Do we just live and suffer and die?
My cat died April 16th, 2023. Had a few, never have another. Can I share my story? I swear there’s a point at the end.
Adopted her from a local redditor, who had only had her a month. She was always tiny, but at some point, cancer wasted her overnight. By the time I noticed her collar falling off her 1.5" neck it was too late. We found her dead in the hallway the next night.
She sat on my lap every night, and that’s all she wanted, simple affection. I was single and living alone, excepting a friend with benefits across the street, I was terribly alone. She was my solace, my peace. She was my friend, not an animal, not a pet, my friend. And gods how I cried because I felt I had let my dear friend down. Hell, crying now.
“WHY?!”, I screamed. Why was such a blameless and harmless friend dead when I’ve done such evil in life?! I’ve tried to be one of the good guys, but I’ve done bad things. She had no concept of evil, she just was, and only asked for comfort. Call it survivor guilt, guess it is. But a life like hers clearly deserved more life than my tainted soul.
She didn’t do any of the typical cat meme stuff, just kinda hung around. Rarely left the yard, just sat in the shadow of my truck when it was hot, chilled inside when it was cold. Always low energy, but no issues the vet could point to.
Anyway, I buried her out at my personal chunk of swamp in the boonies. Fought for 30 minutes to cut through cypress roots, but I wanted her to rest in a nice shady spot by the water. Literal blood, sweat and tears getting that tiny grave open. Didn’t think anyone would give a shit, but my friends all rolled out. I’m the guy in the cowboy hat. I salute her grave every time I pass.
Mom died 2-weeks ago, on my birthday. I cried for that cat far more than for her. I get you. I feel you. LOL, I’m sure mom cried more for the death of her mountain lions than she would have for me. So it goes.
So yeah, we live and we die. Our friends and family die. Suffering? I dunno. Did my cat suffer? She certainly did for at least some of her life. But she certainly didn’t after I got her. At least she was as happy as I knew how to make her.
Suffering is only possible if you’re alive. Hell, we could be atoms embedded in a Jovian moon, but at least we’re here to feel. And that’s pretty fucking wild if you think about it. I’ve suffered like hell, but I’ve also experienced and loved more than the vast majority of humans ever will. (And if you looked at our pics, the little Asian woman is now my wife. Funny how life works out.) If I died tonight, I’d call it a win. Being alive is a fabulous gift, even though it has its downsides.
How about you tell us about your cat? Your turn OP. Step up and let us have it.
I’m sorry for your loss, bud. I lost my dog last week in a similar way. I took her in for a routine tooth cleaning, they found a mass in her abdomen, and her body wasn’t strong enough to recover from the anesthesia 😞.
She was so young, and as you point out, so incontrovertibly innocent. It’s been a difficult time this week accepting that she’s suddenly gone from my and my partner’s life.
A friend shared this with me and it’s been “living rent free” as they say.
Time is an illusion that makes things make sense,
So we’re always living in the present tense.
It seems so unforgiving when a good thing ends,
But you and I will always be back then.
Here’s to animal friends making us our most human selves.
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I truly appreciate your story because I’ve been there. Had my best friend for 13 years - the cat who would be waiting by the door when I got home from work, who would cry out in the house if she didn’t know what room I was in. The one who was always on my lap and who slept right next to me snuggled up against me in bed at night. She was the perfect cat and friend, and even though it’s been 8 years, I still think about her on an almost daily basis.
I love how you gave your friend such a loving and caring place to rest. I’m sending you random internet stranger hugs and good vibes. <3
Man, I can’t believe I’m still crying about a fucking cat. But you get me.
She was always there. She was there when I was so very lonely and depressed. She wasn’t bitchy or loud or insistent, she just appeared on my lap when I finally sat down for the evening.
Check the videos I posted, those are people who never gave a shit about a cat and loved her dearly. I know, they came to the funeral for me, those events are always for the survivors, but still, they had words.
Glad OP posted this so we could all share, get it out some.
What’s wrong about crying about a cat? It’s like losing a family member after all.
I lost my cat two years ago and miss her dearly. We vowed no more pets but as time went on we missed having a pet. So we got another cat.
It’s hard when the end feels so cruel but having years of joy outweighs the weeks of sadness.
Welcome to the philosophy of absurdism.
Life has no meaning, nothing has purpose.
In this freedom find the space to make your own meaning and your own purpose.
You kitty likely had a long kitty life with someone who loved them and who they loved. You created purpose where none existed for the both of you.
I am sorry for the loss of your kitty my dude, I’m sorry you’re hurting.
This is how I’ve made sense of the world… Nothing actually matters so I get to choose what matters to me.
I said this at work, and my boss was not happy. Maybe don’t spend 30 years at the same job pretending you’re changing the world?
I work in a career where some folks can really drink the coolaid… But, like, we’re not really changing anything? At all.
But who cares? It is what it is - do the job, get paid, go home and do something fun.
I’m sorry about your kitty. I had to put mine to sleep last Monday and man the first 3 days were rough. I miss him so much now but I’m getting better every day. You will too. It never goes away but it gets easier. The point of it all is to give your kitties the best possible life and never stop loving them. Here is my old man Stanley.
