26 thoughts on “Ode To Mo”

  1. Once again, I’m so sorry to hear that. 🙁
    Somehow I’m sure Mo had a pretty happy life as your cat. It doesn’t help much, but that’s what I remind myself of when I have to bury my pets.
    Hang in there Lucia.

  2. Mo was happy but getting very ill. We had to give him insulin, and he had a few crises. He sat with us while we cried after Dad’s funeral on Saturday.

    Then, he snuggled in bed… but he started breathing funny sometime around midnight and moving around. I took him to his food, and then litter box. But he just occasionally writhed a bit, and I petted him. In a hour he breathed his last.

    It was a tough weekend.

    Ordinarily, Jim made little coffins and then we dug a big hole and put the pets under a plant. But Mo was so big (25lbs) I found a pet crematorium. I picked up the ashes today. (By the way, I recommend http://www.familyspetcremation.com/ in Arlington Heights. ) I looked for plants afterwards.

  3. Ah jeez, that brings tears. I’m so sorry Lucia.

    I know how you feel, as I’ve been there in both instances myself.

    But the double whammy you experienced is just awful, and just shows how cruel life can be to our human sense of fairness.

    The poem is beautiful, and a reminder of the important bond we share with our pets as members of our family.

  4. lucia,

    We lost our ~20 year old cat nearly two years ago under very traumatic circumstances. It was devastating. I couldn’t even talk about it for over a month without bursting into tears. So I sympathize.

    If you don’t have another cat, I highly recommend adopting kittens in pairs, or a kitten and an older cat.

  10. Hmm.. I guess while the email Jim sent me with his poem was “Ode to Mo”, he named it “My cat at bedtime”. For those who want the words

    My Cat At Bedtime

    My cat comes up when I’m in bed,
    Lays next to me and rests his head
    Upon my arm, as if to say,
    “If you’ll stroke my fur and rub my ears
    I’ll ease your mind; I’ll calm your fears.
    I’m always here, at end of day
    To purr and help to soothe your soul
    When life’s events have charged their toll.”

    The gift he gives, the boon I reap
    From his faithful act is elusive sleep.
    To knit up again the raveled sleeve
    That care has worn, so that tomorrow
    I can face the new day’s test or sorrow.
    I don’t know how he can perceive
    I need his comfort, his healing arts.
    Perhaps a bond between our hearts?

  11. What a time to drop by. Brings a tear to this old cynic’s eye. He looks like a handsome, big and squidgy (10kg!) beast. Our 16-yr-old went missing recently (and is still missing, presumed deceased). The neighbour helpfully remarked that “that’s what they do- crawl off and die under a hedge…”

    Sorry for your loss.

  13. Poor Mo. 🙁

    On lighter note: My two cats, Spike and Hazel, have both taken to rubbing themselves on my feet as I lay in bed. Sometimes I move my foot when I am reading, and they are for some reason, hopelessly attracted by it.

    My family has buried many deceased cats over the years. I don’t know what I’m going to do the day I lose one of mine.

    Andrew

  14. Andrew_KY,

    Sometimes I move my foot when I am reading, and they are for some reason, hopelessly attracted by it.

    Our old “John Paul Jones” was like that! He also used to notice when the sheets came out of the dryer and would jump on the bed. We’d start making the bed over him and he’d turn upside down and we’d run our hands along and he’d ‘attack’/’bop at’ the hands on the other side of the sheet. (Of course, we undid the edge a bit so he could get out later.)

    Mo was a calmer, slower, more docile cat. A ‘foodie’ and a cuddler.

  17. Sorry for the run of bad luck you have had…it must be hard.

    I’ll admit that I cried harder when my dog died then when my mother passed away. Losing my dog was more akin to losing a child for me (although I don’t pretend these are actually comparable, but you get the point I hope). My Mom was old and her dying was a blessing for the state she was in.

    You will always carry them inside of you.

  18. We lost a cat after 20 years and I know what a loss that was. The ode is very much to the point. Sorry for your loss, Lucia.

  19. Our last daughter went off to college and Kitty-Karen 17 years old would spend hours on the front step waiting. The last of her 3 human daughters were gone and she missed them. Then the christmas break in her first year Karen got to see them all and turn 18. Kids left home and then in march when Karen could hardly get off a chair to the ground or walk from room to room with out a 1 hour nap, found energy, visited my wife and I and purred actually was light on her feet. She went out to sit on the step and watch the world, we though; instead she had said her goodbyes and went for a last walk. My father had always said inside outside cats always choose to self-bury but it was a surprise when it happen. we still put a stone in the back yard with her name on it next to two other pets. So many cats develop such family connections that their a many people who joyeously remember them. It seems the same way with Mo, a cat to remember. My condolences.

  20. To be seen as we are
    and yet still loved,
    our pets sooth a restless mind.
    There is forgiveness and expectation
    of better things to come from us.

  22. Re: GregS (Jul 28 12:37),

    Clumping litter is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Scooping is far less unpleasant than dumping and washing every time. Also, if you’ve got the money and room, the Litter Robot is a ‘self cleaning’ litter box that actually works.

  23. Also, if you’ve got the money and room, the Litter Robot is a ‘self cleaning’ litter box that actually works.

    Great advice, but I fear our cats would only get robots of their own to overwhelm it. 🙂

    Sorry for wandering off topic, Lucia.

  25. We’re so sorry for your loss. Our boyz are everything to us and we know time is running short for them. They do own our hearts but give back many times over every affection we provide them. Nothing creates a warmer smile than a happy cat. Little in life trumps waking up before dawn to a purring cat on your pillow. They are saying “We’re ready for you to love us”. And of course we do.

  26. Please accept my sympathies for the tough times you are facing recently.
    we recently lost one of our two cats. His name was Paloosa. He was taken suddenly, apparently posoned by something he ate. He left behind his two humans and his littermate sister, Gigi. She has been in mourning ever since, as have we. They spent every day playing, wrestling, sleeping, stalking, sleeping and cattin’ around together. We had not seen cats in mourning before and it has been quite touching. A great cat, which Paloosa was, and as Mo clearly was as well, is a tough loss. And with your recent other losses, I can only imagine how things must feel.
    Best wishes to you- much comfort and peace.

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