Boomana,
What a sad story. I'm very sorry for the loss of your furry friend.
It really does hurt to lose a pet. I can still remember what it was like taking my dog to the vet for the last time...
What a coincidence that our family crossed paths with a cat this last weekend...maybe this story will cheer you up:
I got a call at work on Thursday last week...it was my wife, letting me know that they had taken in a stray cat.
Now I'm allergic to cats...not a mild allergy, but one that I get shots for about once a month, and that's with no cat in the house. So a cat in my home is out of the question, and I've always felt like a bad guy because of it...especially since my kids want a cat very badly. Now there's one in my house, and I wasn't happy about it.
Oh, and my wife suggested that, since I was going to be home the next day, maybe I could take the cat to a shelter. Oh...don't think THAT made me feel any better.
So I get home, and my kids come running out with the cat. This thing was skinny as a rail, and obviously had been someone's pet. It was declawed, and VERY friendly....a very nice cat. Apparently this cat came running up as my kids were about to leave for gymnastics, meowing and crying. My wife gave it some sliced turkey, and the cat devoured it like it hadn't eaten in a week. So my wife decided to take the cat in and see if we could find its owner.
Well, it turns out that my local police department, which is not burdened with busting crack houses and investigating drive-by shootings, takes the time to take names of folks who call if a pet is missing. Someone at the shelter my wife called suggested that she call the police and see if by chance someone had reported a missing cat. Turns out someone had...the lady lived a block from us, and came right over.
The cat perked right up when he saw his "mommy", and I could see little tears welling up in this lady's eyes. The cat is a long time pet (16+ years), and was recently diagnosed with cancer. He apparently escaped sometime on Sunday, and had been missing since. It's been cold here, and this lady had been imagining her poor sick cat freezing to death and all alone. She was most grateful, and insisted on a reward (for my kids) for all our trouble. All she really wanted was to make sure that her cat's last days were spent in comfort and with "family"...sort of sad, but a happy ending none-the-less.