32 Comments
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Tara J Kohinska 🇨🇦's avatar

We fosters do important work. We save lives. And it is sometimes challenging, heartbreaking and very rewarding all at the same time. And I live with the memory of the lives I’ve helped—and those I have lost. I specialise in feline bottle babies and those with medical problems. I also have a passion for palliative and end-of-life care. I believe wholly in a good beginning, a well-lived life, and a dignified death. And my mission's always been to do just that—honour the cats. Always.

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J Packer Samms • Cats's avatar

So beautifully said. Thank you for all the work you do for these amazing animals ❤️

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Sara Packer's avatar

Oh yes yes yes yes yes, and thanks for having the courage to write this.

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J Packer Samms • Cats's avatar

Thank you ❤️

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Leaf's avatar
12hEdited

Thank you <3

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J Packer Samms • Cats's avatar

Thank you for reading ❤️

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Joyce Garber 🇨🇫 ☮️ 🧑‍⚕️😺's avatar

Thanks for another great article. I'm going to find a way to get Tails paw prints on paper. I'm inspired.

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J Packer Samms • Cats's avatar

I think having little rituals and keepsakes is a really important part of the grief process ❤️

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Joyce Garber 🇨🇫 ☮️ 🧑‍⚕️😺's avatar

I just recently unpacked and repacked my whole life from California after it being in storage for 5 years. I found some amazing things and I can’t wait to recreate a memorial to all my friends and family furry and otherwise that have passed.

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J Packer Samms • Cats's avatar

It's so meaningful and therapeutic 🥰

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Julie's avatar

Beautiful and so poignant, so many beautiful souls out there, caring and never giving up. Every stray/rescue that crosses our path lives within us, we always carry them, whether they were with us for five minutes or ten years

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J Packer Samms • Cats's avatar

That's absolutely right. I tell people that fostering keeps me emotionally limber, and boy does it ❤️

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Kelly Brereton's avatar

I appreciate your writing this. I agree that we must talk and process through grief. I still have moments!

I just lost both of my cats to hyperthyroidism. Broke my heart! Timmy passed on Mother's Day two years ago and I still have moments.

Thank you for sharing and fostering!

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J Packer Samms • Cats's avatar

I'm so sorry for your loss. It's just heartbreaking when we lose our furry family members. Have you done anything to memorialize them? I find ritual so necessary in processing grief ❤️

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Kelly Brereton's avatar

I have a shrine. And many, many pictures! Here they are sharing a pillow.

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Cathy McWhorter's avatar

In 2013 I recused a 4 week old beautiful kitten. She didn’t even weigh 1 lb. She had to be bottle fed. For all my failures in this endeavor she survived. She is now a beautiful 12 year old cat who we love immensely despite her sometimes odd behavior. Her name is Sasha.

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J Packer Samms • Cats's avatar

So amazing! I still have one of my first bottle babies. He thinks I'm his momma. Me too 🥰

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Nirmal And Gordon Engine In NY's avatar

Even if they r in our lives for a short time only, cats r sacred precious cottony blessings. They are pure and innocent. There is something uniquely magical about loving a cat. Losing them hurts so much, but it provides a legacy to live up to - to use what you’ve learnt to help more, to love more.

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J Packer Samms • Cats's avatar

Absolutely! 😻

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Nirmal And Gordon Engine In NY's avatar

Yep. Gordon is number 21 personally for me. The landlady, friends have had more who I came in contact with. I hurt terribly each time we lose one, but I’m grateful to have been blessed by them. That pain shows ur love, ur compassion. It shows ur not…..the opposite….if u catch the drift. I can’t imagine how anyone could purposely harm a cat.

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J Packer Samms • Cats's avatar

It is unimaginable.

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Nikalina, the Witch's Cat's avatar

Thank you for writing this and sharing those photos. I volunteer at a cat rescue, the highs are high but sometimes the grief is unbearable. We keep going because we have so much love to give (and I also have a phone full of photos of the ones we couldn’t save, I will never forget any of them) 💜 Thank you for everything you do 💜🐾

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J Packer Samms • Cats's avatar

Thank you for the work you do. We all make a difference in these little lives and it's so worth it ❤️

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Luli lentz's avatar

Thank you for sharing this heartbreaking but lovely story. Thank you for the work you do.

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J Packer Samms • Cats's avatar

Thank you. It is a labor of love, for sure ❤️

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Jeannine's avatar

This is beautiful.

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J Packer Samms • Cats's avatar

Thank you ❤️

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David Nam's avatar

Thank you so much for the work you do!🐱

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J Packer Samms • Cats's avatar

Thank you for reading!

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Sandra Murzin's avatar

I can barely see through my tears,but Thank You sooooo much for sharing this with us...

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J Packer Samms • Cats's avatar

Thank you for reading ❤️

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