What should I do with Pogo?

**Penguinlady**[$] · #1 10-20-2004, 05:50 PM

We boarded Pogo and Peach at the vet when we went to England in September. Pogo was not doing well and we knew we'd never see him again. Sure enough, the vet called me on Sept. 4 and said it was time. I picked up his ashes, and Peachy, when we got home. Pogie is in a velvet bag on my nightstand.

We're moving in December and I don't know what to do with him. I hate to leave him scattered on this hillside if I'm moving away, but this was his home for more than 7 years. On the other hand, if I take him, do I scatter him in some place he never was?

Help.

**Penguinlady**[$] · #2 10-20-2004, 05:57 PM

PS - I forgot to attach a photograph of my handsome boy in his younger days. Can someone tell me how to do that? He's on Ofoto as well as my hard drive, but you can't link to Ofoto images.

Margaret

frazzledspice · #3 10-20-2004, 05:57 PM

I know this doesn't compare, but we brought my daughter's favorite hamster's ashes with us (Rainbow Star.)

We didn't have an urn, so we put the little plastic bag with the ashes in a sugar bowl in the china closet.

One day, after we had moved, I took out my silver tea set to use and opened up the sugar bowl, and there was poor Rainbow Star. Yuck!

I would find a nice urn (NOT a sugar bowl) and put poor Pogo's ashes there. And I think I'd keep a picture of Pogo by the ashes.

We had lots of pictures of Rainbow Star. My daughter would dress her up....and one time, my son made her a "swimming pool" out of a styrofoam box insert, colored with blue magic marker.

My daughter put Star in, and Star turned blue. You never heard such screams and howls!

Thank goodness for our memories (and the three pets we have now

**Penguinlady**[$] · #4 10-20-2004, 06:01 PM

I thought about keeping him, but it seems... mean, I guess... to confine his remains to a container. One of his chief joys in life was escaping outside, so he belongs out there somewhere.

When I put Pooh Bear down in 1983, I kept his ashes for a while and then put him to work in my garden, growing me some nice basil. He'd spent a lot of time there and it seemed like a good thing to do. And I didn't move away for another 13 years.

nicholmere · #5 10-20-2004, 06:31 PM

I am sorry to hear about Pogo. My sympathies.

My father's dog passed away a couple of years ago. My dad could not decide what to do with the ashes - the dog had spent all its life on the West coast so there was the possibility of leaving the ashes somewhere there, but my dad knew he was moving to the East coast in a year or so. Since he couldn't decide he just brought the ashes with him, they are in a small urn. If he decides one day to take the ashes back West then he can do that, but for now he likes having the ashes with him.

I also have my cat's ashes, but they are in a box from the Humane society. I am glad I have kept them, but I think I need to find a nicer container for them.

nicholmere · #6 10-20-2004, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Penguinlady said

PS - I forgot to attach a photograph of my handsome boy in his younger days. Can someone tell me how to do that? He's on Ofoto as well as my hard drive, but you can't link to Ofoto images.

Margaret

Click QUOTE to this post.
Then look under the Post icons section and there should be a box called.

Additional Options
Press the Manage Attachments button.
A new, smaller, browser window will open up.
In that window you can use the BROWSE feature to find the file on your PC and then UPLOAD it.

**hadassahchana**[$] · #7 10-21-2004, 12:15 AM

Oh Margaret, I'm so sorry. Knowing that a beloved pet is getting closer to the end doesn't make it any easier to bear when it finally happens. Hugs to you, sweetie.

My old cat Mouse died here at home, surrounded by all of us. After we all hada good cry when she was finally gone, we took the boys out and bought a plant. My eldest picked out a pink chrysanthemum, insisting that pink was Mousie's favourite colour. So, we picked a nice sunny spot in our garden, buried Mouse with a nice little ceremony, and then planted her mum on top. When Bat passed just last fall, we buried her in a different spot and planted a small tree on her grave. Even if I move soon (please, God!) then I will know that these pretty plants mark the spots and it's unlikely that the enxt owners will dig them up. maybe you could choose a nice plant of some kind to mark Pogo's remains?

