My Sister-in-Law called early this morning all hysterical. Her 17 year old Cat died during the night. We went over to get the Cat and I wrapped him in a heavy trash bag, found a box that fit and wrapped the box in industrial shrink wrap like they use on pallets. It took me more than an hour to dig a hole. I would dig for 5 minutes, sit down for 5 or 10 minutes, dig for 5 minutes, until I finally got a hole that I was happy with. The SIL rents so we buried him in the flower bed at our house. It was as much of a dignified send of as I could make it. RIP Tigger!
I can't work like I once did. Five years ago I would have dug a 2' X 2' X 3' deep hole in about 5 or 10 minutes. This took me an hour or more and I'm pretty ragged out. He was not my pet but its still sad. Our Cat is only a little younger and I dread the day.