Last Friday, our cat Aslan lost his battle with pancreatitis.  I think he would have died that day on his own, but we took him to the vet and had him put down.  I think we saved him hours of pain, and I’m glad if we were able to make it more bearable for him.  We loved him, and we held him and kissed him at the end.  Even the vet cried.

It’s hard to lose a pet.  Even with our remaining two cats and two dogs, there was an empty spot in our house.  Aslan took so much of my time, with his medications and my efforts to get him to eat well and give him extra attention.  It’s hard, missing who he was and how he needed me.  That empty spot he left behind was too much for me.  We didn’t plan to take in another pet, but …

Well, like I told my husband, sometimes kittens just happen and there isn’t anything anyone can do about it.  So there.

Meet Diego.

The weird thing is, we picked out the name Diego before we went to the shelter.  I told my Mom we were getting a kitten and we’d picked a name, and she confused “Diego” with “Diablo” (devil), which made me wonder what Diego might really mean.

Diego means “supplanter”, or “he that replaces”.

Aslan was one of a kind, so I can’t really think that he’s been replaced.

But that empty spot is much easier to take, and we smile a lot more.

Thank you, Diego.