Cindy

**Penguinlady**[$] · #8 10-21-2004, 01:14 AM

Quote:

nicholmere said

Click QUOTE to this post.
Then look under the Post icons section and there should be a box called.

Additional Options
Press the Manage Attachments button.
A new, smaller, browser window will open up.
In that window you can use the BROWSE feature to find the file on your PC and then UPLOAD it.

Well, I did that, and it told me that my picture is too large; the system can only handle 600x600 and it's something like 500 x 712. I don't know how to make it smaller.

I just HATE being so technologically helpless...

**Penguinlady**[$] · #9 10-21-2004, 01:19 AM

Quote:

hadassahchana said

My old cat Mouse died here at home, surrounded by all of us. After we all hada good cry when she was finally gone, we took the boys out and bought a plant. My eldest picked out a pink chrysanthemum, insisting that pink was Mousie's favourite colour. So, we picked a nice sunny spot in our garden, buried Mouse with a nice little ceremony, and then planted her mum on top. When Bat passed just last fall, we buried her in a different spot and planted a small tree on her grave. Even if I move soon (please, God!) then I will know that these pretty plants mark the spots and it's unlikely that the enxt owners will dig them up. maybe you could choose a nice plant of some kind to mark Pogo's remains?
Cindy

Thanks for the hugs - back to you!

Pogo was declining for about a year, with, among other things, total deafness, a heart murmer, arthritis, hyperthyroidism, anemia, and about three other things that I've mercifully forgotten. He was 18-1/2 years old, and I had him for all but the first three months of that. He'd gone from 17 lbs. to 7 in the last two years and was so skinny that he didn't even want to be hugged, even gently, any more - and he was the World Champion Cat Hugger of All Time. So when I took him in the day before we left, we'd already said our good-byes and knew we wouldn't get him back. I'll probably leave part of the ashes here and take the rest.

I once knew a lovely small cat named Mousie. She was a long-hair tortie - lovely girl but terribly possessive of her mother, a good friend of mine. The first time my friend's new boyfriend stayed over, Mousie crawled up under the duvet and peed on his feet.

**jgibson2**[$] · #10 10-21-2004, 01:53 AM

Here's Pogo - what a beautiful cat! I know you miss him.

**Penguinlady**[$] · #11 10-21-2004, 01:55 AM

Awww - my baby! I really miss him.

That picture was taken when he was exactly one year old, in April 1987. He was a huge, gorgeous, terribly stupid dumb blonde - we used to call him Pogo Dimbulb, or Surfer Dude, or L'il Abner. And he forgave it all for a hug or three.

Sniff.

Thanks for posting this for me, Judy.

**jgibson2**[$] · #12 10-21-2004, 02:18 AM

You're welcome. It's easy to resize pictures if you have the right software. My hubby has photoshop and he lets me play with it.

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #13 10-21-2004, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Penguinlady said

I once knew a lovely small cat named Mousie. She was a long-hair tortie - lovely girl but terribly possessive of her mother, a good friend of mine. The first time my friend's new boyfriend stayed over, Mousie crawled up under the duvet and peed on his feet.

Buffy did that once - a boyfriend had come over a few times, Buffy had taken his measure of the man, and one evening he got up on the guy's lap, straddled his leg, and let loose a bladderful. It was months later when I realized what Buffy saw in him to make him do that. After that, every boyfriend had to pass the Buffy Test.

(back on topic) I've wrestled with what to do with Buffy and Astro (who, BTW, are never going to die so it's a purely academic exercise [and denial ain't just a river in Egypt]). I think I would do the cremation/nice urn/take with me thing, then have their ashes buried with me. I never expected to be a person who would move around a lot, but apparently that is what I'll be doing, and since the cats have always been indoors no matter where we lived, they have no real "place" memories, just "people" memories.

**theworm**[$] · #14 10-21-2004, 10:03 AM

Margaret

I'm so sorry for your loss. Pogo was a handsome guy, and I'm sure you really miss him.
I can't give you advice as what to do with his ashes except to do what feels right for you. When I lost my kittie, I didn't want the ashes because they weren't comforting to me. Other people need to keep them, others need to bury them, others need to scatter them. You are the best judge of what FEELS right for you. Follow your heart on this one.

