It has been 2 years this June since Louise left us.
And this Friday will be 1 year since Mr. Handsome, aka Charles, left us.
Grief is subjective. We all process loss differently. Having lost so many fur companions over the years, I guess I found my way to deal with the hole they all left in my heart. Don’t think that it is easy just because I can move forward. Look at the Angels Page and you will meet them all. I like to remember all the personalities of my cats, dogs, and guinea pigs. Each one was unique. Some were very serious (Louise, for sure), some had awesome senses of humor (Squash and Kitty), and others were cuddle bugs (Muffy). I feel blessed to have shared moments with these creatures. They are my heart. They heal me in a way that nothing else does. And, when it was their time to walk over the rainbow bridge, whether it was only a few years on the planet or many, I tried to provide them with the most compassionate and humane care possible. Those tough decisions were some of the hardest I ever had to make. I remember them all and can tell you stories about each one. They will always be burned on the memory of my total recall. When my brain no longer functions as it should, I hope I still remember the animals (sorry human family).
In memory of: 2024 Noel (cat), 2023 Charles (dog), 2022 Louise (dog), Sofie (dog), Nine (cat), 2012 Constance Kitty (cat), The Muffin Man (Muffy) (cat), 2010 Cuddles (cat), Georgia (guinea pig), Zachary (cat). Squash E. Bear (dog), 2009 Mr, Moto (guinea pig), S’more (guinea pig), Checkers (guinea pig), 2007 Gertrude (cat), Nikki (dog), 2003 Alice (cat), 2002 Sam (guinea pig), 1994 Rosie (cat), 1991 Baby Doll (cat), 1990 Wussy (cat), Eddie II (cat), Benny (dog), 1978 Barney (cat), Louis Pierre Andrea the 14th of Edgewood Lipton (dog), 1974 Eddie (cat), 1961 Fraya (dog).
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤ 
Tags: angels, cats, DogDaz, Dogs, Gratitude, guine pigs, lorian lipton, Memories, Pet, pet blog, rainbow bridge
Jan 2024 – Noel Staying Warm
Noel has been gone for several weeks now. She was one of our oldest and longest cats. I was thinking about all the events and other animals she lived through in her almost 17 years. She outlived 4 dogs: Squash (2010), Sofie (2022), Louise (2022), and Charles (2023), and left us with 2, Jolie and Bearnard. She outlived her fellow felines Zackary (2010), Cuddles (2010), The Muffin Man (2012), Constance Kitty (2012), and Nine (2022), leaving us with Stella and Mini Cooper. The human children were only in middle and high school when she rescued us and now they are adults with cats of their own. She also had time with multiple Guinea Pigs, Mr. Moto, Georgia, Checkers, and maybe others.
We have been thinking about her a lot these last couple of weeks. Her not being here is very evident.
Dec 2023 – Noel telling Bearnard to get off her spot on the couch
No one really likes to talk about the loss of a beloved pet. No one tells you how much you will cry. That a companion will leave a hole in your heart way bigger than their little 10-pound body.
Oh, and then there is the guilt. Few of us are lucky enough to have our animals pass away peacefully in their sleep. So we feel guilty that we had to ‘put them down,’ or that we ‘let them die.’ Guilty that we didn’t play with them enough or didn’t pet them enough, or this, or that, or any one of a million possible things we could feel guilty for.
No one tells you that you will second guess almost everything you’ve done since they were a kitten. Did we give her the right food for her particular issues? Did she have issues? Should we have done more?
Look Mom, I brought you some birds!
The one thing I can tell you about grief and loss and the continued ebb and flow of missing Noel after being with her daily for 16 years, 10 months, and a bunch of days, is that she is burned into my memory and heart forever.
We all grieve differently, but grieve we do. So if you have ever lost a pet, or several, I offer you my heartfelt condolences. Please know that over time your sadness will lessen and your tears will flow less. And know that the best thing you can do for you, and to honor their memory, is to go on and not get lost in that sadness. For me, I go and hug my other dogs and cats and humans, and let the love that I felt for Noel translate into even deeper love for the others.
Here’s to you Queen Noel: Your memory is a blessing. “yehi zichra baruch”
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Blog, cat blog, DogDaz, grief, lorian lipton, losing a pet, Pet, pets, rainbow bridge, white cat
Unexpectedly, on Thursday, January 11, Noel, the Christmas cat, the Queen of the DogDaz_Cats2 zoo, left this earth and passed over the rainbow bridge, to the big cat tree in the sky.
Not that you can say the passing of an almost 17-year-old cat (3/17/2007) is unexpected, but we really thought she was going to be our 20+ feline. It seems that she just started to go downhill healthwise since the summer and she developed diabetes and kidney issues (dropping 4 lbs in the last month). The poor sweet thing was just so unhappy and needed to be at peace.
Noel came to us on death’s door all those many years ago (Christmas 2007), with feline herpes. She was maybe 9 months old and we rescued her with another cat, Constance Kitty, who left us back in 2012. Click here to read Noel’s Story
She started out as this shy little white thing who didn’t know how to play but over her many years, and the many animals, she became the boss; the blogger; and the Queen. If you search Noel on the sidebar you will find years and years of stories and pictures. She saw us through 3 growing children and many many rescues.
