I'm so sorry, but isn't it better for Elvis that he was purring and with
you? It's not fair and it hurts terribly and my heart just goes out to you.
He must have felt terrible being so sick. You did everything you could and
you know that, and you did what was best for him. My deepest sympathies.

Karen

I'm so sorry.  Purrs for Elvis as he crosses the Bridge.

I am very sorry. :-(  Otoh, given his prognosis, you did the right thing,
IMO.

Cathy

I'm so sorry to hear about Elvis. He sounds like a great cat and I know you
will miss him, but I agree with Karen that you did the kindest thing for
him. He was suffering. Now you're suffering. The whole thing is horribly
unfair but please don't heap blame on yourself when you are already feeling
heartbroken.

My thoughts are with you.

--Catherine

I'm so terribly sorry!  

What you'll do is remember your love for him and his love for you.  And
you'll go on.  

You had to let him go.  It was the loving thing to do, and he knows
that.  You did the right thing.  I hope that you find peace about it soon.

Priscilla

Your message touches the hearts of all cat lovers here.  I am so so sorry
for you loss.  I know how hard it is to be without him.  You did great
things for Elvis, and please remember this includes having the ability to
stop his pain, and send him on to a better place.  Please do not feel
guilty, for this ability is something very precious.  Reach out to your
friends, family, vets, and people in this newsgroup who will be able to
relate with your loss.  These are the people that will help you get through
this very difficult time.  Elvis will never be forgotten, cherish the good
memories you have of him.  Take care,
Kelly

I'm so sorry.  No matter how many cats I've had, or how old they were when
they died, or how sick they were, it always breaks my heart.  I really feel
for you.

I am so sorry. He knew that you loved him, and I know that you did all you
could do.

I'm so sorry.  I hope in time you can find some peace and healing.

hugs,
-L.

**I am so, so, sorry to hear about Elvis.  Please don't beat yourself up
about it. You did the right (but very hard) thing to do.

ML

I am so sorry for your loss.  Try not to feel guilty.  Because of your
kind act, Elvis is no longer suffering.

Lauren

I'm so sorry. You are going to feel guilty no matter what I say, I know,
been there. I think it is a natural reaction. Just know that your kitty is
no longer suffering. Just try and remember the good times even tho it is
hard now. My thoughts are with you and wish you the best in this hard time
that you are going thru.

I am sorry for your loss. At least he is now free from pain.

His pain is over, be happy for him. :)

I am so sorry to hear this.  Hugs to you, my friend, and the
knowledge that even though your heart is breaking, you did the
very best and most compassionate thing for Elvis.

"Rise up slowly, Angel.  It's hard to let you go..."

Sincere condolences ,   MLB

I'm so sorry. The times we've had to make that decision have been so
hard. It never seems right. There's always something, something that
happened at the end that you keep thinking about.

You know you did the right thing, but logic seems like a small part when
so many emotions are involved.

The only thing that has kept me sane through those experiences is to
remember that the ending was only a tiny little part of their lives.
Elvis had lots and lots of happy times, and that was the majority of his
life. His last hours were only a few hours, a small moment in time.

Take care, be good to yourself.

Rhonda

Thank you everybody.  This hurts SO much more than I thought it would.

I am so very sorry for your loss. I wish there was something to say that
could make you feel better but there isn't. Eventually you will take a bit
of comfort in the wonderful life you gave Elvis.

Take care :)

Sometimes letting go (as much as it breaks the heart) is the right
thing to do for the cat. I think that you show more love in not
letting him suffer, which is what he trusted you to do, showed love
and courage. I am sure that you did your best for the little purr baby
but it was time to let him go - and you let your heart break to do
just that for him.

I am sorry for your loss....

Karryl

http://www.elexorr.com/~soft/index.html
http://www.elexorr.com/~soft/Mat/index.htm
http://www.elexorr.com/~soft/cats/index.htm

"If a man is a fool, you don't train him out of being a fool by sending him to university. You merely turn him into a trained fool, ten times more dangerous."
----Desmond Bagley.

You did the right thing, and that will be a comfort to you.

I  really sympathize.  It's terribly hard to let go of a beloved
companion like Elvis was. They leave a tremendous empty place in our
homes and hearts.

I would say that you have nothing to feel guilty for, in the light of
how sick Elvis was, and how poor his prognosis was.  You gave him a
gentle, humane end and you were with him, telling him how much you
loved him as he slipped away.  I think it was the most merciful thing
to do for him at that point in time.

What you do now is remember him with love, and tell yourself repeatedly
that you did the kindest thing for him, which was to let him go, rather
than let him struggle on while he was feeling so poorly.

And then... after some time has passed, you find yourself a new cat to
love and be a worthy successor to Elvis.

