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The end of an era...


rct

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I've been hanging around here for 11, 12 years now.  I've admired and respected the many kinds of guitar players doing many kinds of things with many kinds of guitars, lots of you do stuff I could never do, lots of you do the same things I do.

With guitars and guitar players go the Cats.  Lots of good people here, lots of good Cat peoples here.

After a couple of months of hospice with us, palliative care from us, our dear Ichabod left us yesterday.

He has been in a lot of pictures I've put up here.  He was 18 years old.  18 years is 28.57% of my life.  Mrs and I have been together 46 years now, 43 married this year.  This was truly one of the hardest things we've had to do, and we've done some pretty hard stuff in our short time together.

For the last 4 years he has truly lived the Rock Star life.  Up at the crack of noon, back in bed with us around 1am, several naps during the day in one lap or the other.  Between me retiring, the covid keeping her working from home for over two years, and then her retiring, we were truly a Throuple in here, he had us to himself for a good long time.

He never missed a string change, one of his favorite play times.  Even last week he tried.  He tried so hard to play with the strings, but he couldn't.  The look of defeat was more than I could bear and that guitar still isn't restrung.

If I ticked you off these last few months or so, I truly apologize.  The stress has been high, we've done almost nothing but care for him, keep him comfortable, blender up his food so he could eat it, and hope he did.  On Thursday when he just gave up, he couldn't eat any more, we knew it was time.  He had a tumor in his jaw, it finally won.

He is at peace now.  We are at peace with him and it. 

From better days, demanding with one look that I move the EJrctRW and my #1 Tele from his end of the couch.  

Ichabod-Strat-Tele.jpg

rct

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sorry to hear that mate - you have lovely memories of him I'm sure.

Much as our cat Gus drives me insane at times, its always nice to know he's around when you come home, so I can imagine the empty feeling right now.

Take care.

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Ahh man..  So sorry to hear that.. As you know, I understand that loss.

Also in a similar vein. I was in one of my unemployment bouts when Brutus went. So the last six months of his life we were together every day and I treasure that time to this day..  And to this day having him put down was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. To let him go. But I know it was the right thing to do despite how much I wanted him to stay. 

And you did the right thing, as I am sure you know. And Ichabod can rest and is not in pain any more. That really is the most important thing how ever hard it is. 

Take care man...

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I'm very sorry to hear of your loss. Losing a pet is devastating. He was a beautiful cat and it's clear he was well loved, especially in the last days. Not everyone would go to the lengths you did to make his final days as close to normal as you did.

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That is painful.   Very sad to learn of it.  I've had pets for not nearly that long and it really hurt.   Both cats and dogs.  But in those times I've lost my Mother, brother and wife all in the same 18 year span.  Along with two very well loved dogs.  I appreciate your grief and hope you adjust to the loss quick as possible.  As the old saying goes....

"Don't cry because it's over, be happy that it happened."

Whitefang

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RCT,  I think your soulful post touched all here who are commenting.  We all carry a small hole in our hearts where a beloved pet - friend - family member once lived.    We had to  put down our Lab and German Shepherd in the same week 2+ years ago and it still hurts.  Not as much, and not as often.   You'll be fine.  For me - the best thing we did was, after 6 months - get a rescue dog.  He opened up new places in our hearts that put a halo around the holes left by our other dogs.   

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Memories are nice. We've had a few of our little ones move on. About 18 months ago we lost our daughters dog which is the brother to ours that really hit us hard. He spent a lot of time with us and we felt he was ours. Ours is coming up on 14 and it's going to be a hard time when his time comes.

Every time something like this comes up, it takes me back to one of my favorite sentimental songs -

 

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