An Ode to Stan

Stanley Fudge  |  Stan the Man  |  Stealth Stan  

As some of you may have seen on Twitter last night, something very sad happened in our household yesterday. 

My favourite cat in the entire world, Stan, was put to sleep after 13 years and 8 months (according to the vet). 

He lived a great life hunting various rodents, birds and frogs, and sleeping on my bed with me.

He was my big brothers cat who named him Stanley Fudge. When Simon moved to Cardiff around three years ago Stan adopted me and spent every night (when Adam wasn't there) asleep on my bed with me, curled up next to me after a few minutes of head rubbing and head butting.

It was very hard last night, I avoided my room for as long as possible before going to bed, and when I did it felt very strange. Didn't quite feel like home.

It's been a sad few months in our household. This is unfortunately our third pet to pass away withing 9 months. Not through neglect or bad ownership I promise, just through age.

First was Tilly, our gorgeous black fluffy lady cat. She was 16 when she passed away in November, a really good age.

Second was Annie, our lovely friendly Retriever. She was 14, had an amazing life and is still missed to this very day.

And now Stan, I'm beginning to feel like it's not even worth having pets with so much heart ache in the past few months.

I know a lot of people don't understand being so upset when pets die, and I understand that - if you don't have pets then you don't know. But I love my pets. They are part of the family and each time one goes it leaves a hole. 

Stan has left a huge hole. Heartbroken is exactly how I feel right now. He was always there for me when I was down or lonely. Tuesday night I realised how much weight he'd lost and had a few tears and he came up onto the bed, which was a struggle for him, came up and rubbed his head against my cheeks. 

I think that says it all.

Sorry for the depressing post! Just trying to get all my feelings out and sort through it all in my head and my heart.

Thank you for everyone who sent lovely messages to me yesterday, really appreciate it all and it did help.

Not much more can be said, except RIP Stan, you cannot be replaced and you will be missed for a long long time.