I wish I had stayed completely away from the net today.

Laurence Simon, the king of catblogging, has offered many kind words and plenty of encouragement throughout Mycah's health problems.

Now, suddenly and unexpectedly, his Piper is gone. I wish I could adequately return his kindness.

Damn, Lair. I'm sorry for your loss.

I started thinking about something after another friend lost her cat.... We invest a part of ourselves in our cats, dogs, and other pets, and they repay us with shed fur, chewed slippers, stained carpet, scratched furniture, and vet bills. And we know they'll go before we do. Despite all that, we love them.

From time to time, these mutts and furballs pay us with affectionate tail-wagging or purring, and we love them all the more.

And then one day they're gone, and it hurts, and there's no getting around the fact that if you love your pets, it's gonna hurt a lot when they go.

And knowing that, we still have them, and we still love them.

It's worth it.

Update, 9Dec06: Strange Ranger says more, and much much better.

Posted by Russ at 10:40 PM, December 5, 2006 in Animals