It broke my heart on Saturday afternoon. My husband had his own meltdown, and kept crying that he killed his best friend and buddy. He sobbed in my arms for an hour. He kept asking for Arlo's forgiveness for having to do this, and then yelling at God and telling him off for taking away his friend. It was so sad.

This is a good thing, as heart wrenching as it is at the time i hate to hear of people who are 'handling it' .

In time you will both come to realise that you made the decision from your hearts and now your head takes over stiring it all up.

Love Sue

I am so sorry for both of you and I know how your husband feels. My relationship with my little buddy was so intense that I feel as if a big part of my life was ended when he died. I had no choice but to end his pain and I think that you guys were in the same boat. It is much worse to expect a little loved one to suffer horribly.

In honor of my Sidney I went to a shelter and picked out a little guy who was hit by a car and has permanently lost a fair amount of mobility in one of his back legs. Other than that he is great, healthy and super friendly. I can't wait to pick him up after the vet gives him a final okay.

I don't know what else any of us can do. We can't get our old friends back. As much as I wish that I could.

You guys will always remember Arlo with kindness in your hearts and those fond memories will eventually win out in the battle with the painful ones. I hope that this happens soon for you.

I agree completely with what Sidney's Buddy said. We can never get back the wonderful, loving friends that we lost, but we can help another pet in their honor. When my son is older that is what I plan to do - go to the shelter and get a dog that no one wants, one that cannot find a home. Daisy was a dog that no one wanted because she had a congenital liver defect, and was supposed to die young - she almost made it to 12. To me, she was perfect, and I will miss her always.


Daisy's Mommy

I am so sorry for your loss. I wanted to tell you how very lucky your hubby is to have your arms to cry in. You are both in my prayers.

Erin

Hi,
Your Arlo looks just like a cat I had for 18 years and I will always
mix his "murks" . My Sophie was killed by dogs a month ago and I
have adopted a Katrina kitty from New Orleans and she is the
sweetest little girl. Whoever she belonged to must have loved her
and took good care of her. She will never be Sophie but she is
a great companion and has brought much joy to our sad empty hearts.
Grief cycles back and forth but the guilt stage will pass but you
have to go through it. I keep going over "what if" just a normal
stage of loss...each day it fetd a little better.
Prayers..Jan

Thanks to everyone for such wonderful words of wisdom. We talked a lot about Arlo, and discovered that this was his first real chance to grieve (he was only home on weekends), and now that he is not working, it all came out. It was very cathartic. I finally brought all of Arlo's unused food to the local animal shelter, and theywere quite appreciative. Arlo had a bout with a urinary infection (it didn't develop into crystals), and we had the prescription food for that. One of the cats at the shelter also had crystals and needs to be on the special food, so I felt really good knowing he would be able to have it. We will get another cat, just not for a long while. It's still hard to see all the places Arlo used to sleep, empty. He will always be in our hearts and memories, and given that he was a cat, we have plenty of fur on the sofa, carpet, bedding, clothes, etc etc etc to remember him by as well! (I can't believe I (tried to) made a funny).