This morning started out like any other for us, other than a storm that was brewing, everyone was sleeping peacefully, until my mother-in-law screamed my name. This is not something that anyone likes to wake up too.

Losing a Pet is like losing a Family Member.

This was our Furbaby Adolph (So named because of his certain style of mustache he had when he was little). When I heard that scream this morning, it was because of him. He had collapsed. We rushed him to the nearest Vet Hospital (that happened to be about 30 minuets away) but it was to late, he was gone, and probably was before we even left. He was 8 years old and had a heart mummer since he was little, but it had never bothered him and he was super active and healthy. The doctor told us she wasn’t sure what it was the happened to him, which is hard in itself to deal with.

He was also quite large as you can see. Hard to believe he was the runt of the litter huh? This cat was more then a pet for us, he was a part of our family, which is how I think every pet owner should feel about their pets. He loved everyone, but not as much as he loved his Mommy (My mother-in-law) whenever she was gone he would say “mooooommmm” Literally,  the cat said Mom.

Coming home from the Hospital I peeked in on my little girl (who is 4) and she was already awake, sitting up in her bed. She says to me “Mommy, why was Grandma screaming this morning, and why are you crying?” I’ll be honest, I was not prepared to answer that question, but I believe honesty is the best policy, so I told her the truth, in simple terms. I told her that Adolph had gotten sick, and he was gone. She didn’t understand of course, but I thought it was important that she knew what was going on, and I didn’t lie to her.

Our pets are a very important part of our family, as you can see we had 4, now 3.  Never take anything in life for granted, you never know when I loved one is going to leave you. Adolph will be cremated and brought home sometime next week. He will be forever loved and missed, RIP Dolphy.

How do you deal with a loss of a pet? Do you get your kids involved, or keep them out of it?