Coping with the loss of a pet...help?

RIP kittty.
sadly, i have no advice, just to remeber him fondly

Sorry for your loss. Sorry your pet had to, what sounds as you describe it, suffer in the end. And not be with you instead, where it was warm and with love. There are no tips, everything, and everyone dies. That is how it is meant to be, all things must come to an end, everything costs something.

I know how you feel, a few moths ago I lost one of my cats but she was the closest to me and I felt awful and now one of the other cats hasn't come home since wednesday so I'm worried

that's why I hate having cats, they make me love them and then they just die young, dogs live longer

When me and my wife were dealing with the loss of our kitten we got another one. I know it seems insensitive, but it helps to have another one there to fill the void. Keep pictures and keep Kitty in your memory ^.^

use a picture of him as your screensaver to help you remember the good moments

Loosing a pet is really painful, I've been there and is something that made me feel awful. I still feel sad when I remember about it.
The only thing I can say is: take your time, allow you to feel the loss and keep going. Remember all the good and bad times, everything was worth living.
You still have 2 other pets to take care off and love. Love them.

None can say "just a cat", because for you he was a friend, so actually you are asking how to confront the loss of a friend.
You will have to live with the mourning, he deserves it. You can try to focus on the good and positive things, and even if you believe in god or
not, sometime and somewhere you two can find each other again.
Maybe this sounds too cold, but I'm a Veterinarian, so I HAVE to be cold and maybe appear heartless in this... But every death, or every pet, makes you share the suffering with the owner.

A hug, mate :(

Anyone that says "he was just a cat" has no idea what they're talking about. I'm sorry for your loss.. When I lost one of my cats several months ago it was hard, but I made the decision to get a new one, not only for myself but for my two other cats (they seemed very depressed and had stopped playing as much as they used to.) This helped a lot, so much in fact that I ended up rescuing anotherrrrrr kitten from my vet a week later. Other than that and just keeping them in your memory, there's not much else you can do.

I'm sorry for your loss.
However hard it will be and however inappropriate it will sound, try and see what good you can make out of this.
In the light of this unfortunate event, maybe try and see if you can find more enjoyment from your other two cats.
Be strong, cherish Kitty's memories and go on forward, content that your past 5 years have been made better by him :)
I wish you well!

Sorry for your loss, my dog passed away a few years ago and I had him since I was little. But, I got over it after a while. I still miss him though. :( At least you still got the two pets to take care of.

You live in America, not some 3rd world country with no public services, when you have a problem like that call the fire department (normal office line, not 911) and see if they (or another service) are available to help or have some suggestions.

Anyway, a great way to recover from a loss, is to replace it with something else special to help you move on. In this case, you could get another cat from a shelter/pound who is nearing the allotted time limit for unclaimed animals and is soon to be euthanized. You'll be able to save that one's life, and have a new friend.

Just know. everyone and everything dies everyday in this world, in this goddamn cruel world. we can do nothing about it. we have to let it go and move on. sometime i wonder is every soul in this earth has its own meaning. live and die without any significance. sorry for your loss and my english

If you have a pet, who you really love, nobody should say, that it's just a dog/cat/hamster etc. I lost my dog 3 weeks ago. He was an escape artist, so every time I opened the gates, he was trying to get out. Once we had to retrieve some clothes, and of course, when I opened the gate, he escaped, and ran away. When we were coming home, we noticed, that two pitbulls/bulldogs are standing near him, and their mouth was full with blood. They were going for his throat, so he had no chance. We called a Vet, because he was still breathing, but all he could do is to artificially kill him with an injection. After that for about a week, I was collapsed. I couldn't concentrate in school, and couldn't think about anything else. For me, he was a family member, but I'm glad for one thing: at least we found him, so we didn't had to wait days/weeks if maybe he just got lost. I know that this may sound rude, but you'll get over it. You'll process the loss, and you will get over it.

Personally, I get over my pets' deaths by getting others to fill in the void. I lost 2 dogs and 1 cat so far. My cat got run over by a car :/

But the void left behind by the death of my pets get's filled with the love of living pets.

