Said Goodbye To Our Sweet Reggie Today Options

[Aaron]

Our sweet Reggie lost his battle with liver illness this morning after being diagnosed Monday Oct 18 with fatty liver disease. He was able to pass in the comfort of his own home surrounded by my wife and me. This was rather unexpected as he had made good progress while at the hospital so that makes it hurt even more, although it always hurts to lose one of your best friends. It feels like the pain will never go away, but over time we will find peace.

Reggie "adopted me" back in Nov 2001 when he was just a kitten. I remember hearing a cat crying outside so I went out the backdoor of my townhome and looked around. I didn't see anything at first but then he spotted me looking around and dashed down to see me. He had a collar on, so I told him he needed to go home, but he knew where his new home was. He kept crying outside my back door so I let him in to hang out. And the rest, as they say, is history.

We bonded a few nights later when I laid on the couch and sat him on my chest and picked fleas off him, one by one. He sat there, patiently, with his eyes closed and let me remove fleas from him for what seemed like hours. From that point forward we were best friends until he left us today. I will always have a place in my heart for Reggie and will always remember the joy and happiness he brought into our home.

He was the sweetest cat I had ever known. He could be in a room with 50 people and would be hanging out like it was nothing. He was always there to greet us when we came home, which we will miss greatly. He was our best friend and we will try to take solace in the fact that he is no longer suffering. You will always be loved Reggie and you always be remembered. May you rest in peace, best friend.

[Aaron]

Thanks moon beam, I always enjoy reading your posts as they help me and Kristy (my wife) heal a little more. You are right, I need to consciously work on re-directing my thoughts to something else when I begin to think of the traumatic events from those last few days. It requires work and I just need to give it more effort as I know it is part of the healing process. I don't want to have these thoughts and have to find ways to minimize them. They'll always be there, I am sure.

My wife and I are squarely in the depression stage of grief, or so it feels. We don't want to feel sorry for ourselves or have a "pity party" but right now we are just going through the motions with work, the gym and hobbies. The things that we enjoy are currently just ways to pass the time rather than bring us joy. We know it won't be like this forever and we have to work to heal, but we still miss him so so much. I am finding that I miss the "little" things that maybe I took for granted while he was here, like he and Kylah playing chase at night and watching that dynamic or just the happiness that he brought my wife. I can look at my wife and tell that a part of her is missing, as she can with me. That's really tough to deal with. Kylah still meows for her brother and it takes all my energy not to cry over it. But Kylah is still doing well and being as sweet as ever, so we are lucky to have her help us through this.

Thank you again.