Heart of the City by Steenz for February 16, 2012

:(

Normally, I’m make some snarky ST remark about the return of Spock – but losing a good furry friend never easy. You just have to think of what’s best for them…

Oh dear…:(

The absolutely hardest thing to have to do with your companion animal… Just thinking about it tears me up.

oh NOOO :(

I had to have one of my cats put to sleep a few years ago. I’m in my 40s, and yet it hurt like nothing else! Give your kids all kinds of love and support when they lose an animal companion of any kind, they’ll need it.

Having just lot a cat this past August, this is crushing me. I can’t help but cry a little.

this is so touching

I lost mine two months ago… She was 22 – bless her…

I worry about this. We got cats before we started having kids. The kids love the cats. And the cats are now starting to get old. Eventually this story will play out for us.

So sad. Think of the good times Dean. Mark, we are all ready for a Spock retrospective.

This really hits home for me. Just brought my kitty (Hobbes) to the vet. He is 18, and has an uneven heart rythem. :-(

I know you mean well…but platitudes like “he’ll never die as long as you keep him in your heart” (or “he’s in a better place”) utterly and cruelly miss the point. I personally believe that both are true. But all they do in the moment is remind you that he’s gone — gone! — and he’s never coming back. They twist the knife, and make the aching emptiness inside you hurt all the more..The only good thing to do is exactly what Heart is doing: compassionately say nothing at all, but simply be there for him, and let him grieve as he has to.

It’s hard enough on us big folks to lose a four-legged friend. The little ones take it so rough…

I’m crying as I read the strip and comments. Dean/Mark – I am so so sorry about this. Pets are special. If Spock leaves us please give Dean a new friend when he is ready, it was the best thing we did.

We lost 3 cats in just a few months … all became sick (different problems for each of them). It was horrible. We love our pets so much - it’s hard to say goodbye.

There had better be a miracle ahead. After losing our Sheltie of 13 years and a 17 year old Siamese over the last 12 months, this story is a bit too close to home. And as the co owner of a vet clinic, euthanizing an animal is the absolute hardest thing on the whole staff, at least at our clinic it is NOT something done without a lot of attempts to find other ways

I do service care for an old kitty-she’s about to be 19. I hope that she won’t have to go when I am looking after her, it’s going to be sad anyway. I still miss the other old kitty I was caring for last year.

i went back into the arcive last night to get to know Heart and Dean better. this is sooo sad. I am loseing Spock before geting a chance to know him. thank goodness for the arcives.

When I was 8, I had the only children’s birthday party I ever experienced. I had just recently acquired a puppy, and he bit a child at the party. I do not recall all the details, and there’s no one to ask anymore. But my parents told me he had to be put to sleep. To this day, I do not celebrate my birthday. This is a very traumatic event for a child and it shouldn’t be taken lightly. Goodbye to Spock. Friskie will be waiting to play with you on the other side.

My cat was diagnosed with cancer a year and a half ago. I agonized over whether she would still have a good life if I put her on chemo, but I realized I would miss her presence around the house more than I knew how to describe, and I wasn’t ready to let her go. I’ve had a year and a half to prepare for the inevitable…and I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready.

Just went through this two weeks ago. We miss our kitty ;( Poor Dean!

=(

This is hitting close to home, my sister just had to have her 17 year old husky put to sleep and that dog had been with most of the family for at least a year at some point ( my parents and I had her for two when my sister couldn’t keep her) so she really was a family dog, and my beloved cat George is now 13 and I dread the day when his time comes.

I am fortunate that i dream very vivid dreams. Just two nights ago Kaya who passed years ago joined me in my dreams for a visit, as she my dog Cleo and my parents often do. When I go to bed I live a whole different life.

It’s never easy. As I stated yesterday, our cat just died Friday. We had her for 13 years. She had thyroid problems and it was bad enough watching her decline. Thankfully, she went peacefully in her sleep and didn’t seem to be in any bad paid other than being very, very weak.

Mark, I suspect this is real to you & I am sorry. Having put several to sleep for medical reasons, I know the pain. I think Heart of the City is the best comic I’ve ever known & I am a Senior Citizen! Peter

Over a year ago our cat,Tiger was haveing trouble breathing after the Doc showed us the Xray Well, I thought he swallowed something and had a partial airway obstruction. No such luck, Big “C”…….my wife and I couldn’t bear to stay in the same room with him we said our goodbyes and left sat in waiting room and cried. GO Dean! Hug and pet him and say your Goodbyes! DO IT NOW!

hurts inside. Hope all works out.

