Saying Goodbye Again

We've been "babysitting" a kitten for a couple of weeks. He couldn't stay with his real "parents", as he's needed medication twice a day and didn't need his brother pouncing on him every few minutes while he tried to rest and mum and dad were at work. He was rescued from a shelter by some kind-hearted woman from whom our friends purchased him and his brother. Both Siamese "mutts", Gleb was a creamy Flame Point while his brother looks like a Lynx Point. Boris is a little bundle of energy, while Gleb seemed listless and underweight.

He had what we thought was a pernicious UTI, but today, after two weeks of love and care and snuggling all night every night, we found out he had FIP...feline infectious peritonitis. There is no cure, and it's universally fatal. Our friends took him to the vet a few hours ago and held him as he drifted to sleep, the last time in this world. We're all a mess right now. Our friends must be in a kind of hell. Boris and Gleb were brought in to their lives to fill the void left by two other of their cats who recently passed on; one from old age, and the other from a congenital heart condition that suddenly presented.

People who don't understand this kind of pain have never lost somebody they truly loved. Many people don't understand that for some of us losing a "pet" is almost equivalent to losing a human child. These creatures are our children. They depend on us, give us love and affection which we (hopefully!) return, and become and integral part of our lives. Losing them, in any way, can be quite debilitating. I believe that beloved creatures like these will be with us again someday. I don't have hard scripture to back this up, but there are hints, especially in the Old Testament. God knows the big picture, and I'll trust him.