If you could make your pet understand one thing, what would it be?

Oh woe is me,

For I am undone,

Of pets for Henry,

I have none.

A cat was shared,

By those at home,

But the children left,

And the cat is gone.

When young the cat,

Was our kid’s delight,

They played with pussy,

Day and night.

Just sometimes it did escape,

The kids would cry and sob,

Until by some sleight of hand,

The cat again did lob.

The children grew and flew the nest,

The kitten, now cat, stayed on,

It became quite solitary,

When the kids had gone.

The years they passed,

The cat grew old and Ill,

Had we spent a fortune,

It might be with us still.

Kindness can be awfully cruel,

I felt it should not live,

In old age and growing pain,

When respite I could give.

With heavy heart I called the vet,

Who said he’d euthanise,

The cat to end its growing pain,

And truncate its days.

Is there a life hereafter,

That I do not know,

I can merely speculate,

Till it’s time for me to go.