It is never easy to say goodbye to your feline friend. They are part of the family! I would say it is one of the hardest things to do as a cat owner or pet owner for that matter. Our cat staffer Buddy had given us so much love and affection for his short 11 years. We still are waiting for him to come up to us and bump our leg or jump on the bed to say hello. Fortunately phones with cameras is so popular now, we have a lot of pictures of him in the yard, in the house, helping with orders and more. I wish we had been more diligent with our earlier staff members so we can have lots of memories of them as well.
One of his favorite things was testing the Rabbit Fur Pom Pom Cat Toys. Even though the inventory was difficult to get to, he would find a way to grab one of them. We would find them in the hall, by his food dish, sleeping with them. Some days we would come home and there would be a line of them. How he got to them, we don’t know! He would change the color too! Some days it would be a gray one, then we would find lavender, pink ones. He would really throw us off and leave a Tuff Kitty Puff by a shoe! 
He was added to our already cat family of 2, Lucky and Charlie. After the time in his own room to adapt to us, we introduced him to the clan and all got along great. We first lost Charlie then a few years later Lucky, due to age. Buddy had a couple weeks of grieving for each, but like us gradually came to grips with the loss. Cats can grieve too! You need to give them time to adapt to the loss as well. Unexpectedly we introduced the brothers Tucker and Pete. I think it was a good time for all of us to have some new young energy in the house. We have found over the years, older cats do well with younger cats in the house. It gives them more energy as well.
We were definitely not ready to say goodbye to Buddy. He was too young! Just a few years ago 11 years old would be old for a cat. But with today and the better foods, medicine, supplementation, cats are living longer healthier lives. Buddy had developed a tumor in his lymph gland. Being a cat, he adapted and didn’t show obvious signs of being uncomfortable tell it had grown to a point of be very obvious to us. With our great vets assistance, we try several things, even CBD oil for cats, which actually helped the most to make him as comfortable as possible through this. But it did come down to having to decide that it was time.
He was a trooper! It was like he knew it was time to go and even looked up at us and said “It’s okay, it is time.” They are amazing animals! He was easing our discomfort even in the end. How can you beat that! We have had to make the decision on all our cat staffers but some of them stand out as being the hardest, Buddy was one of those.
It’s normal and perfectly all right to grieve the loss of your cat. Take all the time you need and make sure the cats you have still in the household have time too. We made sure Tucker and Pete saw him before we took him away. They knew and even though they looked for him for a couple days, they knew. I have to say both my husband and I will swear we heard Buddy’s meow a couple weeks later at different times in the house. His spirit is still with us.
It’s very difficult to lose a companion that you loved and lived with, even if that companion was not a human being. Many people don’t realize how sad they feel until the cat is truly gone. Don’t feel too bad when others don’t understand your grief—to many people, he was “just a cat.” To us he was one of the family. Thank you for all the years Buddy, you were the best!
I totally agree with you. It’s not easy to bid goodbye to your long time feline friends. But sometimes you are left with no other option. I’ve been through the same grief few months ago. I’ve my cat’s pictures on the walls and printed on my cat pillow case to remind us of him always.