Grief-stricken [owner] KILLED himself 'because he couldn't get over the death of his beloved cat'

Daily Mail [UK] ^ | 8 May 2012 | Rick Dewsbury

[Slings and Arrows]

A grief-stricken pet owner killed himself because he struggled to cope with the death of his beloved cat, an inquest heard.

Bachelor Michael McAleese, 44, was devastated after 13-year-old tabby cat Sophie died in his arms after suffering a stroke.

The recluse - who was not known by his neighbours - was so traumatised by the loss that the dead cat 'slept' on his bed for three days afterwards.

Mr McAleese then told a man who came to collect Sophie for cremation that he would kill himself.

Five days after the cat's death Mr McAleese posted a moving video in the moggy's memory on YouTube, which featured pictures of her backed with sad violin music.

Unemployed Mr McAleese captioned the video with: 'This is in her memory. She was such a wonderful little cat.

'This is a montage tribute to my beloved Sophie cat. I loved her so much and still do.'

Mr McAleese's body was found eight days later on December 21 last year at his rented lodgings in Poole, Dorset.

A post mortem examination revealed Mr McAleese had taken an overdose.

[digger48]

[vetvetdoug]

Sad. People respond to the loss of a loved one, animal or human, in many different ways. Grieving usually follows a recognizable pattern but in a few cases goes aberrant into areas that are hard to explain. As a veterinarian, I get to see grieving manifest itself into a myriad of examples. Some are terrifying to say the least. I had a client sleep with her dead cat for three weeks after it expired. I have been attacked by a pet owner for not saving a moribund animal, even had my life threatened. It never ceases to amaze me by some of the reactions of pet owners to the loss of a pet. This fellow comes pretty close.

[TheRhinelander]

I just had two idiots do a suicide by oak tree down the road from me. Flew past this woman (still calming down in my kitchen with my wife), lost control and SPLAT.

Darwin award winners.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Sad. RIP.

[dayglored]

I feel real bad for both the fellow, and the cat.

Over the years I've taken in a LOT of cats, strays and injured and SPCA and OPK (other people's kittens), probably 20 or so all told. All but two are dead now.

My two remaining kittehs are 14, one male and one female, siblings. They were wild strays, and it took years for them to get comfortable around people. Now they're total snugglers. Indoor/outdoor -- no roads nearby. They're great at catching rodents and love bringing me "presents".

I live by myself in a very rural area, with lots of wild animals in the woods that prey on cats. The male disappeared for two full weeks when he was about four years old. I figured he was long since somebody's lunch, but no.... He showed back up one day, about 3 pounds lighter, ratty looking, sick, and with a serious head tilt, like 45 degrees, and walking real funny. Obviously had been through the mill, maybe ate something poisonous or got into a heck of a fight or both. But he survived, and after about 6 years even the head tilt pretty much disappeared.

He's my best friend, eats with me, sleeps with me, follows me around the property, sees me off when I drive to work and greets me when I arrive home again.

I'm gonna be devastated when he kicks off someday (assuming I don't go first).

But not suicidal. That's a little extreme.

RIP.

[Hetty_Fauxvert]

Poor troubled soul. He was probably already in bad shape mentally, and this was just too much. We lost our black half-Siamese Ursus two years ago to cancer at age 19.5, and it was like losing my best human friend. He was a completely crazy old coot, and had so much personality it was like having another human around. I miss that damn cat so much!! May this poor man rest in peace now.

[Méabh]

I still keep dreaming my orange tabby comes home, or that I can see him if I try hard enough. His cancer took everything away from him except skin, bones, purrs and a love of the outdoors. Since he still had some zeal for life, we figured we'd wait a while on making the hardest decision. We kept letting him go outside, and one day, he didn't come back. This was early last Fall.

We still haven't found anything to bury, and there was never any real closure, but it's kind of nice to believe he just walked off into the sunrise.

I understand how grief can lead someone to take his or her own life, especially when you're lonely. But even when you have many people and pets and passions to live for, for a time it feels like none of them can suffice when you just want that human or nonhuman person back.

[Slings and Arrows]

I lost my dog of 17 years about a year ago. Broke my heart, but I didn’t think of suicide.

I’m going to give my furbabies all extra hugs tonight.

[Slings and Arrows]

Thank you and your wife for being there in that woman’s time of need.

[Slings and Arrows]

As for the poor man...I’d rather live alone than have and lose something that meant so much to me.

I don't know - I've lost family, friends, pets, but none of it made me regret having them in the first place.

[TheRhinelander]

It’s what we do. Two weeks after we bought the house a guy had a heart attack and hit one of the oak trees along the road. After the second accident we got fairly numb to it now. This one was by far the worst.

[skr]

Cats don’t always run in the right direction, especially if they’re afraid of the outdoors.

[miss marmelstein]

“All the lonely people...”

[mkjessup]

I’ve heard stories of guys going absolutely crazy over p***y, but this one tops ‘em all.

[autumnraine]

I came in here expecting the usual snark of FR in posts like these...

Glad to see the same compassion I feel for someone whose only emotional attachment or feeling that someone/thing cared about him was gone.

He’s holding his tabby in heaven now.

[panaxanax]

Would you welcome a hungry stray cat into your home?

[geege]

It is sad....I had to euthanize my beautiful 18 year old a month ago and was devestated but now I’m ready to adopt from a local shelter (that has checked my background as if I was applying for a job)...And I have to meet her (Stellaaaaaaa)today(:

[wolfcreek]

Police found an inordinately large supply of peanut butter in his apartment....

[jocon307]

He must have a been a troubled man to commit suicide.

But hubby & I both felt like we were having nervous breakdowns after our cat died last year.

Neither of us had ever been affected by a death like that before, and we both lost our favorite siblings at very young ages.

We seriously both felt we were losing our minds.

We’re still not really over it, probably never will be.

[BuffaloJack]

Losing a critter can be traumatic, but this guy must have had other problems that were bigger.

A few years ago, our 24 year old cat had a series of heart attacks and we had to put him down, it was traumatic. But, we’ve got a couple of new critters now and life goes on.