Cosmo was as close to a soul mate as a cat could possibly be. We bonded deeply in the months after I rescued him as we worked together to get him off insulin. We were successful after 9 months. Cosmo was eight years old (best guess) when he died and I had him for almost 7 years. His death was sudden, violent and he was missing for 9 days before my neighbor told me he found his body. I never saw Cosmo after he died, as my neighbor had already buried him before telling me, but from the description, it sounded like a raccoon killed him. He wasn’t allowed outside at night, so this tragedy occurred when it was still daylight. The circumstances of his death were about as traumatic as they could possibly be, and not seeing him after he died made closure even more difficult.
The closure session I did with Val and Cosmo was such an important healing experience and it really helped me cope with his loss. One of the things I liked about it was saying goodbye to both the good and bad things. As much as I loved Cosmo, he did have some bad habits. It helped to deal with the complete picture, instead of whitewashing things and turning him into a kitty saint. The process of preparing for the session was important too, because I really thought about Cosmo and reviewed our time together. Even though I talked to Cosmo frequently when he was alive, and always told him how much I loved him, it was important to be able to say that one more time.
Even if I had been with Cosmo at the time of his death, I couldn’t have said all the things to him that I got to say during the closure session. Yes, it was painful, but it was healing and I am grateful for the whole experience.”