Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Chloe Rose





Our sweet Chloe Rose passed away on June 5th. She would have been 14 years old in August. She had Stomatitis, an extremely painful mouth disease. It was controlled, and she was pain free for over a year, but finally the medication ceased to help her have a good quality of life.

My husband and I are both devastated. I know some people just don't understand how we can be so heart-broken by the passing of a pet...well, to us she was, as are all our animals, our "four-legged child in fur." Or they say, "But you have more cats," not understanding at all that each and every one of them has a unique and individual personality. Each one is irreplaceable.



We found Chloe when she was a tiny kitten. Somebody had abandoned her in a huge city outside an auto paint shop. We looked to see if she might have siblings and a mother, but we found no one else.

It took some time for me to feel comfortable leaving her alone with our other cats and dogs, but eventually she settled in just fine. She loved to ride around on my shoulder and meow in my ear. I think maybe she was giving me instructions, lol. She talked more than any kitty we've ever had and she had such a large vocabulary! She used a different tone and sound to indicate if she was feeling grumpy, happy, hungry, curious, sociable, aloof, fearful, loving, sad or excited. She always had to have the last word and she would make a very distinctive "mrrrpftt!" as she walked away from a conversation to indicate she was done talking about that.

She loved for my husband to hold her in his arms like one would cradle a baby, reaching up with her paws to gently pat his face. At night she slept curled up on my head or my chest. She gave me little kisses on my nose and loved to shove her head under my chin, purring so loudly I was sure the neighbors could hear her.

There is an old cliche that propounds that time heals all. It doesn't. I've lost enough loved ones to know that time only makes the pain easier to carry. And I do believe that there is a life after this one, and that I will be reunited with my loved ones, both animal and human. Until then, I keep them with me as best I can by carrying them in my heart.

4 comments:

  1. Victoria, I'm so sorry for your loss. She sounds very special indeed.And what a nice life she had with you all!

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  2. Thank you, Vicki. I hope she had a nice life with us. It gives me a bit of comfort to think so...

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  3. Chloe was so lucky to have found you. Losing a pet is like losing a child. When people say "but you have more cats," it's like someone saying "but you have more kids." They are each and every one special, and I agree that the pain does not entirely go away, just gets easier to deal with as the years go by. (I still ache when I think about the little dog that was my best friend when I was a kid.)

    Your entire family, including the other cats and dogs who are also missing Cloe, is in my thoughts.

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  4. Thank you, Susan. We appreciate your kind words and thoughts, and it is really comforting to know that there are people, such as yourself and Vicki, who understand how painful it is to lose a beloved pet.

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Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment, I appreciate it!

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