Something Good and Coping

Dan's sister informed us of a letter from the foundation she got her two kitties from after Blackie (Dan's cat, taken care of for many years by his sister) died. The letter said that an anyonymous doner has promised to match every donation dollar for dollar up to $40,000 through January '09. I think it is a wonderful thing to do if you are looking to donate to a very good cause this Holiday Season and a donation in the memory of Fry would be awesome. We are planning on donating.

As far as how we are doing... we are coping. Having had no children, Fry is my baby and he has been taken away from me too soon. It is devastating. There are times we see him out of the corner of our eyes or expect him to come walking around the corner. Deep in the back of our minds we know he is gone physically but here in spirit, but forgetting that sucks.

We informed the SPCA today about Fry's case and we were able to talk to the director of adoptions. Dr Amy had contacted them and inquired for a study of how many cats adopted out in the last year contracted FIP and died and had been reported. There has apparently been a small epidemic of FIP in the past year and now Fry has been added to the number. She agreed how horrible and tragic it is to lose an animal to FIP. We have offered to send the SPCA Fry's case work and have consented for Dr Amy to take biopsies from Fry to submit to UC Davis' research in the hopes of further understanding FIP.

It's been a long day (and even a long three months) and I still sometimes wonder when I will wake from his horrible horrible dream but then I remember the good times when Fry was his crazy normal loud and obnoxious loving self and I have some comfort for a time. I know he would not want us to be sad and to quote a beautifully written article about death:

“...the grieving process is a life-long thing. It's about coming to terms with the new relationship you've got with the person [animal]. Because death doesn't end the relationship, it ends a life (there’s an old quote about that...who is it?) and it's this constant coming to terms with the fact that they aren't physically there."
Fry is still our baby, but we are just trying to get used to having a different relationship with him.

"Death ends a life, not a relationship." - Jack Lemmon

The name of the organization is Forgotten Cats and their website is:
http://www.forgottencats.org
You can see more information about the holiday money match challenge on the right hand side of the page.