Melsisa

I understand the grief.  I've lost three fur companions in the last 20
yrs.  And though the pain lessens, I don't think the loss ever does.

My thoughts are with you...

I am so sorry for your loss.  It is never easy.

Sue

I'm so sorry.  Sometimes they're so sick that the kindest gift we can give
them is peace.  Please, take good care of yourself while mourning.  You did
the best you could.

I'm sitting here tears streaming down my face. My thoughts are with
you. I've been following the thread and hoping for good news. Purrs to
you and Elvis as he crosses the bridge.

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furballs

I'm so sorry.  You did what you could for Elvis and I'm sure he knows
how much you loved him.  

Lots of purrs,
Lorraine

Carol,

Only his painful body is gone.  His spirit is now all well and happy again
and living in a very special place in your heart. There he'll live happily
forever as long as you keep his spirit alive in your heart.

I hope you find peace in the knowledge that you were there for him and you
did the best thing for him when he needed you the most.  Your memories of
him can't be clouded by guilt or doubts because you know you did everything
you could for him.  He could not want more from his best friend.

Here's a special place I go to, I hope it will comfort you as much as it has
comforted me many times:

http://www.indigo.org/rainbowbridge_ver2.html

Difficult to explain, but I feel a personal loss.

Please accept my deepest condolences.

Phil

Elvis has left the building.

Dear Carol,

Your love for Elvis transcends his passing, as does his love for you. He
came into your life to bless you in so many ways. That was his gift to you.

As you recall all of the wonderful things he did in his life to make him
so special to you, remember his joy as expressions of gratitude. It's
apparent that Elvis was so very grateful to be in such a loving home!

You have been such a blessing to him by being a dear, attentive and
loving caregiver. Cat lovers give of themselves endlessly and
completely. How else can we be?

It is my prayer that I will have someone just like you by my side when
it is my time to make my transition...

Special blessings,

Alain

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever; I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood,
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
--W. H. Auden

================================

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned
With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains, --- but the best is lost.

The answers quick & keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,
They are gone. They have gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the
world.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.
--Edna St. Vincent Millay

================================

Strange that so small mortality should leave
So large an emptiness! for as we grieve
Your little life of few but happy years
Ended for us, one who could understand
Each subtle word, and answer hand with hand
Had hardly taken greater toll of tears.

Yet why should we not mourn for as a friend?
That name was yours; if every man would spend
His life as well, earth were not hard to save.
Grant that God made your heart and brain but small.
What more has an archangel than his all?
And all God gave to you, to us you gave.
--Amelia Josephine Burr

================================

Our rooms are very still today,
The loneliness...a void;
That dented pillow mutely mourns
Companionship...destroyed!
That fluffy ball of purring fur--
My comfort--subtle teacher--
Has left a tender tolerance
For every living creature.
My traits and faults were audited
By questioning, loving eyes;
All tests of friendship were fulfilled
By trust that verified.
--Nellie Baldwin Rudser

================================

I believe that the loss of a beloved companion animal is like no other
loss because our relationships with animals are like no other.  Our
culture tells us that an animal companion is an engaging toy, and that
our grief over its death is alarming and ill-paced.  And our culture is
just flat wrong....Animals are more to us than we know.  Their
partnership with us is a holy one that endures across a lifetime and
possibly beyond.
--Susan Chernak McElroy

================================

I shall walk in the sun alone
Whose golden light you loved:
I shall sleep alone
And, stirring, touch an empty place:
I shall write uninterrupted
(Would that your gentle paw
Could stay my moving pen just once again!).

I shall see beauty
But none to match your living grace:
I shall hear music
But not so sweet as the droning song
With which you loved me.

I shall fill my days
But I shall not, cannot forget:
Sleep soft, dear friend,
For while I live you shall not die.
--Michael Joseph

================================

Comrades of our past were they,
Of that unreturning day.
Changed and aging, they and we
Dwelt, it seemed, in sympathy.
Alway from their presence broke
Somewhat which remembrance woke
Of the loved, the lost, the young--
Yet they died, and died unsung....

Fare thee well, companion dear!
Fare for ever well, nor fear,
Tiny though thou art, to stray
Down the uncompanion'd way!
We without thee, little friend,
Many years have not to spend;
What are left, will hardly be
Better than we spent with thee.
--Matthew Arnold

================================

Since you have gone the sun has left the sky,
No breezes blow,
No birds sing
To ease the aching vacuum in my heart.
I shall not forget your gentle ways;
No judgements made,
No difficult demands,
No needs save one,
To share your life with mine.
Now kind, uncomprehending people say,
"Cheer up, you'll love another pet some day."
--Hilda Lunn

================================

Pet was never mourned as you,
Purrer of the spotless hue,
Plumy tail, and wistful gaze
While you humoured our queer ways,
Or outshrilled your morning call
Up the stairs and through the hall--
Foot suspended in its fall--
While, expectant, you would stand
Arched, to meet the stroking hand;
Till your way you chose to wend
Yonder, to your tragic end.

