Grieving my beloved pet

Our beloved Leon passed away on Saturday...

As mentioned in a previous post, he was very old and we felt that his time had come. He did not enjoy what was left of his life anymore. Slowly lost his his bodily functions and with that his dignity. He used to be that cat with "Waschzwang", cleaning himself until his belly was pink and raw. He was the cleanest, best smelling cat ever. Now he didn't clean most parts of his body anymore and smelled. It was so heart breaking to watch. I often cleaned him, but he wasn't a huge fan of that. He was disoriented, often lost his balance and fell over with the cat toilet one night. We couldn't sit by and watch our proud cat become less and less. So we made the appointment to put him down. It was horrible, the worst thing I ever went through, but necessary.

Leon's last pictures.

Willa saying good bye to her beloved pet. 

We did this as a family unit, it was important to us that the kids came to say good bye. We had talked about it so they were prepared that we would not be able to take Leon back home with us. They knew that Leon would go to "cat heaven" from the vet's office and that he would be young and happy again there. They kissed him good bye and then it was just Leon and me. It ended just the way that our journey began. Leon and Antje... I pet and kissed him when he received his shots and he went very calmly and peacefully. And just like that he was gone. Free. And I felt such pain, but also peace because I knew that he was in a better place now.

It was a tough day to get through and a tearful night. Thank God for Tequila. Then this sensational sunset happened:

                           



It must be hard to grasp how much love you can have for a creature if you are not a pet owner. I spent 15 years of my life with this cat. He was my best friend, was always there to snuggle. I miss him!! I miss my young, proud Leon so much! I see him everywhere, always expect him to lie somewhere, still hear him.

Frida drew Leon and told me to write this when I first 
told her that Leon might pass on soon. <3

                                     

Love forever, little Leon!