RIP: Jet :'(

I had a stray beagle pup I named Cooper because he ran up to me while I was fixing a flat tire in my driveway.

 

See, that's one of the things I love about pets. And kids.

 

Sorry for your loss, Alley. Have a cat here. Normally a dog person, but it's growing on me.

 

I have a friend whose kid named one of their mice "wrapping paper".

Seriously.

 

I name my cats after tennis players.

Sorry to heat about Jet.

 

Sorry to hear about Jet, Alley.

When I was about your son's age, my mom ran over my cat (we lived on a farm, cat lived outside). She could have told me the cat ran away, cause they did all the time, but she told me what happened. It was my first big lesson in life and death.

 

I told AA that I was going to visit his house with a Bud Light in one hand and a Diet Pepsi in the other and wave them in front of Little Man's face while asking about what he is naming his kittens, hoping he will pick "Beer" and "Soda."

Would that make me a bad, evil aunt?

 

Damn that story is alternately cute (the part about Little Man naming pets after whatever he sees) and heart-breaking.

Let me be the latest to recommend telling him the truth.

The summer before eighth grade, my parents bought a house in a so-so part of town and refurbished it to rent it out (and to get a huge tax break). My dad was doing work one day when he heard meowing from the dilapidated (sp) house next door. He walked closer to the house and saw a little kitten meowing like mad in the window. He got her out and brought her home. My sister fell apart seeing this poor little thing. My mom took the cat to our vet, who said she was ridden with fleas and various maladies and would have died in 48 hours if my dad didn't find her.

"We should name her Lucky," I said.

Lucky got nursed back to health...while our older cat was so pissed about the new arrival that she got sick and hid under the bed for like a week. Lucky was crazy, running around the house and always trying to play with Inky, who was an old soul at five. But the two started to get along and we really liked having two cats.

One night in December my dad comes home from work. "Which cat is outside?" he asked. "Lucky," someone said. "OK," he says.

Then he goes into the bedroom and tells my mom that he saw Lucky dead outside...run over. He told us he was going out for a jog, but he went out to bury Lucky in the backyard.

A day or two later, we start to worry about Lucky. My mom kept putting us off, saying maybe she ran away. My sister insisted on putting an ad in the newspaper. Finally, a couple nights later, my mom says "Come into the living room, your dad and I want to talk to you."

"It's about Lucky isn't it? She's dead isn't she?" I say and start crying. My sister is bawling.

Turns out my dad was so upset over this and so unsure what to do that he called the school shrink (no lie) and asked what he and my mom should do. I always thought that was pretty impressive.

Anyway, at first I wished my parents had told us she ran away, but I know now of course that we would have wondered about her forever. And as sad as it was to lose her, at least Lucky got a few extra months of happiness in a good home.

And why the fuck is the google ad on the bottom of this page for "dying cat ringtone?" Bad taste.

 

Sorry about that Alley. You can at least take solace in the fact it's a pet and not a loved one. My 5-year-old son is still confused and sad about his grandfather dying in February. There's no hiding that one.

 

That would make you the mayor of Potterville.

 

That made me tear up, Dan. Cat food in the bottom of the hole ... kids can be so sweet.

 

i disagree. 5 is too young to learn about death first-hand. go with the concept first and then hard-line him with the next kitten that dies.