Sad Day...and now there are two

I write this with a heavy heart. Today our cat Bryce (the fluffy black one) died.

He has been very sick for many weeks now. We've tried a variety of medicines but he was suffering from liver failure and had stopped eating - when he eats he gets violently sick and is in pain.

Becky and I have been preparing for this day for several weeks, we're been bracing ourselves and talking with Ally about it. She has been to the vet with him and us twice to talk about what we can do and understood (as much as she can) that he is sick, not getting better and going to die.

Today he did.

I met Becky and Ally at home after summer camp so we could tell her together.

After and initial look of shock Ally rallied and said ok.

A few minutes later she asked "where did he die" I told her at the Vet's office, and then she asked what would happen to his body, I explained that there is a pet cemetery and that is where the bodies of people's pets go when they want to bury them. She said "maybe there are other animals there" Becky and I agreed. and we thought we would plant something in our yard to remember Bryce-ee (her nickname for him).

He sat like this in the corner of the couch for several weeks.

Ally was so good and gentle with him.

 She made this picture for him and taped it to the wall by his favorite scratching pad- she did this about a week ago when we really started talking about how he would die soon.

And this was some writing she recently worked on - it started as a list of our family members (I blocked out our last name for the blog) and then she started writing the cats' names and sounding out the cats names to the Banana Song (or Name Game) like this:

Katie, Katie, bo-batie,

Banana-fana fo-fatie

Mee-Mi-mo-matie

Katie

 

But she was using the names of the cats and her fish. She had been calling Bryce "Briceee Ticeee" the last couple of weeks so she wrote that and then Carl Bo Barl...Nali bo bali - and then Spotted (her fish) Bo botted...you get the idea. I just thought it was pretty neat and it makes me smile.

Its been a rough day and the smile helps me feel better.