# Goodbye Singer



## InuLing (Dec 26, 2015)

The little runt that I have been fighting to save died in my hands this morning at exactly one week old. I had a feeling the little girl was on her way out when I picked her up and she barely responded because she was so weak. I'm very sad because I wanted to keep her and she already had a name. I'm sure this will hit me hard sometime later, as losing an animal always does. For now I will get the rest of these babies back into the nest and I'll bury her in the pot where I planted the moss roses I'm growing this year. May she help them grow big and strong like she never had the chance to.


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## catty-ratty (Feb 21, 2016)

I'm so sorry for your loss. I've had other newborn pets that just didn't make it. Like you, I bonded to/with them from the very start and mourned them. It doesn't take long to get attatched.


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## InuLing (Dec 26, 2015)

Yeah and I think you get more attached when you've invested in keeping them alive. But as a seasoned foster parent I know that you have to learn to say goodbye to the animals you love. When I lost Sunshine (a cat) I was torn apart for days. I knew in my gut that the odds were against little Singer but I was still hand feeding her multiple times a day to try and help out. I can at least take comfort in knowing that I did everything I could to help her. I can also take comfort in knowing that she's going to help my roses that I plant this year grow, so she won't be completely gone.


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## catty-ratty (Feb 21, 2016)

I've had lots of cats over the years. I have always planted them under rose bushes and taken a paw print on parchment paper. I always keep the first bloom. 

I know what you mean about investing time and effort even though you know the odds are against you. But doing nothing is so much worse than trying and failing. Sometimes they make it, sometimes they don't. But they will always have a special place in my heart.


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## InuLing (Dec 26, 2015)

Well Singer has been buried now. Oh and what happened with Sunshine is I dropped her off to be fixed and while she was on the table the doctor discovered she had an untreatable, fatal condition. They never brought her out of the anesthesia and because she was a foster she ended up batch cremated and I never saw her again. It completely blindsided me. I dropped her off expecting to pick her up that afternoon and she disappeared out of my life. She had the best personality of any cat I ever fostered too. I was finally able to come to terms with it when I made a mini sculpture of her and it still sits on the shelf in my room. The collar she was wearing when I dropped her off has never been worn by another cat and sits with her sculpture. It keeps her close. I also had to focus on caring for her 4 kittens she left behind.


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## catty-ratty (Feb 21, 2016)

OMG!!

That's horrible! I would totally flip if that happened to me! I can't believe they didn't even let you see her again at all. And batch cremation? Oh god that's horrible. 

My previous job was working with animal shelter and rescues. The stories I heard over a 3 1/2 year period were just so heart breaking. And cats just don't get nearly as much attention as dogs do. They seem to get overlooked. I had to get out because of the tole it was taking on me. 

Thank you so much for being a loving foster to her. She was lucky to have spent time with a truly caring person.


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## catty-ratty (Feb 21, 2016)

I'm actually in tears over that. For so long I had to be tough, develop a really thick skin to deal with all the stuff that went on while I was working at my previous job. If I got emotional, I couldn't do my job. I guess it's all coming out now.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

I'm so sorry for Singer. You did your absolute best, there was nothing else you could have done


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## catty-ratty (Feb 21, 2016)

This little one got dumped on me when I was working a fundraiser at Wal-Mart this past October. I came back to my table after going to the bathroom. Someone left her closed up in a card board box. She was screaming and starving. Between 2 and 3 weeks old. Definitely not weened yet. 

I took her home and bottle raised her. She is doing great now.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

So sorry about Sunshine. I can't imagine how painful it was. I also used to be involved in animal rescue (not fostering though) and I hated the stress and horrible stories that went with it- it was too painful. Maybe I'll try again soon. For now I prefer to give generous donations and not be personally involved. Both donations and fostering are crucial, so I thought I would rather do it that way for now. Thank you so much for all you did catty-ratty, and for fostering InuLing.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

catty-ratty said:


> This little one got dumped on me when I was working a fundraiser at Wal-Mart this past October. I came back to my table after going to the bathroom. Someone left her closed up in a card board box. She was screaming and starving. Between 2 and 3 weeks old. Definitely not weened yet. I took her home and bottle raised her. She is doing great now. Thank you for saving her. That's amazing
> View attachment 245073


Thank you for saving her. That's amazing


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## InuLing (Dec 26, 2015)

Thank you both. I am actually pursuing a degree that would help me get a career in animal rescue, with the eventual goal of running a shelter. I know this heartbreak happens and you don't want to know what I have had to go through with my county shelter before I moved to a small local rescue. I will miss Singer as I missed Sunshine but I will not let it blind me to the needs of the remaining 15 babies, and the other 4 girls will still have a place with me and my mischief. When the roses grow they will be planted outside and I will think of her every time I see them.


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## catty-ratty (Feb 21, 2016)

Gribouilli said:


> For now I prefer to give generous donations and not be personally involved.


That's about all I can do right now as well. And accept the strays that routinely show up at my house on a seemingly regular basis. Once they find me, they have a home. I think they tell each other about me.


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## JAnimal (Jul 23, 2014)

Im so sorry for your loss.


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