**Penguinlady**[$] · #15 10-21-2004, 12:18 PM

Well, you're all right, of course. Pogo was an indoor-outdoor cat until we moved here 7 years ago and my beautiful Boo disappeared three weeks later, thanks, I'm sure, to the coyotes (and mountain lions) that abound here. But while he made his peace with being an indoor cat, he never stopped trying to escape - an atavistic urge that drove him outdoors and once he was there, to look around and say, "Huh? What is all this? MOMMMMAAAAA! Let me back in!" and ten minutes later, he'd be out again.

So I think I'll scatter part of him here and take the other part with me.

I'm not a sentimental person - emotional, yes, but not sentimental - but this is turning out to be harder than I expected.

murasaki · #16 10-21-2004, 12:49 PM

What a gorgeous kitty! I think Pogo would be flattered that you are putting so much thought into what to do with his remains.

**hadassahchana**[$] · #17 10-21-2004, 10:53 PM

Margaret, he was just gorgeous! And he looked so much like my little Mouse! It's always hard, even if you don't expect it to be. Keep talking with us as long as you need to - that really helped me to get over Bat going.

Cindy

**Penguinlady**[$] · #18 10-22-2004, 01:42 AM

Thanks, Cindy. Yes, he certainly was a hunk. And even though I knew we wouldn't see him again, the moment I answered my cell in Chester and heard my vet saying, "This is the call you've been dreading," I felt sick. Still do, a bit. Pogo was the most stable relationship I've ever had!

Fortunately (?) my life is so weird and hectic right now that I haven't had time to miss him too much. But Peachy wandered around for a few days, looking behind the furniture for her old buddy-nemesis.

**pippadaisy**[$] · #19 10-22-2004, 11:45 AM

I kept my angel kitty's ashes. I keep them in a little spot in my living room with her collar and favorite toy and a picture of her. Somewhere (probably still in a box we haven't unpacked) is a wood urn we got when we had her put down. It was absolutely beautiful, with a painted picture of her. I didn't want to pack her, but the urn got packed and I haven't thought of looking for it til now.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I hope it makes it easier knowing that he had a good, long life with you.

rora07 · #20 10-22-2004, 05:25 PM

It is cool that you had so many great memories! I had a great cat that we got from a friend of mine, but that had chronic UTI issues. She was required to be on special food and if so, she was fine. I had to have a friend of mine take my cats for about 6 months because, technically, we weren't allowed pets in our duplex. My own fault, I should have been supplying the food, but my friend didn't keep her on the same stuff. When we got her back, she started spraying everywhere, which in turn, made my husband very cranky as she chose his favorite "guy chair" and books to do it on.

I had the brilliant idea to take her to the humane society as we couldn't afford to take her to the vet (last time cost me $250 worth of surgery to get her back to normal). Like an idiot, I thought that they would fix her up and then find a good home for her. Well, when I got there not only did they inform me that they don't treat UTI's, but that she would be put down within a half hour as they were totally full. Talk about a heart breaker!! Cleo was the snugliest cat (very unusual for a cat, as I am sure you cat lovers can attest to), very loving, never nipped, even in play, and had the cutest copper colored nose (where most animals' are pink).

rora

**Penguinlady**[$] · #21 10-22-2004, 07:45 PM

You got off easy - I paid $2500 for Pogo's surgery almost four years ago, to correct his atonic gut. Fortunately, I had just inherited a little money so just gritted my teeth and wrote the check. He was on a special bland, tasteless diet until last June, when I decided that he should spend his last days enjoying his dinner and put him back on all the stuff he wasn't supposed to eat. He loved it, stopped barfing, and actually gained a little weight!

I don't know of a humane society that operates on or provides special diets for cats. They are mostly so overwhelmed with cats that they can't keep the ones that aren't adoptable. Even the no-kill cat shelters aren't equipped to handle the sick ones. Tragic.