More than « just an animal »

Now working in a pet store, our usual day to day is pretty happy; having an increase of puppy/kitty packs made for welcoming a new per home. However, we also see some heartbreaking scenarios: might it be from an animal being sick or not wanting to est anymore, to someone grieving a pet passing..

---

 

I’ve personally lost three: my mother’s first poodle Frisou (11) when I was 10, aswell as our two family pets when mother got her kidney transplant in 2015, mother’s 2nd miniature poodle Lucky (10), aswell as our old cat Grisette (10+).

 

The first poodle passed due to IVDD, an illness that’s usually linked to dachshunds, but in this case due to poor breeding. He had gotten purchased in a pet store back in the days, and he grew up to have his legs too long for his back (so the opposite as dachshies, long back for short legs). Mother’s second poodle was aggressive due to having been attacked by a berneese mountain dog, most probably in pain, and as for our cat, she was an outdoor raised in a farm- We had to euthanise her due to having a wound at one of her ears. A literal chunk had been teared off, and as my parents didn’t had the means to bring them to the vet at the time, it remained unhealed and kept bleeding as the scalp would be removed (either coming back from outside or from my puppy).. which was obviously bleeding everywhere and mother having just gotten a new kidney, was very dangerous for her wellbeing.. so we had to let her go.

I came to hate Lucky as he kept attacking & biting my feet, refusing anyone to come close or even touch my mother, but I never forget my old kitty.

 

Back in 2011/2012 when I got H1N1 back in high school, She guarded me as I healed. Always being close to me when I was awake, she would lay behind the monitor of my desktop computer, and would go outside when I went back to sleep.. to come rushing inside as soon as I awaken.

She even dissapeared for 3months; sadly something that happens quite frequently for outdoor cats.. we think a neighbor possibly lock her in the garage before leaving for vacation or something- I had cried everyday for her.. and she found her way back home. Scared and malnourished, but she came back to us, for many years in our company.

One evening at work, A lady had just lost one of her sphinx a few months back, and she had asked me when the pain would stop- as of which I answered her that it never really does.. At this point I have lost her over 7years ago now, and my voice still quivers whenever I speak of her. I still miss her.

Old picture of 12yr me & Grisette, 2007/2008

 

A month ago I adopted a new kitty, in big parts because he looked like her so much, but with a few differences (some of his black spots don’t match, his nose is only pink without the black, etc). In the first few weeks I would do double takes whenever mother would send me pictures, as I would see Grisette instead of Majora in them- and there would be so many things that he would do just like her. Meanwhile being so different at the same time, I don’t remember her ever being this hyper- having skipped her kitten phase.

They say that before a kitten is born, our loved pets that passed teach them their ways.. and the road to our heart. They would train them to know us like they once did- and I truly love the idea. Either that or it’s my cat in another body — As soon as I saw that 12weeks old foster kitty we had at work, I knew I wanted it. To my surprise, dad would let me have him, but the week-ish we spent fostering him at work was like he had already adopted me: he was only calm in my arms, preferring to bite my coworkers & be a devil instead anywhere else. He follows me wherever I go in the house, changing behavior as soon as I come back home from work- where he would sleep all the way that i’m gone, either in his tent or cat tree’s hut.

Baby Majora; ~15 weeks old
The second picture is where you can see the most ressemblance to my old kitty.

 

Related; My dachshunds saved my life, Sunday’s Chat about new kitty