I don't get too attached to animals. I like 'em, and I like having them around, and I enjoy their presence, but it's silly to waste too much emotion on them. So I'm writing this more for the "awwwe" factor than the "I'm sad and must reflect" factor.
We often let our two cats, Rufus and Roscoe, outside to roam. Otherwise they got all edgey and bored. Which would, to steal an idea from the comic Get Fuzzy, result in a band-aid moment. Rufus re-appeared after a few hours, where Roscoe did not. Which wasn't nessisarily unusual. He sometimes waited until morning to re-appear.
However, when the next morning rolled around, there was no cat. I did not worry about it because cats are cats. You can't really expect them to do anything the way you think it should be done. By noon my mom was vaguely worried. It was still too soon for me to waste any thought on it.
Three days later and I did my own version of worry. My mom and sisters walked around the neighborhood, call his name, hoping to find him perhaps caught in a tree or caught in a bush somewhere. Nothing.
The whole thing climaxed when a note from a neightbor several streets away left a note on our door. Simply stated, she found our cat dead in her back lawn (which faced the street), and that she was sorry (even though she had nothing to do with it).
So yesterday after work I got home and helped my sister dig a hole in the ground. The vet said to make it three foot deep. Yeah right. We got it to perhaps two and a half foot before being too exhausted to be able to dig through the clay and stone any farther. My mom said a few words for the benifit of my sisters and then I replaced the dirt.
Article comments
1 - andy
heh. Be glad you don't keep killer fish. If my oscar fish doesn't like any of the other fish in the tank, he simply eats it. The other fish don't seem like themselves after that for a few days(much like your cat right now), but it's not because they miss the fish that became dinner. It's because they fear that they're next. Yup there was no digging a hole and burial service when Derek, Pete, and George the fish were eaten...no remains...I thought that a shark, a catfish, and some other weird fish(it was ugly...Derek I think it was) were all too big for the death jaws of the Oscar. I was wrong. Good thing I don't have sisters!
2 - Tom Johnson
Sorry to hear about your loss. I'd be devastated if one of my cats died. Ours are indoor cats, so they just follow us around like hungry little kids all the time, sit on us, and generally wedge themselves into every aspect of our lives.
Interestingly, I saw somewhere that research has shown that animals do indeed greive the loss of their companions - human or animal. They may not be capable of understanding what has happened, but they know things have changed and they know their friend is gone. That's friggin' sad as hell.
3 - The Theory
i could definately see dogs grieving the loss of their "master"... especially if they've been together for many years.