I know how hard it is to lose a pet, since... Well, in a lot of cases, they're just as close to you as any immediate family member. For me, cats have always been a great pet. For some reason the ones that we've had tend to stick around me in the house and such. I can't fully understand the pain you're going through having to search for them like that, I've always kept indoor pets, possibly out of being so anxious about all the potential harm that could come to them... That said, probably the most traumatic event for me growing up was when my cat finally died of cancer after having fought it for a few months. I remember having held him as he finally passed and eventually feeling blood on my shoulder due to it having built up in his lungs. That said... There's not a lot you can do to cope with it, in my mind. Distract yourself with what you can, try and keep doing things that are "upbeat". And when the time comes for you to try and fill the void they left, it helps to adopt, if only for the sake of your own conscience. Don't rush yourself any more than you feel comfortable with, though. It honestly took me about half a year to come to grips with the fact that mine had passed.

One of the things that's helped for me is to write down all the little things that made a pet particularly unique. Even if you lose the writing, having remembered those things now and written them down, will help you to remember your pet clearer years later when you fear you may have forgotten the details. Their habits, their sounds, their favorite toys -- the amazing good and the rascally bad. It will break your heart while remembering all these things, but you'll feel better for it, and many of the memories will even allow you to smile.

I'm very sorry to hear how he passed, and glad to hear that at least he may have still been conscious enough to know you were there at the end and looking after him.

Wow man i'm really sorry to hear about that, especially the circumstances of his passing, I can totally see why you are shaken up about it. I had a similar experience with a cat that me and my family took care of.
As others have said I would suggest trying to bond more with your other pets and/or possibly getting another one. Also bouncing off of what godprobe recommended perhaps if you wrote a poem/story/song drew a picture or even make a game about him it would help I know it might sound kinda dumb (especially the poem part) but it might help and then you'd always have that to look back on, and if you want you could share it with others.

Man, i'm sorry for Kitty. I lost a cat recently (he had a heart attack defending his territory he was 15y/o) it's really sad knowing they're not there anymore. Cry if you have to, there's no shame in that, loosing a familly member is always though.
Like someone said above even if he was barely alive when you found him, he probably knew you were there for him. Look at his pictures, remember the fun you had with him (and the bad stuff he probably did ;-) ) when someone pass away the only thing you can do is keep the memory alive, or think he's in a better place if you have a religion.
Cheers mate.

Ugh, dying by freezing isn't good. Must be painful.

Sorry for your loss.

Sorry to hear that =/. In one week, March 7th, it will have been 1 year since my dog died so I can relate... Though I can't imagine finding a loved pet like that. I know it's hard; when my dog died it really felt like the world wasn't right anymore. It felt like I was falling endlessly, stuck in some horrible nightmare of a loop. But as time passes it gets easier. There's really nothing else for it.

A lot of people told me to try to forget it, put it from my mind, to not look at pictures or think of her but I refuse and disagree. I think properly mourning our beloved pet is important. Let it all out. Embrace the memories you have and never forget them.

i am sorry for you.

can't really give any advice, since i never had a pet. i could never see a sense in keeping a 'wild' animal in captivity just for my amusement.

i have some bees, but you don't really get to know individual ones more closely.

Well, I don't know how sensitive of a person you are, and at a risk of offending you, I'm going to tell you to suck it up. It sounds rude and inconsiderate, but hear me out (if you are even still reading). The more you think about it, it will just get worse. You will start to beat yourself up over it, consider the things you could have - SHOULD HAVE - done. Hindsight is 20/20, but you can't see the future, and you can't roll back time. It will be painful, but you gotta try and get over it. Trying to NOT think about it won't help either, you'll inevitably end up back on the subject, so go find something productive to do and try to take your mind off of it. Its hard, I know, and I can empathize. So, good luck.

I'm really sorry to hear about your cat :( Losing anyone you love, even if it's a pet, is a terrible thing. But it sounds like you really loved him and gave him a good home and a comfortable life. That's all you should think about. Just try to remember how he lived and how you guys made each other happy each day you were together.