I’ve lost more cats than I want to ever think about and I’ve got two more who are both pushing 16+ and getting skinnier by the day. I feel Dean’s pain, it’s one that I’ve felt before.

I have been through it three times, and it is one of the saddest and most painful decisions a cat owner ever has to make. I know this is happening in a comic strip, but it seems so real.

This may not end well.

Nooo…. snif

This is just depressing. I haven’t seen a story line this sad in the comics since the grandpa in For Better or Worse had a stroke.

NOOOOO NOT SPOCK!!!!!!!

MAKE ME CRY!!!!! I read this to lift my mood not cry.

Yeah, even my Dad cried after we had to put our kitty down. And this was a guy who wouldn’t even let an animal IN the the house when we were kids.

Please don’t do it Mark! This isn;t like FBOFW which is in real time. Spock needn’t get old.

I fell to pieces when Farley died, and when Ginger from the Big Picture died. Don’t do this!

Had to say goodbye to my Boo buddy, a sweet cat if ever there was, just last September. Tears my heart out still.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

:(

Nothing can be said at a time like this…

A sad step in the Path of Life. I hope that Dean will remember Spock by getting another kitty.

Hope that Spock will pull out of this, but it’s not looking too good.

I’ve lost quite a few, one while he passed in our house. Boo was the favorite, most banged up before we found him, but had the biggest heart of them all.

Hang in there Dean, it’s going to be tough, but you’ll pull through.

I know this is a comic strip, and spock is a very minor character in it, but if spock dies, I’ll probably have to stop reading this strip. I’ve had to put several of my cats to sleep over the years, including 2 black ones. It’s never, ever, easy. Having spock die then continuing to read the strip will probably remind me too much of Shadow and Spook, my 2 black cats I had to put to sleep because of illness.

This is a comic strip, no one is supposed to die in a comic strip. They stay young forever. I think most of us have had a beloved pet pass on, and I don’t think any of us want to relive it. I’m a little distraught over this strip!!

I know how Dean feels. I lost my dog, who had to be put down, because she developed cancer. Then three days later my cat died. Dean, I’m here for you.

:’ (

:(

Crud.

I had a dog that lived to 25 years of age.We finally had to put her down when she had second stroke and coudln’t pull out of it like she did the first stroke she had.

if i remember right from lio a while back, mark lost a catso, catharsis (no pun intended) – i’ve lost many a kitty too :(

:(

Been there myself, Dean. My heart’s with you. :(

This is the most comments I have ever seen on this strip!

And I can’t even begin to begin my pet stories! I had my Yellow Lab Susie die in my arms, I had my cat Hannah Bee, look at me, meow at me like she did, we “talked” to each other so to speak, at the age of 16 on the way to the Vets and she died in my arms, and then there were Teddy and Gallagher and Charlie Girl.17, 16 and 12 years of age, my dear dear dogs. Some of our pets my sons knew and their hearts were broken as well as ours. Geez, Mark, DON’T DO THIS!

Well Spock needs a miracle! It’s terrible when a pet dies. I have had dogs,cats, ferrets and rats. I have cats I still miss, a couple of very special dogs and quite a few ratties.

My last rat Steevy wanted to sleep in bed on my pillow when he got old.. I buried him out back and miss him to pieces.One special cat used to talk to us in his way. He got locked up one winter in a neighbors shed, and when he got loose he kept us up all night long "telling us about his ordeal.Here is hoping that Spock makes a recovery. Becauseit’s even harder when your’e a kid. When my collie died, I was twelve. I was more heartbroken than I knew was possible.

I’m thinking (hoping) that maybe Spock ate something that’s making him sick, and that he’ll pull through at the last minute. And, these days, my two cats are getting a little tired of my looking at them sad and suddenly picking them up and hugging them. But they’re putting up with it. So far.

I’ve had tear running reading about all the dearly loved pets who have gone. When my rat Mickey was old, his backbone showed but his body was , well, rats get cancer lots.( I had taken him to the vet the day before) I said good morning to him and he looked happy to see me. I went outside a few minutes and when I got back, he was gone. But when I lifted his little body out his face looked young and carefree again.I just marveled at the change and I knew he was in ratty heaven and I’m pretty sure he knew it just before he died.

Cat – she lived a long and long-travelled life. I like to believe that she was happy…

I’m too cynical to buy that Spock is done for; it wouldn’t be kid-friendly.