Saying Goodbye To A Part Of The Morning Show
There are several reasons why saying goodbye to a cherished pet is hard, including:
- The pet is YOURS, and you have a unique attachment to it that others don’t necessarily feel.
- The passing on of a pet, however awful-feeling, is nothing compared with issues of War, Human Suffering and the deaths of humans close to all of us.
- The guilt that sometimes shows up when we realize we’ve taken our pets’ awesomeness for granted.
My short-haired male tabby Nigel arrived in our home via The Placer County Animal Shelter in June of 2015; we quickly changed his name from “Alex Cat.” He had been placed in the shelter after the previous home said they had “too many kitties,” and Nigel was refusing to use the litter box correctly. Nigel also lost about two inches of his tail, following an unfortunate door-slamming incident at his previous home. Needless to say we were grateful to rescue him from that existence and add him to our fun-loving, Corgi-centric indoor/outdoor Phony Pharms existence in Roseville. Nigel was lovable and amazing from the first day we had him, cementing his place in the Young Family Feline Hall of Fame. He was a spry four year old when we got him, and his dog-like behavior and cuddly demeanor featured prominently on the Morning Show for the past 7 years. However, in the last six months or so we noticed Nigel becoming more sleepy, and drinking tons of water; we took him in for his routine check-up at the end of February and he was diagnosed with diabetes. Meg and I quickly learned how to inject insulin; we changed his diet and feeding schedule and hoped for the best. After a month of hanging on, Nigel couldn’t keep going, and his loud purrrr fell silent today. He will be remembered for a lot of great things, not the least of which will be the multiple pet-references he allowed me to make on the show. Thank you, my furry friend.
John Young
