*** posted with permission from getmycat *** Losing a cat can be like losing a beloved member of your family. It can cause you to feel helpless, lost and depressed. For however long your cat is missing, it is one of the most devastating experiences you may ever live through. While society can be hard on those of us who consider animal companions to be family members, the loss of a cat can consume our thoughts. Finding them may be our only focus and we may find ourselves unable to deal with everyday life. We may lose interest in work, socializing, and we may become lethargic and sad. Two key components of searching for your lost cat are positive thinking and action.Though negativity tends to infiltrate our lives when a cat is lost, positive thinking and action can push the bad thoughts and images back. Here are some tips for keeping negative thoughts and feelings at bay: Keep it in “cat perspective”. We sometimes place human emotions on our cats and expect them to be as panicked as we are when they are lost. This is usually not the case. When lost, cats are in survival mode and their instinct is to stay safe and find food. Ask for support from those around you. Family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and anyone who is positive and supportive can help see you through this dark time. You don’t have to do this alone Join a support group. MissingCatAssistance@yahoogroups is one great resource. Talking with other people that have either gone through a search and found their cat or who are still searching for their missing cat can give you some added strength and surge of ideas on what else you can try. Make a plan. Write a list of all the things you can do to find your cat. Many ideas can be found on Get My Cat’s website. Check off items as you go, even if all you can muster some days is watching the ads on Craigslist. Trust your Intuition. Realize most people cannot or are not willing to sit in an uncomfortable emotion for very long. Two weeks is generally the timeframe when most people give up looking for their cats, as the emotions involved in searching overwhelms them. When people in your life cease to support for you or try to persuade you to stop looking, look inside to your own beliefs. Latch onto your intuition. You know in your heart what you believe. If you lose your support system, reach out to create a new one. You are not alone. Forgiveness. Forgive yourself or the family member/friend/roommate who may have let your cat out that day. Second-guessing will get you nowhere. “What ifs” cannot help you. Focus on today, forgive for yesterday, and focus on where to go from here. Take care of your body. Make sure to eat and keep yourself hydrated. Try to eat plenty of protein and rest when you can, even if it means you take a day or two or even a week off of the search. If you become ill, or even fall apart mentally, emotionally and physically, you will not be able to search for your beloved feline. Be patient with yourself. Your emotions will surface, and may sometimes terrify you. It is okay to scream, cry, rant and rave. Give yourself a set amount of time to feel what you feel, daily if needed, and then grab that action plan and go to the next step. Ask for help. While we may better at completing most tasks on our own, we cannot do this alone. Working in a vacuum makes things harder and heavier. Reach out, build that support system and ask for help. Again, trust your intuition. In the end, whether you get your cat back or decide to end your search, only you will know in your heart what is right for you. You will know. Good luck with your search. Catherine Stehr is a mental health counselor in Washington state and is pursuing certification in equine-assisted learning. She is looking for her cat, Pooh Bear.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 05:05:34 +0000