Readers & Writers discussion

i'm a cat lover and I just lost my best friend Lily this year. She would have been 19 years old this Halloween, but kidney disease got the best of her. That's her i'm holding on my on my homepage. I will never get over the loss.

I like the picture. Are you going to get another cat?
My dog Ella died a couple months ago. She was the best dog of all time. I was heartbroken and must say that it was the saddest thing that ever happened to me

I won't be getting another cat. It was too much trauma of Lily passing. I will also be traveling more and I don't trust anyone to take care of my animals.

After our dog died, I just knew I couldn't take the grief of having another pet. We have fostered a couple of cats, and my daughter has a cat, so we have a grandkitty living with us right now.

I volunteer at a cat shelter weekly, and get my dose of furry love there. You'd think it would be depressing, but it isn't at all. The shelter is clean, and the volunteers are passionate about taking good care of the cats. Sometimes they die, but rarely, and though I'm sad, I don't have the same attachment as I did with my own pets.

I'm reading A Shot in the Bark. It's a creepy good story

I’m so sorry to hear about Lily, I know that was very difficult. I’m sure she appreciated having you as her cohort. Maybe there’s a traveling companion version …you never know.

To get the love you have to get the grief.

I’m still chuckling about A shot in the Bark nestled in with our heartfelts lol.

Liked that book

I have 3 cats, brother and sisters. I rescued them 2 years ago when the mama had them in my apartment complex and then carried them to my patio. I love them more than books! lol
My condolences Robert on your loss. I can't even imagine because I never had cats before.

I’ve seen for the last month TV ads from ASPCA about the neglect and cruelty to animals. It warrants the death penalty as far as I’m concerned!

If you don’t find a little litter in your bed, you’re probably not a real cat lover.

I have a cat and a dog—both rescues. I tried fostering kittens, but told myself once I kept one I couldn’t foster anymore. I already had 2 cats, Duchess is the first and last foster.

I have several pets over the years, from the time I was three. I still love each of them and miss them.

Shari wrote: "I have 3 cats, brother and sisters. I rescued them 2 years ago when the mama had them in my apartment complex and then carried them to my patio. I love them more than books! lol
My condolences Robe..."

Don't give the ASPCA any money! Most of it goes to pay the huge salaries of the administrative people. If you want to help animals, find a local shelter to donate to.

Susan wrote: "Shari wrote: "I have 3 cats, brother and sisters. I rescued them 2 years ago when the mama had them in my apartment complex and then carried them to my patio. I love them more than books! lol
My co..."

Susan wrote: "Shari wrote: "I have 3 cats, brother and sisters. I rescued them 2 years ago when the mama had them in my apartment complex and then carried them to my patio. I love them more than books! lol
My co..."

You are right,Shari. It’s better to give to local shelters.

There are many rescue groups that will take and find homes for those unwanted.

Sorry for your loss Robert. It is really hard when we lose the.

Personally I've had pets my whole life, so find it strange to not have any. When we lost our first dog as a couple Barney, at nearly 13 years old, my partner really struggled with it and we had a 5 year gap before Cooper came into our lives. For being the same breed (Labrador) he could not be more different to our last boy. I think you forget how hard the puppy times can be. This tinker tests my patience though! He is like a naughty teenager who doesn't listen and sulks and throws tantrums if he can't get his own way. He is certainly entertaining!

I have 2 miniature Schnauzers, one all white male (Rex) and one salt and pepper female (Rosie). I love cats, but any we've had in our home used the entire house as their litter box. My husband couldn't tolerate this anymore, so we're strictly a dog family now.

Robert wrote: "i'm a cat lover and I just lost my best friend Lily this year. She would have been 19 years old this Halloween, but kidney disease got the best of her. That's her i'm holding on my on my homepage. ..."

I'm sorry for your loss of your best friend Robert.

I love cats and dogs! At the moment I have a dog named Zeke which I rescued from an online shelter here in Wisconsin. He was one year old when I rescued him and he is now 10!
I'm so sorry to hear that you lost your cat Lily this year ,Robert! Pets to me are like family! I too have seen the commercials on television of the ASPCA and the cruelty people do to these precious animals! I agree with you that these individuals should get the death penalty for the crimes they commit.

Those who abuse animals will not hesitate to abuse humans too. These people are evil with no conscience and should be eradicated from society.

Very true , Robert! Many serial killers get their start that way! It seems that there is no shortage of sociopaths, psychopaths and narcissists these days!!

Deb in my humble opinion there are only two types of people. There are the good people and then there is the bad people. No in between with me. Now we just have to figure out how to eliminate the bad from the planet. What we are doing so far isn’t cutting it!

I couldn’t agree more Robert. Animal abuse is completely uncalled for and those who abuse them should be handled better than they are now!

Oh, don’t get me wrong, I think it’s completely wrong!!

Deb wrote: "Oh, don’t get me wrong, I think it’s completely wrong!!"

Didn't get it. What is completely wrong?

Abusing animals.

Actually there are really bad people and some really good people add the rest are a mixture of good and bad. Tell me how you get to decide who stays and who goes.

That’s for the courts to decide not me. Unfortunately the courts are not doing their job. Too many felons getting released back into society, and committing more crimes.

If there are trails and the jury decides not guilty then that's the people who decided not the courts. Are you saying that judges are not imposing stiff enough sentences ?

