RIP Coco- 1994 -2013

[Lord Jim]

One of our cats passed away last night...

She was born in 1994...19 years is a really good run for a cat...

I wish Jimmy hadn't been the one to find her...("Mommy, Coco's sick she won't wake up")

We still have one of her daughters from a five year later litter, Lisa, (and the pooches are only five and seven years old, and Max the Parrot will probably outlive us all..) so it will probably be awhile before we have to go through this again...

Tati learned about death much younger then she should have, when her "Papa Joe" passed away...they were very close...

He was a wonderful good natured Italian man who The Queen Mum had married, (he had a marble flooring business, and he succumbed to years of inhaling marble dust and smoking Marlboro cigarettes...even though his English was poor, and we could barely understand each other, we became good friends..He called Tati "the bambina"; he gave her an harmonica when she was 3 that she still has sitting on a shelf in her room; and she also still has a picture of him holding her when she was an infant on her bed room wall...)

We had become such good friends, that I gave the Eulogy at his funeral...

When we were coming back from the burial in Colma, (where else would you bury an Italian in Northern California?)

I tried to explain to Tati that Papa Joe had gone to "Heaven"...

And she responded, 4 years old, by saying, "I hate Heaven. Heaven is a place where people go and they don't come back!"

That went through me like a knife...I didn't have an answer for that...

Since she's gotten older, (she's all of 14 now) we've talked about this a few times, and even though she's a good Catholic Girl, she's become something of an Agnostic....

However, that is not going to stop her from going along with us telling her little brother that Coco has gone to "Kitty Heaven"... (She's upset about Coco too...)

We're going to have a little funeral service for Coco tomorrow; we've put her in a shoe box, and we're going to bury her in the backyard, and say some nice words about her, "She was a good cat. She never snapped at anyone, and we're going to miss her"

[Gob]

Commiserations to all Jim, never nice to lose a pet.

(Though as you say, it is a "life lesson" for kids.)

[Long Run]

Sorry to hear of your loss. Even when your pet has had a good long life, it is a real loss as they truly do become part of the family.

[Joe Guy]

Sorry to hear that, Jim.

Losing a pet is a very sad thing to go through no matter how long they lived.

[Lord Jim]

Commiserations to all Jim, never nice to lose a pet.

I'm sorry she's gone too...

She was a very loving and gentle little animal, (she was a cat with a dog personality; a wonderful creature..)

But I have also tried to look at it philosophically and recognize that at 19, for a cat, she'd had her innings...

And she had a wonderful life for a cat...

She got to do all the the things that cats like to do; she hung with us when she wanted to, and she got to lay out in the sun when she wanted to, and even chase the occasional mouse....

And she got to 19 years without becoming unhealthy; she wasn't going blind, or having any other medical problems; (which cats frequently do as they get on in years; her quality of life was excellent, right up to the moment she passed on...)

But my reasoning is falling on deaf ears with Kelly Tati and Jimmy...

They're just upset, and that's okay too...

[Big RR]

It's really tough to lose a pet, especially for kids who usually think everything lasts forever (even if they "know" that's unrealistic). My sympathies.

And quite an interesting comment for a 4 year old; there's a lot contained in it.

[Guinevere]

I have similar feelings as the 4-year-old Tati about Heaven . . .

Sorry about Coco, losing an old beloved friend is never easy. That she died with her little fur boots on is a great thing, especially for 19. Clearly she was well loved and well cared for.

Mai-Mai sends kitty kisses all around.

[oldr_n_wsr]

While I'm not a cat person, my condolences to you and your family LordJim.

[dales]

Sorry for your loss, Jim.

[Lord Jim]

Thanks guys.

[TPFKA@W]

RIP Coco.

[Sue U]

So sorry for your loss, Jim. And 19 is a pretty damn good run for a kitty. But I fully understand the sorrow that comes with the death of a long-time friend and companion.

[Reality Bytes]

A really good age for a cat Jim and sounds as though she was very special and yes it was her time and she'd had a good life but when you say goodbye to a much loved family member head and heart often conflict, they were so special that the loss seems even harder to bare.