Never another pet for me!
Let your place all vacant be;
Better blankness day by day
Than companion torn away.
Better bid his memory fade,
Better blot each mark he made,
Selfishly escape distress
By contrived forgetfulness,
Than preserve his prints to make
Every morn and eve an ache.

From the chair whereon he sat
Sweep his fur, nor wince thereat;
Rake his little pathways out
Mid the bushes roundabout;
Smooth away his talons' mark
From the claw-worn pine-tree bark,
Where he climbed as dusk embrowned,
Waiting us who loitered round.

Strange it is this speechless thing
Subject to our mastering,
Subject for his life and food
To our gift, and time, and mood;
Timid pensioner of us Powers,
His existence ruled by ours,
Should--by crossing at a breath
Into safe and shielded death,
By the merely taking hence
Of his insignificance--
Loom as largened to the sense,
Shape as part, above man's will,
Of the Imperturbable.

As a prisoner, flight debarred,
Exercising in a yard,
Still retain I, troubled, shaken,
Mean estate, by him forsaken;
And this home, which scarcely took
Impress from his little look,
By his faring to the Dim
Grows all eloquent of him.

Housemate, I can think you still
Bounding to the window-sill,
Over which I vaguely see
Your small mound beneath the tree,
Showing in the autumn shade
That you moulder where you played.
--Thomas Hardy

================================

When humans die, they make a will
To leave their homes, and all they
Have to those they love.
I too would make a will, if I could write.
To some poor, wistful, lonely stray
I'd leave my happy home,
My dish, my cozy bed, my cushioned chair, my toy,
The well-loved lap,
The gently stroking hand,
The loving voice,
The place I made in someone's heart,
The love, that at the last
Could help me to a peaceful, painless end
Held in loving arms.
If I should die,
Oh! Do not say:
"No more a pet I'll have
To grieve me by its loss."
Seek out some lonely, unloved cat
And give my place to him.
This is my legacy,
The love I leave behind,
'Tis all I have to give.
--Margaret Trowton

================================

Is Heaven all you asked of it,
O little cat?  Did Peter fit
A halo for your graceless head?
Is there a quilt for your special bed,
And a bowl of cream just out of reach
Of your thieving paw?  Or do They teach
You not to steal in paradise?
Does the flapping of Their wings entice?
Do you scamper and swing on a golden fence,
Or are They teaching you reverence?
And are there really golden thrones
Up there?  Or do the Mighty Ones
Have nice fat chairs that you can claw
And tear and snag with an impious paw?
And do the angels understand
That a little cat in a lonely land
Still longs for a kiss and a friendly cuff?

Celestial joys are not enough.
Please, some small saint in shining white,
Hold him close in your arms tonight.
--Bianca Bradbury

================================

Dancing ribbons pushed by time
Float through an old kitten's dreams.
He chases them into eternity,
And catches them,
As they change into angels' wings.
--Daryl Douglas Foyer

================================

Grieve not,
nor speak of me with tears,
but laugh and talk of me
as if I were beside you...
I loved you so--
'twas Heaven here with you.
--Isla Paschal Richardson

================================

Farewell, my friends, yet not farewell,
Where I go you too shall dwell.
I am gone before your face,
A moment's time, a little space.
When you come where I have stepped,
You will wonder why you wept.
--Edwin Arnold

================================

Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am in a thousand winds that blow,
I am the softly falling snow.
I am the gentle showers of rain,
I am the fields of ripening grain.

I am in the morning hush,
I am in the graceful rush
Of beautiful birds in circling flight,
I am the starshine of the night.

I am in the flowers that bloom,
I am in a quiet room,
I am the birds that sing,
I am in each lovely thing.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there.  I do not die.
--Mary K. Frye

================================

Aionía aftoú e mnéme--May his memory be eternal.
--from the Eastern Orthodox requiem service

================================

Warm summer sun
  Shine kindly here,
Warm southern wind
  Blow softly here,
Green sod above
  Lie light, lie light--
Good night, dear heart,
  Good night, good night.
--Robert Richardson, adapted from his poem "Annette" in _Willow and
Wattle_ (1893) by Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) as the epitaph
for his daughter, Olivia Susan Clemens

Take care,
Nicholas

Sorry for your loss.

Shouldn't the subject line read "Elvis has just left the building"
though?

Elvis has just left the building
those are his footprints right there....
Elvis has just left the building
To climb up that heavenly stair
The Angels all love him,
He brings them relief
With droplets of moisture
From his handkerchief!
Cher'bim 'n ser'phim
Whizz over his head --
Jesus, let him come back!
We don't want Elvis dead - FZ