It’s barely been a month since I started working at the cats only boarding facility. Even in that short span of time, we’ve had some repeat visitors. I’m getting to know the names and faces of the families and felines who are frequent guests. There are cats who leave that I know I’ll be seeing again. It’s a good feeling. I like the sense of community — the familiar faces, the stories from past visits, and more.
We’ve had a few cats with us for several weeks, and I’m definitely going to miss them when they go home. One of my favorite cats to cuddle will be going home on Monday. I’m going to miss him a lot! He’s the kind of cat who is perfectly happy to flop out on your lap and purr for as long as you’re willing to have him. Definitely one of my favorites.
There’s also been another kind of goodbye. One of our guests over the holidays was having some serious health issues. He’d been through a few surgeries and just wasn’t making any progress. The owners made the difficult decision to end his suffering.
That was a tough day at work. This was a cat we’d all been working with: cleaning his condo, serving his meals, petting him, coaxing him to eat.
It was a side of animal care I wasn’t quite ready to face. I know that sort of thing must go on at the veterinarian’s — more often than I’d like to know. But to have it be a cat that I’d personally known and cared for… that made it difficult. To have the vet techs come fetch him from his condo and take him next door for the procedure was heartbreaking. I did go home and cry that day.
I guess there are always two possibilities at any parting. You can look forward to meeting again, or you can say goodbye forever.