The Tale Of Henry The Cat &
The Woman Who Loved Him

Photo taken from Tiya Ivy

I came across this post and was so moved by it, I had to share. Tiya Ivy wrote this post after the tragic death of her cat, Henry. She poured her heart out about the pain she was in over Henry’s death and how it happened.

Here is a paragraph from Tiya’s post:

“You see, Henry wasn’t just a run of the mill house cat. He wasn’t just a fixture in the background of our home that came in for feeding and kept to himself. He was an ever-present, loving and very involved member of our family. The night he died, his final act in this world before sneaking past my husband’s feet to get out far too late that evening, was to calm our 4-year-old daughter (who was having a meltdown because she was overtired and didn’t want to go to bed) by laying peacefully beside her until she finally drifted to sleep – as was his way. Every time I had a migraine, he never left my side until the storm had passed, even when I was puking my guts up and writhing in agony. When he came for a cuddle, he didn’t just lie next to you, he insisted on having his paw held. Despite the numerous times they certainly deserved it, he never once raised a claw to either of our girls. The amount of times he would make us laugh on a daily basis is innumerable. He was the physical embodiment of love and patience. He gave us everything he had to give and your actions robbed us of the chance to thank him for choosing to share his life with us before he left this world.”

I will provide a link to this post at the end. But first I wanted to discuss an important message that comes from this post. Here is a question for you…if you accidentally hit an animal with your car, would you stop to try to help it and to find out who the “owner” (I would prefer to say “pet parent”) is? I am praying your answer to this is YES.

If somebody does hit an animal and doesn’t do these things, do you think they should be held accountable? Again, I hope your answer to this is YES.

Something I include in my morning prayers everyday is that there will be stronger laws protecting animals. But this can’t happen without you & I. Tiya is taking action. She is taking her pain and using it to help other cats and fight for stronger laws. She started a movement called Cats Matter in the UK where she lives.

Tiya’s post was on the Katzenworld Facebook Page. After reading the comments I found myself in some heated conversations. The negative comments people were making shocked me. They are attacking Tiya for letting Henry outside. From what Tiya shared with me, they see caring for cats in the UK differently than some other countries do. They believe a cat should be allowed to be out in nature as they are intended to be. Whether you, I, or those other people who were leaving the comments agree with that isn’t the point. The point is that she is grieving the loss of her beloved cat and wants to change laws to hold people accountable for hitting them and not stopping. Maybe Henry’s life would have been saved if the driver would have stopped. That is what the focus should be. She obviously loved Henry and in no way would intentional harm him. You can click the provided link above in this paragraph to read these comments and maybe leave a few of your own. You have to open up the “view more replies” to see where I was commenting. It is the one with like 22 replies. Let me know what you think.

Without further adue, here is the link to the post Tiya wrote: To The Person Who Ran Over My Cat.

It sounds like Henry liked to be held in their arms. I hope Tiya finds comfort in knowing that Henry is now being held by the arms of God.