For Moss, another of our beloved Golden Retrievers, after 14 years, and a number of separate tumours (all successfully removed), an abdominal mass attached to his liver brought a swift end to his happy life. Even when he had the front of his lower jaw removed (due to a tumour), he still coped well and developed an endearing trademark of his - sleeping with his tongue hanging out.

We both cuddled him on the floor of the surgery for one final time, before he too went to Rainbow Bridge, free of pain and to meet up with Bramble who went there on 21st Jan 2008 and Willow who left us to journey there only days previously on 15th July this year.

Goodbye Moss, we miss you so much - your cheeky face, your little antics, your friendly nature, the way that you seemed to bounce when you barked. But we will never, ever, forget you.

My lovely Russian Dwarf hamster died last night. He had advanced cancer and was 2 years old, but happy till the last. He died on my lap, snuggled into my hand. I'll miss him forever x

On the 5th August my beloved Darcey went over the Rainbow Bridge. She was 20 years old cat and had been fighting renal failure for about a year and she was doing really well but sadly she had several neurological episodes which affected her back legs over a few weeks until she just could not keep her balance. Darcey was a long haired tabby tortieshell long haired cat she had the most amazing snowshoes on her feet and had the most generous personality, she was always happy and purring.

She was my best friend and I miss her so much, she was such a good listener, she meowed at the right time and often came over and tapped me with her paw when she thought I needed it.
What I find very hard is although her wee body was failing her mind was perfect but I am glad she wasn't in any pain and I with my son and daughter were with her at the end.

She will be coming back home shortly in a little box with a sleeping cat on top which will sit beside another like it which has her sister Sophie who passed any due to renal failure last January.

I would just like to say to all who have added to this post, my sympathy and heartfelt understanding to all of you have lost a furry family member.

piper4

She sounds as if she was a wonderful companion and friend Sleep tight little Darcey

My thoughts are with you and anyone else that has lost their pets, they are so big a part of our lives and are family to us. My cat Charlie became a little angel aged 4 on 9th July he had a heart problem and sadly his little heart wasn't strong enough, he was so loving right to the end and I still feel his presence around me. I hope you find comfort in knowing that your Darcey was truly loved and she would have known that. x

Gloworm. born 23.05.2011, went to the rainbow bridge on 06.09.2011 - I love you

R.I.P

Always sad to see a new post this forum

It has been 6 years ago this November that my beautiful Simba went to the rainbow bridge. I still think of you and miss you every day, my lovely boy xxx

Our much loved cat Harrison died last week it was so painful for us. He was 21 years old 102 in human years. Yes he had a good long life and was really spoilt but having him so long made it escpecially tough. People who are not animal lovers dont understand I have had 'well its just a cat' and 'so get another one'.

I'm so sorry for you and completely agree with you about the attitude of non pet owners - they just don't understand how we feel about our pets.

Harrison had a good long life due to your love and attention, it is so painful but it does get easier as the months go by.

I am so sorry for your loss. Maybe in time you will be able too share some memories of him with us all.

Rosie , August 1st 1991 - Oct 16th 2010 my grumpy but endearing Tortie .

She fought thyroid problems for 2 years , but had to be put to sleep at home last year .My one regret is that the vet wasn't gentler with her, I didn't want her last few minutes to be uncomfortable .

Abby my sweet natured little black cat August 14th 1991 - Dec 17th 2010 She had a benign liver tumour for 2 years before she was pts . She and Rosie weren't sisters, but I'm glad I had them at the same time .

I still think of them a lot . I've now got a 5 year old rescue cat, but they'll always been in my heart.

Jago February 1997-11th September 2011.

Lovely sweet natured cat that I'm going to miss hugs from and he did get up on his back paws and put his front paws either side to give me a hug. I'm just going to miss him so much.

He's sleeping in the sunshine in the back garden now.

RIP, Sophie was born in '97 too, very sad when they go, *hugs*

RIP Tippex. My friends cat who was sadly PTS this morning. I was going to support her & was a blubbering wreck xx

A year to the day since our beloved cat Mr Dibbles went to Rainbow Bridge

Not a day goes by that I don't think of him

A big hug and thank you to everyone on this forum who helped us through such a sad time only 12 months ago

Our dearheart may be gone, however is never forgotten

We've just laid a single rose and lit a candle in the litlle grotto that his ashes were laid to rest in (sound so self indulgent, however it helps us)

We'll meet again one day Mr D xxx

Garfield left us this afternoon. He didnt eat his tea last night or his breakfast and his breathing was right. He was neutered on the 13th of September and was checked out and was ok then. I took him too vets and Garfield was given Ab and painkillers but he couldnt fight it. We told him to go too his brother bug.
RIP my litte man. Cant believe you left us but i could see you had enough. Free from pain now. I will never ever forgot you sweetheart. you might have sometimes been a grumpy git but you where my grumpy git.
Love from your broken hearted human mummy

Today is the first anniversary of my Muppet's passing. But it's not a sad day, it's a day to remember all the good times and the happiness my little boy gave me. Because of Muppet I could never imagine not having cats in my life, so without him I wouldn't have Woody and Archie, who also bring me so much joy.

Shadow and I miss you little one.

