Time to say goodbye

What started out as one of our fur babies being a little distracting when we were trying to sleep quickly became one of the worst days of our lives.

Our kind, loving and extremely fluffy large boy Wally suffered a massive stroke in the wee small hours of June 11th and after rushing him to the wonderful staff at SASH in the Central Coast were told with any future likely to cause him excruciating pain, it was probably time to say goodbye.

Wally, a few weeks before he left

I know people (who don't know me) might think that he was "just a cat" but he was so much more than that. He was my best friend, he saw me and he was our family.

Words don't do justice to the hole he's left in our world nor the pure joy he gave us every day for nearly 14 years.

He had been having some health problems this year and we'd seen several vets to try and work out what might be wrong but everything came up as a mystery.

Just chillin' on the couch together

I really think he left because he was ready to go and I know he's not in pain anymore but it doesn't make my hurt ache less and when I try to carry on the 'normal' things that form part of my day, it takes the wind out of me when I think "oh that's right - he's not there".

If Mike wanted to find me he just looked for Wally and sure enough I would be there.

We built him a new side table days before he left us, so that he could lie next to me while I do my day job. Now I sit there working with this tangible weight of something that's just missing and strange.

We are very lucky and grateful for so many reasons:

• To have been able to share our lives with such a wonderful fur baby

• That we have 3 other gorgeous felines (also all elderly) especially our little 'nurse' Eva to help us through the grief

• That we have each other and boy has Mike been my amazing rock through this despite his own sadness

• That we named our business after our much loved 1st and 2nd fur babies so that we will always remember them

• To the kindness of friends and family who understand how much we love our animals

• To the wonderful kindness of the staff at SASH through this whole process and also to the Brunker Road Vets for a very thoughtful card

So now it's time to work out how to live a slightly altered life without my little shadow by my side (and work out how to go to the bathroom on my own again without my furry companion following me in there).

Thank you Wally, for being the wonderful and let's face it, hilarious, unique and slightly odd character that you were. I am certain you lived a happy life and that you knew how much you were loved by us every single day.

Good bye our angel Wally x