Exactly Gwen. I don’t know how this subject veered off course. It’s suppose to be about our pets.

Sorry that was me. I didn't realize it was about pets. I loved my pets, but they all have went over the rainbow bridge.

Well I saw one lady taking the title of Crazy cat lady with 4 cats. I’ll need a new name as I have 8 cats. Ran a rescue for years and they are my motley crew of foster fails. I love them all and could not live with out them.

You are a wonderful human being Crystal!

I love all animals but mostly cats. My long haired tuxedo cat Ella just turned 17.

I lost my cat Lily Munster last year at 18. I’m still grieving and probably always will.

Robert, you should get another kitty. The joy it brings will help with the grieving. You can’t replace one that has passed but you can save one now to bring it and you joy.

I’m too old and travel a lot. I wouldn’t trust anyone to look after it when I’m gone.

I have had both dogs and cats. My first pet was Springer Spaniel, named Ring. I had two more dogs Mitsy and Scooter. Then I got two cats cats litter mates Trigger and Onyx.

Sorry about your loss of Lily, Robert.

I lost Candy last year, right before Easter. My other cat, Teddy, grieved her big sister for a few months.

Had a foster cat, who should have become the new one but it was hate on first sight between Teddy and foster. A few months later a tiny 12 week old kitten moved in. Kelley. Turned from shy to monster mousie. Teddy tolerates her, but that's it. Even a year later, they are not the best of friends.

I need a guide for formatting here. Help, please?

Robert wrote: "I lost my cat Lily Munster last year at 18. I’m still grieving and probably always will."

I'm so sorry about losing Lily, Robert.

My cat's name is Egg, and she makes every day better. While I know that, in the overall scheme of things, she will go before me, I have a hard time thinking of a day without her.

Pic on Instagram, when she was kinda done with me tippy-tapping on the laptop AGAIN. https://www.instagram.com/p/C9AYTbIse3g/

Jeanne wrote: "I need a guide for formatting here. Help, please?"

Jeanne - If you select the phrase above the box where you're posting your reply that says "some html is ok," it will give you all the permissible html tags that you can use. The simplest way is to copy and paste the tag you want from the dropdown box, and you can then put your text in between them, such as for bold:
< b>...< /b>
Then replace the ... with your text. As long as you leave the brackets and tags alone, it will bold everything in between them. Please note, I've added a space after each opening bracket in the tags above so that I could show you an example--which disables the tags. If I hadn't, you wouldn't be able to see them.

You can always tell if your formatting worked by selecting "preview" next to the "Post" button below.

You can also simply type the tags in before and after the word or phrase you want to format--you must always have a beginning tag and an end one with the forward slash, or it doesn't work correctly.

Hope that's helpful and not a whole lot more than you wanted to know!

My pup Blue, a French Bulldog, is so sweet. I lost my Gracie, a Boston Terrier, a couple of years ago. She was 14 and seemed to understand most of what I said to her because I talked to her all the time. She got me through Covid. Now that I have Blue, I'm more convinced than ever that dogs are born with personalities just like people are. The two pups couldn't be more different in temperament, and it's interesting to see the differences. I'm convinced that dogs have spirits. They're certainly not of a lesser species than humans.

Every time I see the television ad regarding animal abuse it angers me to no end. At the same time I can watch the brutality of wars in the middle east and Ukraine and it has no impact on me at all. Rather strange when I think about it.

Robert, I also have more empathy for other animals than humans. You’re not alone

You guys might want to look at the Philosophy group thread about evil. Interesting.

Right, Ruth:-) It's a group called Philosophy with a thread about evil. Some people are claiming that animals are evil because they sometimes kill without eating their prey. It's an interesting discussion.

Yeah I choke up every time I see those commercials for the abused animals. If you don't want to care for an animal then don't get one.

We have a little pomeranian. " Tig."
I've always been partial to the poms. Her job is guard duty.

She is vigilant 24/7. Unfortunately, this little 4 pounder can sound off like our ADT system if a raccoon rambles through the yard at night.

My husband said she sounds as loud as the Klaxon they used on a dive when he was in the Navy.
She regards the mail as a true enemy.

She will shred it as our carrier puts it through the slot. She does not try to steal food, but if you give her a special treat, she will hide it for later.
Her treat is precious. There will be no sharing once given.

My husband is a tall man 6'3, but he always liked little dogs and cats.
We had a big yellow tabby named Jack. Everyone in the neighborhood knew him.

In the summertime, he would lounge outside on the sidewalk and get up and greet passing people for a rub.

We would hear people outside talking to him,
"Hey Jack" How's the tail today Jack?" "Catch a mouse today?"

We could never figure out how all these people knew his name.

When old Jack finally passed, we put him in a pillowcase, and my husband buried him in the yard and made him a little marker.
Not long after, I looked out the back window and saw an older couple and a few children standing in the back yard at his grave.

I asked my husband to see who they were. I did not recognize them.

When he came back in he said they lived over on the next street and knew him as "Big Jack." Our cat used to visit them. They said he would lay a dead mouse on their front step, and her husband would give him a piece of chicken or some such treat
They heard he died and wanted to say goodby.

Later my husband was out in the garage with his Dremel making a new marker.
"Jack", everybody's friend.

What a cat!