# Dusting Made Me Feel Sad



## debodun (May 23, 2020)

I was dusting the window still by which I had the houseplants on a table over the winter. I came upon a little clump of cat fur. It reminded me that Gus has been gone 6 months now. Almost made me cry. I left it on the sill. He would have turned 20 next week. This is a photo I took of him on his last birthday, May 28, 2019.


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## Judycat (May 23, 2020)

Gus was a good cat and had a good life. Rest in peace.


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## MarciKS (May 23, 2020)

Sorry you're having to experience so much sadness. Pets are so nice. I miss my kitty cat (Mary). Got her as stray. We lost babies together.

Feel better Deb! {{Hugs}}


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## In The Sticks (May 23, 2020)

I am so sorry.

My last dog and cat both lived to be 21-22 years old.  People cannot understand the amount of Life our furry friends have ushered us through when they've lived that long.

I've come across old collars, tags, etc.  It's sad.


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## debodun (May 23, 2020)

A woman I deliver meals to and who lives across the street from me is urging (i.e. nagging) me to get another cat (she is a great cat lover). I like cats, too, but in that respect, I think at my age I wouldn't be doing them a favor adopting. I get lazier every day and just the thought of having to get up early and feed them, make a trip to the store to get cat food, clean the litter box and take to the vet - a great responsibility at my age. The neighbor says she is going to take me to the shelter when this pandemic is over. Taking me to the shelter is like taking an alcoholic who's trying to quit to a liquor store!

Here they have a senior to senior pet adoption program and older cats have no adoption fee for people over 65. An older cat starts to have health problems and I have just gone through that, then they pass just after you get attached to them. A kitten would probably outlive me and become a problem for my executor. Thanks, but no thanks. I am happy with my hundreds of cat figurines - they don't require so much care, just a dusting once in a while. Here's a small sample:


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## Pinky (May 23, 2020)

What a beautiful cat Gus was. I think of my dogs every day, still. It has been a long time that they left us. We have a box with their collars, tags & coat in it. 

At our age, we don't feel we can commit to another pet, but I sure do miss having one.

Hugs, Deb


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## In The Sticks (May 23, 2020)

After going through all the stuff I went through during 20+ years of pet ownership, I stopped...and I had not hit 50 yet.

The worse part was having a dog and leaving the poor thing with no way to go to the bathroom for hours on end.  It's just not fair.

And now that I'm retired, I don't feel like messing with another pet.  About 5 years ago, I adopted a dog for a short while from the local rescue people that ended up being a nightmare (it was destructive and ended up having Lyme disease, which they failed to tell me until after the deed was done.)

No more.  I'm done.


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## CeeCee (May 23, 2020)

It’s very hard to lose a pet that’s been your companion for awhile.  I lost my dog 8 months ago..he was my sole companion for 11 years....I still cry when I think of him.

No more pets for me though...


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## C'est Moi (May 23, 2020)

I lost my little Harry 3 years ago (anniversary of his death in 3 days).   My heart was so broken I thought I'd never recover. I had a similar thing happen to me, Deb... I was dusting under my bed after he'd been gone about 6 months and swept out a doggie treat. He used to stash them around the house. I sat there on the floor and cried for the longest time over that dusty treat.


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## In The Sticks (May 23, 2020)

My old house used to have an old floor furnace.  The oil furnace was in the crawl space, bolted up to the floor joists, with a grate in the floor that heat came from.  That grate was _the_ heat source in the house.  You could look through the grate and see the heat exchanger where the combustion took place.

It was a small house, and the grate was right by the living room..  So one night I'm watching tv, the furnace kicks on (you can't help but hear it), and a minute or two later this stench wafts through the house!!  "What in the heck is _that_?" I think.  So I look over to see that my dog is looking down through the grate, and there's a whiff of smoke rising up, like some Cherokee war party signal.

I walk over to see, and my dog looks up at me and then back down at the grate.  I take a look and there's a cat turd sitting on the heat exchanger, just smoking away!!!  Apparently, the dog raided the litter box [again] and decided she had enough of room-temp leftovers, so dropped the thing through the grate and on to the heat exchanger to freshen it up a bit.  I lift the grate, remove the offending object, declare "Dinner's ready!" and hand the steaming crunchy morsel to her.  I mean, it _was_ hers.

You gotta love it.


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## Lashann (May 23, 2020)

I have been walking dogs at least twice daily for almost 20 years.  Our last and final dog passed away last summer and I still find it hard going for walks alone - especially in the nearby woods which was his favourite place.  I'm so glad that we still have some grand furbabies that we can visit and spend time with.  They really do leave pawprints on our hearts.


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