Saying Goodbye: Dealing with pet bereavement

T-Sea the Cat
20 March 1990 - 12 June 2007
Posted on 06/12/2007 by Angela Wirepa age 38

Tell about the first day you got your pet:
Actually T-Sea was sort of inherited from my fiance's flatmate who couldn't take him with him to the new flat. By this stage he was 7 months old and well used to sleeping on my partners bed at night because the flatmate worked nightshift. I fought it for a while and then gave in when they threatened euthanising him!

What is your favorite memory with your pet?
There are so many to choose from! But lets start from the very beginning ... When my partner and I got married and I moved into the house - it was my first night getting into the bed and here is T-Sea at the bottom of the side I was trying to get into looking at me like "excuse me this is my side of the bed"!!! He glared at me and stormed off. The next day he took a few swipes and me and made a run for it but luckily for me the boys had been feeding him dog roll (yes really!) and I brought home the jellymeat and won the way into his affections - via his poor taste buds that had been so mistreated!

What do you want people to know about your pet?
T-Sea was a wonderful, quirky cat that everyone like immediately though I can't say for sure it was reciprocated. He would walk into a room, survey it, and then decide whom he would bestow the blessing of him allowing to touch him. He liked routine and would wait outside the bathroom door for me in the mornings at which time I would pick him up and cradle him like a baby for at least 10 minutes or his day would be terribly put out and I would be in his bad graces for the rest of the day. At night however he became my husbands cat and would sit on his chest in bed and let the adoring patting begin. If my husband fell asleep before he was satisfied, there would be a gentle pat pat on the face with a paw and if that was ignored the claws would ever so slowly retract until the hand began to pat again. Otherwise he would grab my husbands arm with all four paws and take out all his frustrations on it!!!

What was your pet's favorite toy?
T-Sea didn't really go for toys but he did like the occassional twig of catnip that our friend grew in her garden and she would bring a twig or two around for him occasionally.