REMEMBERING WHEN: The loss of our first pet

By Keith Schell

The very first pet our family ever had was a young, jet-black stray tomcat who appeared out of nowhere one day at our country house when my little brother and I were very young.

And being very young, we were soft-hearted little kids that loved small animals, especially if the animals were friendly. This cat was very friendly right from the start, letting us pat him right from the moment we first saw him.

We had no idea where he came from or who he belonged to. The only people nearby with a black cat were our immediate neighbors a few hundred yards down the road on the other side of the highway. But their cat was older, fat, happy, and never wandered very far from home.

Falling in love with this newcomer immediately, my little brother and I quickly asked our parents if we could keep him.

After some deliberation, they agreed—on the condition that if someone came to claim the cat, we would have to give him up. We accepted the condition and hoped that day would never come.

With that settled, the next task was choosing a name. As a little kid, I thought our neighbours’ cat had the coolest name ever for a black cat, and I insisted on giving our new cat the same one. My parents tried to talk me out of "copycatting”, so to speak, but I was adamant. So from that day on, there were two black cats in our rural neighbourhood that had the same name.

Since our new cat showed up in the summer after school let out, we decided to keep him outside temporarily, until we could figure out how clean he was. Once that was determined, we could then decide whether we would allow him inside the house or not.

Not long after getting that cat, we had to drive into town to do our weekly shopping. We left him outside, piled into the car, and headed off. A couple of hours later, with our errands done, we began our drive back home.

As we slowed to turn into our driveway, we saw a heartbreaking sight.

In the gravel on the shoulder of the road, right across from our driveway, lay a small, still mass of jet-black fur.

Our parents saw it immediately and knew what it was. They tried to shield us from seeing it, but from our spot in the back seat, we saw it. And in that instant, my brother and I had a terrible sinking feeling.

After pulling into the driveway, Dad quietly asked Mom to take us kids into the house. Mom did, and Dad walked back to the highway to investigate the situation.

Our worst fears were soon confirmed.

When Dad came in through the doorway, the grim look on his face told us everything. The little pile of black fur by the side of the road was, indeed, the body of our cat. He’d been hit by a car and killed.

And then the tears began. My younger brother and I cried and cried over the sudden loss. We hadn’t had that cat for very long, but it doesn’t take long for little kids to take an animal into their heart. 

Through my tears I remember the look of shared pain on my parents’ faces, as if they would have given anything in the world to spare their children the heartbreak of this moment. It was the universal look of sadness that any good and decent parent gets on their face when faced with the unavoidable heartbreak occasionally experienced by their child.

Any loving parent would do anything in the world to shield their child from the pain of loss, but sometimes that pain is unavoidable. It is just a part of life.

And what can you say to the child who has just had their heart broken?

Dad returned to the road, gently gathered up the cat’s body, and quietly buried him in the woods behind our house.

One of the saddest days in a family’s life is when a child experiences the loss of a beloved pet. That day came quickly and suddenly for our young family, and there was nothing we could do to stop it.

But kids are resilient, and eventually, we healed. Not long after that sad day, another stray cat found its way onto our property. And once again, we opened our home to another wayward soul—and, once more, our hearts.

The pain you feel at the end of a pet’s life makes it almost not worth having a pet in the first place.

Almost.

We had three cats and a dog over the span of our family life, one right after the other. Each was an integral part of our family, and their companionship and devotion made our own lives that much richer for having had them.

But as anyone who has ever experienced the loss of a beloved pet intimately knows, the heartbreak of loss is the price of love.