In Our Hearts Forever

A memorial to Shadow the Office Cat

Everyone who has loved a pet knows the feeling. Something happens to its health, slowly or suddenly, and they are faced with agonizing decisions about how best to help them. Sometimes, that help involves the awful finality of saying goodbye.

We receive calls from pet owners who are agonizing over this very situation and potential decision.

We listen, we understand their pain, and we try to help them process what they’re feeling and facing as compassionately as we can. While we can’t really give advice, we know that sometimes a grieving pet owner simply wants to talk, or make peace with a decision that, perhaps along with their veterinarian’s recommendation, they believe they need to make.

Here at MCHS, we recently experienced such a loss of our own. Our dear Shadow, a feisty black cat who was returned to us for the fifth time in the fall of 2024, became our office cat. He didn’t take to everyone, but those who understood him enjoyed his quirky company, his opinions, and his reprisals if we violated one of his funny little rules. He lived in my office, away from the other cats (whom he wouldn’t tolerate), and he was content here. Shadow and I became co-pilots in the business of managing the humane society.

But now nearly ten years old, Shadow’s health issues gradually became worse, despite a regimen of medications, food and supplements. And suddenly, on January 23, his condition took a turn for the worst. He spent Friday night in the hospital, but he didn’t respond to their emergency treatments. As his official owner (I adopted him on Christmas Day, 2024), I was suddenly and unexpectedly faced with that devastating, heartbreaking decision.



Almost as bad as the decision I had to make was finding a way to tell the MCHS team about our mutual loss. It was so sudden. And through many tears, I crafted a text message. The responses came immediately, heartbroken replies, broken heart emogies, and shared memories of Shadow. Then came the photos. Everyone had photos of Shadow. It was wonderful to see them, and to be reminded of how much he meant to us all.

And when we posted Shadow’s memorial on social media, our extended MCHS family responded with such heartwarming messages of sympathy. It was another beautiful reminder that we all love these wonderful animals, and that sometimes, even we at MCHS grieve a personal loss.

We’re all in this animal-loving world together. Thank you for sharing the journey with us.