R-i-p little guy : victory:


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## zirliz (Nov 15, 2006)

That's on old cat, they'll be missed I'm sure


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## PRS (Dec 31, 2007)

Sorry m8 RIP Alfie


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Sorry to hear this news Gina! But 19 is a great age - haven't managed to get any of my animals to that age, so you should congratulate your grandada and grandma!

It doesn't help you to deal with it, but it maybe is some comfort that he lived so long and you had him in your life for so long.

RIP Alfie!!


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## freekygeeky (May 25, 2007)

still so upsetting.. and graham said he just kept meowing and meowing on the table when they left - how on earth do people do it with out crying - im crying now just typing.. 


feorag said:


> Sorry to hear this news Gina! But 19 is a great age - haven't managed to get any of my animals to that age, so you should congratulate your grandada and grandma!
> 
> It doesn't help you to deal with it, but it maybe is some comfort that he lived so long and you had him in your life for so long.
> 
> RIP Alfie!!


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## Burmese-Miles (Dec 28, 2007)

:sad: :!:


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

freekygeeky said:


> still so upsetting.. and graham said he just kept meowing and meowing on the table when they left - how on earth do people do it with out crying - im crying now just typing..


No animal lover can, I think! I've had every animal, except one, euthanased and I cannot leave them on the table. I have to be there with them, I have to know that they know that I was with them.

You have to remember that you take your pets to the vets loads of times in their life and more often than not, nothing nice happens to them while they are there, they get loads of needles and then you take them home again, so another needle doesn't mean "the end" to them. They literally fall asleep and I need them to do that in my arms, usually with my lips on their head kissing them (starting to blubber now!!!). 

Every vet I've had over the years have all been very understanding and usually bring a box of tissues with the injections and then when the deed is done they go away and leave me, cos although I can't stop the tears pouring out of my eyes, I hate crying in front of people, so I'm struggling to control my sobbing. Once they've gone I have a good cry and then can compose myself to go out into the waiting room. Can't count how many times I've done that over the years, but like I said it's just the way that I am, I couldn't live with myself thinking that my pet thought I'd deserted them.

Then I come home and write a story about them. It's takes me hours or days, because I cry so much, but I find it cathartic and healing. And I recite the "If it should be" poem over and over in my head to remind myself that what I've just done, I did for my pet, not for me! My final gift! I have to do it in my head because I can never say it out loud without my throat closing! It's a lovely poem.

Off for a tissue now!


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## mleadley (Oct 1, 2007)

Sorry to hear that


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## freekygeeky (May 25, 2007)

made me cry

only ever lost one cat in my whole life - never want to loose my two 

but it will happen.. is horrible 


feorag said:


> No animal lover can, I think! I've had every animal, except one, euthanased and I cannot leave them on the table. I have to be there with them, I have to know that they know that I was with them.
> 
> You have to remember that you take your pets to the vets loads of times in their life and more often than not, nothing nice happens to them while they are there, they get loads of needles and then you take them home again, so another needle doesn't mean "the end" to them. They literally fall asleep and I need them to do that in my arms, usually with my lips on their head kissing them (starting to blubber now!!!).
> 
> ...


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## Phillipl (May 21, 2007)

that sucks man,  R.I.P


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

freekygeeky said:


> only ever lost one cat in my whole life - never want to loose my two
> 
> but it will happen.. is horrible


Yes, sadly it will happen - it's almost unavoidable.

I remember when I was having my third dog put to sleep my vet said to me "you'll be getting used to this now!" and my answer was that I would never get used to it and it was my abiding wish to have my pets die at home.

Like I've said in over 40 years of animal ownership that has only ever happened once and actually it was worse! It was Briagha, my Havana and I came home from work and found him dead at the bottom of the stairs. He was only 3½ years old and had been diagnosed with cardiomyopathy about a month earlier. I thought he would live for years longer, but it wasn't to be - he died of heart failure.

I say it was worse because I wasn't there. If he'd been in his usual place in bed with his head on my pillow and I'd woken up and found him dead that would have been OK because he would have known I was there - it was the not being there that I found difficult to live with. If I'd been there could I have prevented it? Was he frightened, distressed in pain - I should have been with him. Since that episode I've found I actually prefer the euthanasia route, because I can be with them and know that they aren't in pain and just "go to sleep". This all happened nearly 14 years ago and I still miss him and when I read his story I still cry for him.

The story of Briagha was the first one I ever wrote and I found it helped. I loved him so much I was kind of scared I would forget all his little idiosyncrasies, so I wrote his story for a cat club magazine and since then I've done it when every animal I've lost has died and found that it helps. If you go to my website (following the link in my profile) and take the "Memories" link - his story is entitled Briagha - which means beautiful in gaelic.


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## freekygeeky (May 25, 2007)

awww 

ill go andhave a look - and what a beautiful idea 


feorag said:


> Yes, sadly it will happen - it's almost unavoidable.
> 
> I remember when I was having my third dog put to sleep my vet said to me "you'll be getting used to this now!" and my answer was that I would never get used to it and it was my abiding wish to have my pets die at home.
> 
> ...


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## zirliz (Nov 15, 2006)

I can remember I was in college when my mother had the vet put both our dogs down 
I was devastated but waiting a week to be with them would have been cruel, she said they just slipped into a deep sleep felt nothing poor things


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## feorag (Jul 31, 2007)

Yes, you are right your mother really had no choice there! Fortunately, I've always managed to take mine - in fact I insist upon it and won't even let my husband do it. Having said that I wasn't allowed to have pets when I lived at home (apart from a budgie!), so I was married and in my own home and had total responsibility of my pets by the time I had to make these decisions.

Euthanasia actually means "gentle and easy death" and your mother is right your dogs would have slipped into a deep sleep and felt nothing. The usual route with vets is to give the animal a triple concentrated anaesthetic which can take effect as quickly as a few seconds and the animal can stop breathing in literally a couple of minutes, so it's very quick and very painless. 

The way that I see it this is the last gift that you can give an animal you love and who has loved you unconditionally throughout its life, which (as yet) we cannot even give the humans we deeply love!


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