u/frootloopdingus1204

Six weeks ago, my house caught fire in the basement due to an electrical fire. My fiancé and I had just purchased it in January. Our first home.

Luckily we were home and able to call the fire department ASAP. I was unable to get my two cats and two guinea pigs out of the house. It all happened so fast, I couldn’t get the cats out from under the bed on the second floor as they have both always been skittish and would hide when scared. They ran as soon as the smoke alarm went off. If I had stayed inside longer, I probably would’ve been injured or possibly dead now. I wish I would’ve stayed and tried to get them out longer because all I feel now is guilt. At the time, we had not realized how serious it truly was. I couldn’t imagine for a second that something like this could happen to me or my family.

The firefighters were able to pull out my five year old boy, Max first. I was not surprised because he is the more friendly one and would freeze up instead of run away like my 2 year old girl, Ruby. He had a badly cut leg, almost to the bone, which is now causing his knee to be misaligned. He will probably need surgery on his knee and will deal with this the rest of his life. He is a very playful and active cat, and now I have to prohibit him from doing basically anything. He surprisingly didn’t have much smoke inhalation.

Ruby was eventually removed from the house but in worse condition. She was barely breathing. We rushed her to the pet ER where they had her on oxygen among a ton of other things. Her lungs were burnt from the smoke. After a $12,000 total vet bill for both cats, they allowed us to take her home two days later but did warn that sometimes cats will take a turn for the worse when they’ve experienced smoke inhalation. That Easter Sunday, the day after we brought her home, she did take a turn for the worse and I rushed her back to the ER that morning. I had to make the most difficult choice I’ve had to in my life to euthanize her. Only 2 years old. I had her since she was 8 weeks old.

Since Easter, all I have done is cry. I cry and cry until my chest physically aches. I’ve cried every day since the fire. I have an eye twitch from it. The house was determined inhabitable so my fiancé and I spent a month in a hotel and now we are in an apartment for the next 8 months to a year while they restore the house. I’ve lost everything I’ve owned but still what hurts the most is losing Ruby and watching Max try to walk on his injured leg.

This loss has turned me into a shell of myself. I work remotely so I was constantly with my cats all day long. I feel like I’ve lost my best friend and I really do not know how to handle it. It feels so unfair.

I am not sure what exactly I am looking for here by writing this post. I guess I’d like to hear everybody else’s story with dealing with something like this. Is there a time where I will feel better about this? Where I can think about her without crying?

Six weeks ago, my house caught fire in the basement due to an electrical fire. My fiancé and I had just purchased it in January. Our first home.

Luckily we were home and able to call the fire department ASAP. I was unable to get my two cats and two guinea pigs out of the house. It all happened so fast, I couldn’t get the cats out from under the bed on the second floor as they have both always been skittish and would hide when scared. They ran as soon as the smoke alarm went off. If I had stayed inside longer, I probably would’ve been injured or possibly dead now. I wish I would’ve stayed and tried to get them out longer because all I feel now is guilt. At the time, we had not realized how serious it truly was. I couldn’t imagine for a second that something like this could happen to me or my family.

The firefighters were able to pull out my five year old boy, Max first. I was not surprised because he is the more friendly one and would freeze up instead of run away like my 2 year old girl, Ruby. He had a badly cut leg, almost to the bone, which is now causing his knee to be misaligned. He will probably need surgery on his knee and will deal with this the rest of his life. He is a very playful and active cat, and now I have to prohibit him from doing basically anything. He surprisingly didn’t have much smoke inhalation.

Ruby was eventually removed from the house but in worse condition. She was barely breathing. We rushed her to the pet ER where they had her on oxygen among a ton of other things. Her lungs were burnt from the smoke. After a $12,000 total vet bill for both cats, they allowed us to take her home two days later but did warn that sometimes cats will take a turn for the worse when they’ve experienced smoke inhalation. That Easter Sunday, the day after we brought her home, she did take a turn for the worse and I rushed her back to the ER that morning. I had to make the most difficult choice I’ve had to in my life to euthanize her. Only 2 years old. I had her since she was 8 weeks old.

Since Easter, all I have done is cry. I cry and cry until my chest physically aches. I’ve cried every day since the fire. I have an eye twitch from it. The house was determined inhabitable so my fiancé and I spent a month in a hotel and now we are in an apartment for the next 8 months to a year while they restore the house. I’ve lost everything I’ve owned but still what hurts the most is losing Ruby and watching Max try to walk on his injured leg.

This loss has turned me into a shell of myself. I work remotely so I was constantly with my cats all day long. I feel like I’ve lost my best friend and I really do not know how to handle it. It feels so unfair.

I am not sure what exactly I am looking for here by writing this post. I guess I’d like to hear everybody else’s story with dealing with something like this. Is there a time where I will feel better about this? Where I can think about her without crying?