The loss of Mick is something that most of us here understand. That black hole in the very core of you, close to your heart - the place that was HIS….and always will be, though he’s no longer there. No one can ever take Mick’s place.

There will come a time when all the wonderful memories of Mick will refuse to be kept in the far recesses of your mind. They’ll come back, slowly, but steadily. Little by little those happy times will begin to fill the void. Your boy’s spirit will return.

Of the many poems and essays about grieving, this one is among my favorites.

http://www.dogquotations.com/l.....ament.html

How wonderful that Mick had you, Sonia.

Mick was an incredible old soul and brought much grace to my life. His calm, sweet and loving nature will forever be in my aching heart. I’m a truly a better person for knowing him.

Good riddance 2007…Rest in peace
Sweet Boy.

Love and peace to all,
Sonia

“Winograd tries to establish a bedrock argument on the myth of the feral cat as an evil that must be eradicated”: my impression was that he was simply laying out all the sentiments and arguments that involve feral cats and TNR, as well as his logical deductions.

“….his argument against ‘nativism’ ….is offensive. The fact that we…… should be lumped in with those who would kill cats….is insulting.” While Khuly’s inference may be valid, I don’t believe it was Winograd’s intent to insult. Rather, I thought he was simply trying to present all the views.

I do agree with Christopher regarding the need for more citations; I would have appreciated a more extensive index, too. Nonetheless, the book was the most profound and stunning book I had read all year - maybe longer. [I read a lot, too.] Frankly, I felt as if I had been [deservedly] punched in the gut.

Clara is very beautiful.

The good doctor makes the exact same mistake she is slanting Winograd with! She mentions studies in passing, but doesn’t give us any footnotes nor names, dates, or anything else one might use to actually look them up. And unlike Winograd’s book, her blog doesn’t have a bibliography at the end.

You can’t win an argument about poor documentation with poor documentation yourself!

As for the reason for her beef in the first place, an issue over inside cats vs. outside cats, I’ll note that Gina has posted about the benefits of inside cats several times and doesn’t seem to be enraged that the studies that back up the belief that it’s much healthier for the cat to stay indoors are questioned or at least qualified by Winograd.

See, Winograd doesn’t demand nor even suggest that you are doing harm to your cat by leaving it inside. Rather, he’s taking some of the edge off of the notion that you’re evil and derelict if you allow your cat outdoors because doing so is tantamount to torture, which people who argue against outdoor cats AND feral cats have used to frame the issue as “it’s better to kill the feral cats than to allow them to remain outdoors since death is better than the torture and suffering that they must be going through by being outside.”

It seems to me, anyone who wants to keep their cats as indoor cats should be able to read all the way through that chapter and not feel one bit worse for making that choice. It’s a complete non sequitur to think that Winograd is speaking against that choice in any way.

On the positive side the collaboration I got from people here truely helped in discovering the true cause which helped me understand and get over it.

And then of course there is Scout who was a stray found just a block from my home. I remember that when I heard this saying, “Maybe he was looking for us…”

For every ending there is a beginning.