Should I tell my wife the stray cat we were feeding is dead?
My wife and I are animal lovers and for the last 6 years have been feeding stray cats and finding them homes. My wife especially loves every and all animals. When one of our pets gets sick it usually leads to crying and a horrible sense of guilt on her part whether it was something we had control over or not.
The latest stray that took up residence on our porch we named the Old Dirty Bastard, because he had been living in a fire damaged house down the street and was covered in soot when he first came to us in early February. Since then he has been a daily fixture on our front porch, we have been feeding him and he slept in a shelter I built.
Last week we went on a vacation, my father in law was taking care of our indoor cats with instructions to feed Ole Dirty as well, but he said he never saw him.
We got back home a few days ago and while walking the dogs I found Dirty dead in the alley a block from our house. He had definitely been dead for days, hit by a car if I had to guess.
I haven’t told my wife yet, even though she brings up Dirty every day. “Have you seen him?” “I hope he’s ok.” I have been telling her that the weather is nicer now and he might have just moved on somewhere else. She’s a nurse and has been working 12 hour shifts for the last two days with another 12 hour shift tomorrow, so I have been walking the dogs.
Monday I work and she is off so she will walk the dogs and almost certainly find Dirty. My current plan is to scoop up the body with a shovel tomorrow and throw him away while my wife is at work so she won’t him.
Am I wrong to hide the truth from my wife? I don’t see how telling her the truth results in anything but pain and guilt.
Edit: I told my wife. We retrieved Ole Dirty and buried him in our yard. RIP Dirty, you deserved better than this.