Goodnight little cat

Sadly we had to have our dear old cat Simba put to sleep today. She had kidney failure, she was on a special diet and she’d had some injections at the vets but it didn’t work and she’d got so weak she was struggling to walk. The vet said we could have had a couple more days with her and waited until she couldn’t lift her head but that would have been for our sake not hers, it wouldn’t have been fair to let her suffer. 

Simba was my cat, I had her for 9 years and she was an adult rescue cat when we got her so she was really quite old but nobody knows how old. My husband (yes you, I know you’re reading this) didn’t like her because she didn’t do much. That was just her character though, she was lovely and friendly and didn’t want much other than her cat food, some milk and a cuddle or a lap to sit on. She coped really well with Libby wanting to touch her and stroke her even though she was old and weak and Libby wasn’t very gentle. Simba never once tried to scratch or hurt Libby, who had recently started to call her “ca ca ca”. 

I am sad to lose Simba and particularly sad that Libby won’t remember her. Libby came to the vets with me to have Simba put to sleep and we were both with her when she passed away. I know she is too young to understand but I don’t believe that children should be sheltered from things like this, pets teach them valuable lessons about life and death. 

When Libby was born, an old friend of mine bought her a fabulous diary called “my life story”. It is a 100 year diary with a page for every season of her life from birth to 100 years old and space for photographs. There is then a little annotation to say that if you reach the end of the book, you can contact the company that make it and they will give you a complimentary continuation copy. This is the best baby present we could ever have received, there is nothing more valuable to a person than their memories. A book recording all of her memories from birth will really be something to treasure when she is older. 

Today has really brought home its value to me. I have written a little note in the book to say that Simba has passed away today and that Libby was there with her. There is already a picture of Simba in the book. Whilst it is sad that Libby won’t remember the cat that she loved, I look forward to looking at the book with her when she is older, showing her the picture and telling her all about Simba and how much we loved her.