Losing a pet

Rest in peace Charlie boy

It has been a sad time on the hill this past week, our beloved cat Charlie was hit by a car and killed outside our house, it was awful and very upsetting to witness him gone like that, and so suddenly, he was such a cheekly little chap, always up to mischief, boisterous and fun but loved nothing better than a cuddle and to steal bread from the bird table when he thought we weren't looking! For all that to be ended so suddenly, and in a violent way, just wasn't fair for his young years, he was only 3. It's the danger we have always been aware of with a busy road outside our house, but the fact we have acres of open countryside and farm land behind our house we just thought they wouldn't venture off over the road, we were wrong, but he was too much of a free spirit and loves his outdoor wanderings for us to have done him any favours by keeping him couped up inside, he needed the wander and roam, it's just sad it meant this happened to him.


GN has been devasted, technically Charlie was her little baby as she adopted him and Daisy as kittens from the same litter before we moved in together, and on top of all other things this was hard, hard for her to see and lose. There have been too many tears shed in our house this year. I know to some people the fuss over pets seems weird and ridiculous, but to us he was a part of our family, loved and cared for, included in our every day activities like any other member of our family, and despite the fact we had 4 cats, to have now only 3 feels weird and strange, we miss him and his little character.


I am grateful we were able to find him, so we could bury him in the back field where he loved to roam so much. I am sure whoever hit him or at least saw him hit stopped and moved him and were probably very upset about what happened, they stopped a neighbour of ours to see if she knew where he had come from as Charlie could never keep a collar on (there must be a secret den somewhere with a hidden pile of them!) and had only lost his latest one a few days earlier so had no i.d as to where he came from, my neighbour remembered we had cats so knocked on our door to let us know what she had been told, we did a quick head count and realised Charlie was missing, i just knew then deep down it was him. It didn't take long before we found him, it was so awful to see him like that, it's haunted me, but we had a chance to say our goodbyes, give him a final stroke and know he hadn't suffered he just wouldn't have known what happened. To be able to say good bye, bury him and start the closure was comforting, better than not knowing where he had gone or what had happened to him, for him to be out somewhere alone or worst still in pain. It's helped a lot, and I am eternally grateful for everyone who stopped to take care of him and help him get back home to us, it was truly kind.