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R.I.P. Kaitlyn 2018
R.I.P. Kaitlyn 2018

R.I.P. Kaitlyn 2018

Passed in the night 6-5/6-6. At peace. She knew she was safe, and protected, and loved.

In the past few weeks, I spent one or two or three hours, once or twice or more a day, petting her and giving her attention. She purred loudly and often.

Her coat was soft and beautiful till the end, and beyond.

Kaitlyn, I will strive to be true to your life and legacy: you gave total, 100% focus to “hunting;” you gave total, 100% focus to play; you gave total, 100% focus to friendship; you gave total, 100% focus to solitude. You were a master of movement, and a master of lazy slumber. You were true to your nature. I will miss you. You will be in my thoughts and heart forever.

4 Comments

    1. Michael Gold

      Thank you.

      In “The Death of Pet Can Hurt As Much As the Loss of a Relative,” Joe Yonan writes:

      “It’s been four months, and yet if somebody asks me about that day, my voice will crack. By ‘that day,’ I mean the day I came home from work to find my Doberman, Red, splayed out on my bedroom floor, his head to one side, his body lifeless but still warm. It’s an image I can’t seem to shake, as much as I try.

      “I’m no stranger to death. I was a mess of anger and confusion when my father, suffering the aftermath of a stroke, took his last gasps one day in 1995, his children gathered around his hospital bed. And three years later, the death of my sweet, beloved sister Bonny after a withering battle with brain cancer was nothing short of heartbreaking. Yet somehow, and much to my distress, the death of my dog seems even harder. I haven’t felt grief quite like this since, well, the death of my previous dog five years ago.

      “How could the death of a canine possibly hurt as much as that of a family member? As the sadness lingers, part of my grieving process has been to try to understand the differences.

      “Researchers have long known that the animal-human bond is strong: A 1988 study in the Journal of Mental Health Counseling asked a group of dog owners to place symbols for their family members and pets in a circle representing each dog owner’s life. (The distance between the subject and the other symbols corresponds to the relative, real-life closeness of those relationships.) The subjects tended to put the dog closer than the average family member, and about as close as the closest family member; in 38 percent of the cases, the dog was closest of all.” (source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/the-death-of-pet-can-hurt-as-much-as-the-loss-of-a-relative/2012/02/21/gIQALXTXcS_story.html?utm_term=.efe294210c47)

    1. Michael Gold

      Thank you. Yeah, you have pets, so you know.

      As Guy Winch says in “Why We Need to Take Pet Loss Seriously:” “…the loss of a cherished pet may be as intense and even as lengthy as when a significant person in our life dies….

      “Losing a pet disrupts [our] routines. Cats, dogs, horses and other cherished pets provide companionship, reduce loneliness and depression, and can ease anxiety. They support our emotional well-being and imbue our actions with meaning. This is why, in addition to emotional pain, we feel aimless and lost in the days and weeks after our pet dies.” (from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-we-need-to-take-pet-loss-seriously/)

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