R.I.P Fluffy guinea-pig. I miss you so much

My beautiful, adorable cat Suschi was put to sleep yesterday around 12.30pm. She was 16yrs old and lived a full and healthy life filled with so much love. She was my special friend, my sexy babe i called her. Your now at peace and in the safest place you can be. I shall shed a tear for you everyday remembering the day you couldn't fight no more. i will also smile at all the amazing times we shared, you were my beautiful girl and you always will be. I will find the people who did this to you, who lead you down ths path and i shall make them understand the hurt they put you through and the hurt they have forever endured me with. I am soooo sorry i couldn't be there with you in your last second but i was there in spirit and you with me always. (I made the heart wrenching decision on the phone as at the time they were operating on her, trying to save her)

RIP Suschi

The day will come when i see you again and i will hug you so much and look after you once again, Rainbow Bridge is where we will meet again sus, until then be a nice Cat, run around like you did and enjoy yourself cause when i shall see you again i'll will be holding you again and cuddling you like crazy.

Love you Sus. Bye baby girl

Dibley 2001 - 2011

It's taken me up until now to be able to post this, but our beloved cat died on 30/09/2011. The vet isn't sure what he died from exactly. Possibly a secondary infection, possibly even a lung absess which had burst. They don't know. We'd taken him to the vet on the Monday as he seemed quieter than usual and they gave him an injection which seemed to perk him up for a few hours. The next morning they decided to keep him in as his temperature was high. By Thursday they said him temperature was normal, but whilst they had been examining him he'd started breathing heavily and said it could have been because he was stressed by their handling. Friday he was still breathing heavily and they said they would observe him and said they could do an xray but really didn't seem concerned about the breathing problem. That evening when my mum phoned to see how he was she said if they felt it necessary to do an xray go ahead. It wasn't until the following morning we received a telephone call to say he'd died 11.15pm the night before. Apparently his breathing got worse and there was nothing they could do.They didn't even have time to xray him to see what the problem was. The vet said she didn't think he'd have survived the sedation for it anyway if they had.

Even as a kitten he'd had problems. When we found him as a 4/5 week old kitten in a semi-feral group, he had cat flu, pneumonia and eye problems. They didn't expect him to survive then but he did and didn't really have any problems until May last year when he suddenly developed a respiratory infection which took around 5 months to clear completely.

Me and my mum are absolutely hearbroken. I know animals have to go sometime, but Dibley had been through so much with us, my dad dying, our house being flooded, family problems etc. It's fair to say he was there for us more than any relative ever has been. The shock of his death when the vet was telling us he was getting well again and didn't show any concern about his breathing has also had an impact.

We have another cat, Oscar who turned up last November as a stray and ended up staying after we let him live in the downstairs bathroom over the bad winter lol. He followed Dibley like a shadow, and even more so in the last couple of weeks. He's still looking for him now and again, but I think he knows he isn't coming back.

We picked Dibley's ashes up on Monday, I can't believe that box is all that is left.

I'm very sorry about Dibley but it just proves that vets don't always recognise when a cat is seriously ill and often get it wrong. My uncle's 11 year old cat was put to sleep last Friday (his third cat that has died in the past 3 years) but she had endured numerous vet visits over the past few weeks because she wasn't eating and was listless. The vets kept giving her a 'long acting' antibiotic (so why give more than one?) and anti-inflammatory medication and sending her home. My uncle is 85 and lives alone so he was reliant on his twice weekly visits from my cousin to sort out the cat. By last Wednesday the cat was panting and in distress, even then all the vets did was keep her in overnight and only X rayed her next morning where she was shown to have lungs full of fluid. She was so poorly there was no choice but to put her to sleep. And they charged my cousin nearly £500 They failed to identify her illness and mismanaged her and allowed her home when she was obviously not right. I feel very sad about the whole situation but pet owners need to trust vets and, unfortunately, they often get it wrong.

I'm so sorry to hear about your uncle's experiences. You are right though we do trust our vets. That's one of the things I've said to my mum over and over about Dibley, they didn't seem concerned about his breathing and so in turn neither were we too much as we thought "well they are the trained experts and if they aren't worried....." Don't get me wrong I'm not critisizing or being ungrateful to people like vets/nurses.

I know that vets do their best. Doctors have the advantage of being able to take a history from patients who can describe their symptoms whereas vets are reliant on the owners describing their cat's symptoms and we all know that cats are masters at concealing their illnesses until they have reached a critical point.

When I brought my Tabitha to the vet before she was first diagnosed with lymphoma, on her first visit she really wasn't that 'overtly' ill and when the vet checked her, she had normal heart and lung sounds, was well hydrated and was a good weight. She had been eating normally. The only symptom had been a few vomiting episodes (and it wasn't regurgitated food, more watery). However, this particular vet said that because I was worried he trusted my instinct that something was wrong so he referred her to a larger branch for tests......and it all escalated from there and she sadly died just over 2 weeks later with the bill amounting to over £3000 (most of it covered by insurance). Owners know when something is wrong because we know our cats so well though I am still astonished at how my Tabitha carried on so 'normally' at home, pre diagnosis, with such a large tumour in her abdomen.

Vets can only do their best with the limited information they are given but some are better than others. I also think vets should do more to prepare owners for possible outcomes. If a vet seems unconcerned it is natural to relax and assume all will be well. The vets never warned me that my cat could decline so rapidly and I often wonder how long she would have lived with her undiagnosed tumour if I had not taken her to the vets that day. However, I know she would have declined and died anyway and probably been in pain.....but I am sure she would have lived for longer without all the vet interventions (including surgery) she endured

So sorry to hear about your Dibley SecretLifeoBees, my previous cat Jacob, suddenly developed breathing
problems on a Saturday night and in less that 24 hours after xrays, I made the decision that he wasn't going to make it without a lot of distress to him, and I didn't want that for him, he would have hated it.

The vet told me that when cats develop respiratory problems then go down hill very quickly and even if they intervene, it it generally only short-lived.

Just remember that Dibley knew he was loved.