My bf is more of a dog person and never really liked cats much.
But when we moved in together, I brought my cat. He acted for a while like he didn't like the boy, but I'd catch him in the corner of my eye petting him and hugging him, picking him up like an airplane, holding him.
His health declined pretty rapidly over the last few months. I was working so much I barely had time to notice. My bf would try to keep me updated; "He isn't eating as much so I started spoonfeeding him" "he's been spending a lot of time in the bathroom so moved his mat in there" "the vet said to give him his pills twice a day so I've been taking my vitamins with his midday pill" "he wet the bed again, sorry there's sheets all over the bathroom"
I was under so much stress from work, I couldn't handle the thought that my baby boy's health was declining. On occasion I'd go out, I'd invite my boyfriend. "I can't leave the boy" he'd say.
Last Sunday he took a turn for the worst. He could no longer even walk up the stairs to the bed (I got him little pet stairs because he was having trouble jumping up and down a few weeks ago). We laid with him all night. My boyfriend, especially, was extremely upset and holding him and kissing his head.
I joked that he hadn't wanted a cat in the first place, that he's turned into one of those dads that didn't want a cat, and he started to tear up.
"Dad's don't want pets because they don't want the grief of losing them," he said.
When we had to put the boy down on Tuesday, it was the hardest thing I've ever done. The both of us were sobbing. I'd never seen him cry that hard.
Dad's don't want pets, not because they won't love that pet with everything they have, but because they've been through the grief of losing a pet and are trying to protect themselves from going through it again.
