Monday, 20 July 2026

My dearest little Bobby has passed away.

 

He was only just nine, middle-aged for a cat. He'd been ailing with we-don't-know-what for a couple of months, eating very little but drinking lots of water. The vet did some blood tests but couldn't determine exactly what the trouble was. So, night before last, he was lying on the bedroom floor at the foot of my bed, having lost significant weight and by then not even touching his favourite foods nor the water left beside him. When I went to bed at 12.30 a.m. (having stayed up for the World Cup Football) I checked that he was still breathing, albeit slow and shallow. I woke up a few hours later to find him in the same position, eyes open, though cold and lifeless. Took his poor body to the vet this morning for disposal. (Oh how I hate these times, of which I've seen far too many).

I don't have a photo of him as I now don't have the means to take any, but he was a real dearie, affectionate to me - and especially loved to be combed with a special 'cat-comb' (not one of those plastic 2-inch combs but a purpose-made steel-toothed one with handle), he coming to me half a dozen times a day and rubbing me to say that that was what he wanted.

He was mostly black, with a white breast and white paws - and was very much a home cat, while my now sole surviving pussy, Sloopy (same age), is rather more adventurous, though he too also returns comes home.

Sorry - I know that you other pet owners go through exactly the same trials from time to time, but I've got no one else here to off-load and spill my emotions onto. So, I do apologise for my indulging in details of which so many of you will be already painfully familiar, but if I don't get it off my chest to somebody, somehow, anyhow, I'm going to crack.

Farewell, my dearest lovely boy. Thank you ever so much for giving me your love - and your trust. I do so very ardently hope we will meet up again 'later'. XXXX

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13 comments:

  1. Moving with Mitchell20 July 2026 at 07:21

    Oh, dear Raybeard, my heart is with you. Nothing to apologize for. Wishing you sweet memories.

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    1. Raybeard20 July 2026 at 07:36

      Thanks greatly, Mitch - from one ailurophile to another. You yourself know what they mean to us - and we to them.

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  2. Elle Clancy20 July 2026 at 13:46

    I'm so sorry, Ray. It really is heartbreaking to lose a pet. They are companions and friends. May Bobby's memory be a blessing.

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    1. Raybeard21 July 2026 at 01:12

      Very grateful for your comment, Elle. I'm well aware just how this is a regular event for ALL we pet owners, though I'm sure that everyone feels that each time it happens doesn't make the next any easier to bear. Bobby's memory is indeed consoling, even if one wishes that somehow it needn't have really happened at all. But that's life - for us.

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  3. Jennifer20 July 2026 at 15:31

    Never, ever apologize for expressing this grief here on your blog, grief that all of us who love our pets as family have gone through. I'm so sorry for your loss. Nothing in my life has ever been any harder than this. Sending you love and a hug. xx

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    1. Raybeard21 July 2026 at 01:22

      It's especially hard when one doesn't have a companion on hand to share one's grief, Jennifer, so with these blogs being one's ONLY outlet, well there's no alternative other than to go mad trying to hold it in. However, I cannot, in all fairness, claim it as being hardER for we 'isolated' solitary owners as I've no doubt it cuts every bit as deep for everyone who holds their pets dearly. Your words - and your hug + love - are truly appreciated. Thanks ever so. XXXX

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  4. Bob20 July 2026 at 15:44

    Never ever apologize for how feel at the loss of a loved one, and that's what Bobby was ... he was loved. And he loved.
    He sounds like he was a Tuxedo cat, so maybe my Great Tuxedo will now have a new friend.
    RIP Bobby

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    1. Raybeard21 July 2026 at 01:33

      Very good of you to come here and say what you've just said, Bob. I put a high value on it.
      I'm certain that your Tux is being VERY popular right now in the 'beyond', just as he was when down here - and that Bobby has already joined his multitude of admirers. :-)

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  5. Camille20 July 2026 at 18:39

    Nothing worse than losing a dear friend and special pet. I am so very sorry and holding you in my heart right now. X

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    1. Raybeard21 July 2026 at 01:39

      All my gratitude to you for those words, Camille. Maybe it's making it slightly easier to cope with by the fact that my present survivor, Sloopy, doesn't show any signs at all of missing his companion - but they never got on together anyway - much to my disappointment - but there you are!
      Your own precious words are most helpful - so thank YOU!

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  6. Mistress Maddie21 July 2026 at 05:15

    One pet or 50, it never gets easier or any more familiar. My condolence on the loss of Bobby. I'm sure all your other cats met him at the rainbow bridge to welcome him across. I hate to see pets hang on and suffer too long.

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    1. Raybeard21 July 2026 at 07:40

      Yes indeed, M.M. Watching over a beloved pet as it suffers is such torture for the watcher, almost as much, just maybe, as for the creature itself. I myself go one step further and cannot abide to see ANY animal, for any reason, suffering so, or even seeing them in distress. It's just one reason, though a very strong reason, why I simply cannot believe in a benevolent God who is capable of intervention. It hardly needs saying that I feel precisely the same way as as regards human suffering - it's not necessarily worse than animals suffering, it's just different to it.

      Thanks for your kind words. The only Heaven I'll accept is one in which ALL our most loved ones, including animals, meet up again to live forever again. Curses on the Roman Catholic church (of which I myself was a devout member) which preaches that an animal has no soul, and therefore cannot be in heaven. What sort of Paradise would that be? Not one I'd want to be part of.

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  7. Carol Caldwell21 July 2026 at 08:40

    I am so sorry for your loss. He was loved and loving. It never gets any easier, ever.

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