I’m on day 2 right now. I’ve never had the day after be worse than the day of, but yesterday was the hardest, darkest day I’ve ever experienced, even when weighed against losing a parent when I was 12. I thought I’d braced myself and prepared, but nothing could have prepared me.
The first few days were really hard for me to. It really hurts getting through everything for the first time without them. It sucks. Think about something cute your kitty did. Maybe share your favorite picture with us.
Out of the thousands I have, this has always been my favorite picture of her.
I captures her personality perfectly. She was a wonderful girl. The best.
Oh I think you uploaded the wrong one, I’m seeing a puppy
I’m sorry. Mom died that day and I cried more over my cat that died last spring. Had several cats these past decades, never felt so much as for her. (LOL, the cat, not mom.)
ive had to say goodby to a few pet friends now. i dont regret having my pet friends.
we got to enjoy each others company, and honestly the pet gets the better end of this deal if their people are sound.
the pet gets the better end
The one comforting thing is that my cat probably doesn’t care about leaving as much as I do. He loves sleeping anyway
were all ships passing in the night. a few get to know each other before moving on.
i just got my first dog. i hate dogs. i now only hate all other dogs. and this dog… well, its already bothering me i will have to say goodbye.
but it reminds me of that south park episode
Butters is too damn pure for South Park (most of the time). He’s probably my favorite side character.
It hurts. I had to put my cat of 18 years down last year and it hurt for a long while. But I wouldn’t trade having her as my friend; the end was sad and rough, but I made sure she had as good of a life as I could give her the entire time she was with me. We can’t do much better than that for our furry friends.
Hang in there friend, it does get better with time.
18-years is damned rough OP. Jesus, I feel for you. But 18-years is a hella life for a cat, so good job fellow human. You did your part. Can’t say if I’ll ever have a relationship that long, but my kids are young, who knows!
We are approaching exaxtly this. Got her as a palm-sized mini-furball 17 years ago. A true lap-cat, always on top of us. It won’t be much longer; I am absolutely not looking forward to that day. Well, she will be the most cared for elderly cat in the region. That’s about all we can do. It’s insane how a mostly asleep tiny creature that never learns anything can affect one’s life.
When my dog died a few months ago, I cried harder than I had in probably 15 years on and off for a solid week. It’s brutal. But I promise it will get a little more bearable as time passes. Doesn’t feel like it right now, but it will. And the best part is that it’s not like they just disappear from your life. It will become more bearable, and the tragedy will give way to wonderful memories that you share over and over.
Same… its been 11 months. Best friends for over 15 years and then cancer wrecked her far too slowly.
Still you got to love, didn’t you? Love always leads to heartbreak. But at least there is love and those small moments between the two of you that must have been incredibly precious. That’s all there is to life, I believe.
Edit: trust me, there are worse ways to live. For example, life lived chasing illusions such as money, fame or power.
Yes
Don’t be a reductionist. If that’s all your cat was and that’s all your relationship was, then fine. If it wasn’t, you owe it to that cat to remember all the good times you two had between when it came to life and when it lost its life. Do it for the cat.
Then, when you’ve finally moved past this point, realize how much joy you gave that cat. Know that you did something beautiful in letting that cat know it was loved from beginning to end. Think about the cat’s perspective. Its death may have sucked; they rarely don’t. Now think about every moment that cat experienced growing up and being with you. Every sense of relief that cat felt when you came home. Every wave of comfort when you gave it pets. Every moment of safety it felt when you cared for it.
I know how sad you are, and I know this is tough love here, but that’s what carried me through losing my dog on Christmas 2022 and her sister December 16th 2023. We did our best. They couldn’t have had happier lives. I’m glad we could do that for them. It was worth the weeks of agonizing grief for the 14 and 16 years of happiness they experienced.
My dog is only 3, almost 4, but I try to think about stuff like this every day I come home from work and give him attention. I’m not crying, but my eyes certainly aren’t dry anymore.
I can’t find the original, so this is a link to a repost on Twitter. Hope it makes you smile like it always does for me.
https://twitter.com/The_YUNiversity/status/1381262764178604032
Bonus: https://imgur.com/oSiajTF
🥲
Well if this isn’t the most beautiful thread I have seen on Lemmy… thank you everyone. I’m not crying!
The point is that he got born and got to live with you for many years.
Don’t focus on the end, focus on all the great moments you had together.
Yes and no. On one (nihilistic) hand, you live to die. The other hand (the better one) is that you give your own meaning to live. Fill in the spaces between the living, dying, and suffering parts, to make them seem insufficient in comparison. Just like the time you spent with your cat.
Nothing makes either side any less true - it’s all up to interpretation. For your mental health, though, it’s better to follow the latter.
the entire existence of all living things is the struggle. some thrive, some don’t.
but we do it all for the good days. if it was all good days, we wouldn’t appreciate them like we do. the darkness gives meaning to the light, and the bad days give meaning to the good ones.
i’m sorry about your cat. it can be rough to lose a loved one. but that doesn’t mean there won’t be more good days.
Life sucks, no doubt, but you’re here and you have to get used to it. The best advice I can provide is slurp up all the good moments you can and savor the taste, so their memories will get you through the hard spots. Repeat until dead.
You shared love and joy. Soon it will be time to share more love and joy with another that’s in need.
