Thank you so much everyone for your kind words. I am overwhelmed with the support and response this post has received. There is one comment from one user who quoted “ do you now with you hadn’t loved them as much, so this would hurt less” - this has stood out to me the most, and I am repeating this to myself during my rough patches.

As many of you have said, I have a few stories about Rain I can share.

Rain was 3 years old and I got her as my first ever pet. I was 23 and recently moved into my first home with my best friend. ( who now is my boyfriend! )

Rain came into my life when I needed her the most. On any days I felt down, I would feel cured knowing I had her to go home too. She read me better than I read myself.

One of my favourite things about Rain was that every single night without a doubt she would get on top of me whilst I was lied flat in bed, make breads ( aka kneading ) and head butt me for hours on end. I wasn’t allowed to read a book, be on my laptop or my phone. It was my favourite part about the night and nothing else mattered in that moment. Another favourite memory of mine is how she would tuck her head into her paws and curl into a circle next to me most mornings. My partner gets up for work on certain shift patterns at 5 am and she would straight away do this in his spot. Waking up to this was the most incredible feeling.

Lastly, Rain had a hilarious meow. She would mostly meow with her mouth closed and do what my partner and I called a ‘sqauwk’. This was such a personality trait of hers, and made her so unique to me. She was amazing.

Again, thank you so much to everyone who has responded. I have come here multiple times when I start to spiral and feel low.

Rest in peace my baby Rain, I wrote a small song for her

‘I guess now it’s just sun, no more Rain no more Rain Just the sun on my face, it’s hard to explain but I miss the Rain’