I was walking with my dog one morning recently, and though she is getting older, and sometimes doesn't want to take a long walk, she is still cute. A man was standing there and reach down to pet her. She looked in his eyes and he burst into tears!" I mean this man was sobbing.
"My cat just had to be put down!" he cried.
Turned out that he had come to Los Angeles with his girlfriend, a local California girl, and his cat had been in the hospital a week when the decision had been made back in Britain. His cat was only four years old. So he had the expectation of it living a longer life and that he would see it again.
We talked as the tears kept coming.
"Well I said, you just proved the stereotype of the British with stiff upper lips is wrong!"
His girlfriend smiled. So did he, still through tears.
The death of a pet usually is felt strongly by those who love them.
I asked him if he ever heard of Sylvia Browne, the now deceased psychic who wrote a lot of books and appeared lots on the old Montel Williams show. He had not. She was once well known, though towards the end of her life she took some criticism for a very wrong prediction. Browne wrote about pets and heaven. She assured everyone that when we go through the tunnel to the light at the other end ALL our pets are waiting.
Well, I feel really guilty about a couple goldfish,a turtle, and a hamster I killed not knowing any better. I.E. don't make the goldfish bowl too clean, a turtle really does need a sun lamp and a companion, and do not feed a hamster a whole leaf of lettuce, which it will eat and then die of the shits over.
I hope these creatures have forgiven me.