Noel & Jolie 2023
Sleep my precious angel and know that you added so much love and happiness to our zoo.
Noel and Mr. Nine 2020
Noel & Muffy 2010
Noel In Charge 2013
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: cat blog, Cat People, cats, DogDaz, lorian lipton, nature, pet blog, rainbow bridge
It is with great sadness that I tell you about the loss of our grandcat, Hazel, on August 28. She was such a sweetheart. K8 adopted Hazel 3 years ago when she was about 4 years old. She loved to sit in the window and play with her brother, Freddie Purrcury. Her favorite thing was to scare her mother half to death by sitting for hours on the ledge at the top of the second-floor stairwell (with no net).
Sadly, cancer seemed to consume her little body very quickly. May her memory be a blessing and may she continue to purr over the rainbow bridge with the rest of the angels from the extended zoo. Purr on sweet girl, you are missed.
Hazel’s fav spot at the top of K8’s stairs
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Blog, cat blog, cat cancer, cat rescue, cats, DogDaz, lorian lipton, maine coon cat, Pet, pets, rainbow bridge
There are almost no words to express the deep pain that we feel after the loss of Louise last Friday, June 17.
She was such an excellent soul. Quiet and gentle; the cats all wanted to be her friend; the dogs all looked up to her. She never complained even at the end when I knew how much her back must hurt with a compressed or ruptured disk that made it almost impossible for her to walk. Stoic to the end – she did not like me helping her to get around and especially not to go to the bathroom. What is weird is that, since the oral cancer diagnosis last December, we thought that was what would take her from us. But, I guess, the powers that be had other ideas.
We want to believe that she is running free in that big meadow in the sky over the rainbow bridge with Sofie and Nine, and her big brother Squash, who left when she was only a puppy. Now I hope she is with her best friends Mojo and Amy, who she missed every day since they too left this earthly plane, and whom she never stop sniffing for.
Go softly, my sweet Louise. Your memory will always be a blessing to us. Thank you for letting us be your family for 12-1/2 years.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: angels, Dog People, DogBlog, DogDaz, lorian lipton, Louise, pet blog, rainbow bridge
Note to readers: This is a long and sad post, but I think it is time you knew.
The new normal is not normal, at least not yet. Going from 7 to 5 animals has taken us to many different places in the last month. We are adjusting, but it will take time. Losing both the lead cat and the lead dog within a week of each other has us in a bit of a tailspin. Actually, I think the zoo is adjusting better than I am.
Noel & Mini
I think Mini really has taken the loss of her brother, and mischief partner, Nine, the hardest. She was so attached to him and really needs another animal to play with. She always whined but now, OMCat, she is constantly needing attention. Noel, being 15 and never being a social cat, gives Mini a little sniff now and then, but basically, Noel wants to sleep and cuddle with me. Mini would love to play with Charles, but he wants nothing of it.
Stella
Stella, of course, who is constantly in motion (hence the blur), knows nothing of the loss of Nine and Sofie, so she just carries on being Stella. I think that Mini is talking to her under the door more because I am hearing a lot of hissing going on. Stella, as you may remember, lives in her own suite, and loves it. I wish she could be friends with the other animals, but she just ‘wants to be alone,’ (except for humans, of course). She actually did like Sofie coming to visit, but it wasn’t that often that it will affect her.
Louise & Charles
And then there is Louise and Charles. Though Louise had Sofie in her life for 11 years (Lulu is 12), I am not sensing a big change in her mood or routine. Lulu was always very quiet and self-contained at home and just goes about doing her thing. She mostly lives in her own world and just carries on, cancer and all (but that is another story). They may have been together all these years, but I think Sofie needed Louise more than the other way around. Louise leans on me and that is about it.
Charles, being the FOMO (fear of missing out) dog that he is, followed (and feared) Sofie, I guess because she was the loudest, but also because she was something to be feared when you are only 17lbs. At first, after she was gone, he looked for her, especially when they went out in the yard. He was not sure what was going on, ‘where’d she go?’ but now, several weeks later, he follows Louise instead.
It Is Very Different Now Without Sofie
The zoo is much quieter now without all Sofie’s endless barking, and sad but true, much safer for all the animals with her gone; all her anxiety and aggression no longer permeates the house. I did not blog much about her battle, for years, with mental illness, though I have many posts in draft that never were published.
With Sofie gone, Charles no longer has to eat with the kennel door closed to stay safe from Sofie’s food aggression and the cats no longer have to sneak past her, fearful they could be attacked at any moment. There is no more resource guarding, fear-biting, or constant nibbling on something for security. There is no more endless barking at every sound (she could hear a fox a mile away or a UPS truck), because she needed to make it go away or stop. There are no more sleepless nights trying to console her when thunderstorms rolled through or fireworks blasted. I don’t have to constantly make sure that Charles is at a safe distance from her, because his little-dog frenetic energy would freak her out and she would attack him. And, near the end, she started biting Louise at feeding time (in the mouth where Louise’s tumor is). She just could not control her anxiety and aggression and neither could I.
Sofie was taking 6, sometimes 7, different medications for anxiety, aggression, and pain, multiple times a day, so that schedule is now gone for me.
But, after years of Sofie being by my side, sometimes so close that I stepped on her; being so present and constant and needing so much care and attention from me, the void is huge. She made me laugh. She could be so silly. She smiled at me and loved me in a way no other dog ever had. She was my cuddle dog. Despite her fears and anxiety, she was my heart and I believe I was her’s. After you have taken care of a sick animal (or human) for years, especially if the care is around mental health issues, you feel guilty that you feel relieved when they die. You feel empty because every day for years, you took special care of that being, many days with an exhausting routine, but you did it because you loved them.
Missing Nine
Nine was an easy cat. I think sometimes, the good child doesn’t get as much attention because the ‘problem children’ suck all the energy out of you. But there is also a big hole where his energy used to be in the zoo. We feel it every night when we sit in the living room and he is not there. We feel it in the laundry room, which was his favorite place, and he isn’t in his bed by the furnace; or climbing in the rafters.
Finding a new balance will take time.
But I know they are waiting for us on the rainbow bridge.
And now we are 5.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Cat, Cat People, cats, dog blog, Dog People, DogDaz, Dogs, dogs and cats, lorian lipton, multi animal household, pet blog, pets, rainbow bridge
Mr. Nine crossed the rainbow bridge into the big meadow unexpectedly on March 10.
If it isn’t weird enough to have 1 pet with oral cancer (Louise has Canine Acanthomatous Ambleoblastoma which we have been dealing with for months), who would ever expect to have another pet with cancer at the same time? Though they are different oral cancers.
I did not know that oral cancer is the 4th most common cause of death in cats. Cats are stoic animals, and sadly, by the time Nine’s cancer, Feline Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma, was even discovered, it was too late to treat. His jaw had disintegrated and though we tried to treat the secondary infection for over a week, we knew that he needed to be out of pain before it got out of hand for him. The growth had doubled in only a week. He didn’t want to eat and he clearly was in discomfort.
We are all in shock. Poor little Mini Cooper is lost without him. She is crying and wandering all around looking for her buddy.
There is a large hole at the DogDaz_Cats2 Zoo and in our hearts. We are keeping a light burning while he makes his journey to the big meadow over the rainbow bridge.
The vet took his paw print and made a little stone for us.
“IN THE RISING of the sun, and in it’s going down, we remember them. From the moment I wake till I fall asleep, all that I do is remember them. In the blowing of the wind and the chill of winter, we remember them. On the frigid days of winter and the moments I breathe the cold air, I warm myself with their embrace and remember them. In the opening of buds and the rebirth of spring, we remember them. As the days grow longer and the outside becomes warmer, I am more awake and I remember them.” – Hebrew remembrance
NOT Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: cancer, cancersucks, Cat People, catblog, cats, DogDaz, dogdazcats2, feline oral squamous cell carcinoma, lorian lipton, rainbow bridge
Grief and mourning don’t have any time schedule. Sometimes, the ones you loved seep into a few minutes of every day. 11 years and you still have a large piece of my heart, Squash E Bear.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Black and White Sunday, dog, DogDaz, Dogs, grief, Pet, Pet Loss, pets, rainbow bridge
Gertrude’s Request
The other day, as I was sorting through some real pictures, you know the ones we took before digital cameras, I came across this 2005 of Gertrude and me. She loved to pester me whenever I was eating or reading or basically doing anything. Noel reminds me a great deal of Gertrude. Gerty left us in 2007. It’s funny how some of them burn a bigger hole in your heart. Maybe it’s time for a long-haired calico again?
I cannot imagine a life without cats!
Just another CATDogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: animals, Cat, Cat People, cats, caturday, DogDaz, lorian lipton, pets, rainbow bridge
Sadly, last Friday morning, my Grandcat, Mr. Kitty, suffered a sudden onset of Saddle Thrombus and passed away.
Saddle thrombus (or saddle thrombosis) is a blood clot that starts off in the left atrium of the heart and then moves out into the aorta (aortic thromboembolism). Once there, the clot travels to the junction of the aorta and into the iliac arteries where it gets stuck. Since the iliac arteries feed into the femoral arteries, which serve the back legs, the clot prevents blood flow to the back legs and is an extremely serious condition.
90% of the time, saddle thrombus is related to an underlying heart condition such as dilated or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (types of congestive heart failure).
The main symptom is weakness or paralysis of the hind legs, which will be colder than other parts of the body and may even be bluish in color. The cat will be in a lot of pain, often vocalizing his discomfort loudly. Go to your veterinarian or an emergency clinic immediately if your cat has these symptoms.
He was a wonderful cat and the family is heartbroken by his sudden passing. Kitty was an 11-year old Maine Coon mix. He will be greatly missed. Travel safe little man over the rainbow bridge to the big meadow in the sky.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: animals, Cat, DogDaz, lorian lipton, maine coon cat, pet blog, rainbow bridge, saddle thrombus
DogDaz Zoo 