{"id":14390,"date":"2015-05-02T00:10:31","date_gmt":"2015-05-02T04:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/?p=14390"},"modified":"2016-02-07T14:04:00","modified_gmt":"2016-02-07T19:04:00","slug":"coping-with-pet-loss-and-grief-purr-prints-of-the-heart-a-cats-tale-of-life-death-and-beyond-by-deborah-barnes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/coping-with-pet-loss-and-grief-purr-prints-of-the-heart-a-cats-tale-of-life-death-and-beyond-by-deborah-barnes\/","title":{"rendered":"Coping With Pet Loss and Grief: Purr Prints of the Heart – A Cat’s Tale of Life, Death, and Beyond by Deborah Barnes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"PurrPrints-ePub\"<\/a>

A concept that began as a\u00a0rough draft around October of 2013 officially becomes a book about a year and a half later…<\/p><\/div>\n

In the roller coaster journey of writing Purr Prints of the Heart \u2013 A Cat\u2019s Tale of Life, Death, and Beyond<\/em>, a meow-memoir written in the voice of my dearly departed Ragdoll cat, Mr. Jazz, who I had to help cross over the Bridge on August 28, 2013, after 15 years of life, it turns out writing the book was the easy part. In the world of self-publishing where the landscape changes quicker than what is the most current iPhone available, it is a convoluted, painstakingly arduous ordeal that is not for the weak of heart.<\/p>\n

Much of it is my own fault. At my very core I am a stubborn bull and I brought it all upon myself. Design the book cover on my own, despite that I have no graphic training. Sure, why not. Format the interior from a word program and convert it to a print ready pdf file with photos \u2013 sounds simple enough. Learn html code for electronic formatting \u2013 bring it on. I only have a full-time job to pay the bills, a blog to manage, and a household to help maintain, so clearly I have lots of free time to learn all this stuff.<\/p>\n

\"edit-jazz-book\"<\/a>

I had not initially set out to write a book about the life and death journey of Mr. Jazz, but after receiving an enormous outpouring of love and support from people after Jazz died, I wanted to share his story\u00a0to help others process their own grief. Seen here I am in the early stages of writing with\u00a0my buddy Kizmet who was with me nearly every step of the way.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DebJackieJazmine\"<\/a>

Here I was a year later – the book is nearing completion. Helping me with the editing is Jazmine (who is named after Jazz) and my step-daughter,\u00a0Jackie.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"1-book-on-bed\"<\/a>

In the very room where I was with Mr. Jazz during his final moments as I put the finishing touches on the book before I begin the arduous process of converting files, uploading images, and learning how to code for electronic publishing.<\/p><\/div>\n

Sigh. All of the above was a battle worthy of a book in and of itself. But, guess what, I did it. And along the way I learned a lot. The next book will be much easier. And despite not sleeping for practically two years and nearly losing my sanity, two things highly overrated, I have so much to be grateful for because while the book was very hard for me to write in the beginning, as I had to relive my last moments with Jazz over and over, eventually it became cathartic and at some watershed\u00a0point an enormous peace overcame me and I was able to free myself from the burden of pain I was carrying at his loss for so long. He was gone, but only in the physical sense. His memories were going to always be a part of me and I could finally accept that.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0495\"<\/a>

Hanging out with Mr. Jazz and learning from him to enjoy the simple moments of life. Also seen sharing the couch with me is Zee, my angel Harley, and Zoey.<\/p><\/div>\n

I also had such a wonderful core of support encouraging me along the way\u2013 from Dan and my family members \u2013 to those that provided testimonials for me: Ingrid King of The Conscious Cat<\/a>; Caren Gittleman of Cat Chat With Caren and Cody<\/a>; Alice Villalobos, DVM<\/a>; Amy Shojai<\/a>, CABC, author and a founder of the Cat Writers\u2019 Association; Layla Morgan-Wilde, of Cat Wisdom 101<\/a>; Angie Bailey of Catladyland<\/a>; Robert Hudson of Pet Radio Show.com<\/a>; Bernadette E. Kazmarski of The Creative Cat<\/a>; Susan Logan-McCracken<\/a> of Cat Fancy magazine; Charmaine Hammond, best-selling author and professional speaker<\/a>; Christine Michaels, founder of Pawsitively Humane<\/a>; Bonnie Poirier<\/a>, pastor at Ministry of St. Francis of Assisi; and Joanne McGonagle of The Tiniest Tiger<\/a>; as well as a special foreword from Steve Dale<\/a>, CABC, syndicated radio host, and syndicated newspaper columnist.<\/p>\n

I was given the opportunity the other day to speak with one of my endorsers, Charmaine Hammond, about Purr Prints<\/em> on her Team Toby PAWsitive Radio show (please click here<\/a> to listen to the recording) and I found the discussion fascinating because it was the first interview I had since publishing\u00a0the book and I was genuinely pleased and surprised with how much she got out of the book.<\/p>\n

I had initially envisioned the book would be used as a story to help people process feelings of pain and loss, but it turns out it was so much more \u2013 the secondary plot of the book is a sweet, charming, humorous, and uplifting story of a cat and how he interpreted the many facets of his everyday, ordinary life living with an ever-changing family of humans, other felines, and canines, addressing such issues as what it was like to be a sickly kitten that nobody wanted; how he initially learned what the Rainbow Bridge was from his cat mentor, Kit; and how he felt the last months of his life as he was dying and his human, me, was trying to prolong his life.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

This image (circa 2005) taken from the book was one of Jazz with Harley, Bandit, and Kit during the renovation phase of our house. To have him describe the ordeal in cat logic was quite enlightening.<\/p><\/div>\n

My favorite point Charmaine made, was that she really loved how Mr. Jazz was able to take something complex \u2013 life \u2013 and make it simple. And truthfully, isn’t that what our cats do? They intuitively seem to understand life is too short to waste with minutia and they live in the moment. Us humans, we have a tendency to clutter everything with our emotions, opinions, baggage and everything else imaginable. A cat sees a sun puddle and they go to it to nap. No debate or struggling with the decision. Another cat annoys them \u2013 swat \u2013 move on and it’s over. Next.<\/p>\n

I loved that Charmaine got that out of the book. And don\u2019t get me wrong. I can assure you that as a cat, Mr. Jazz wrote with great dignity, aplomb, and expertise. He may have been able to quickly cut to the chase of whatever matter was going on at the moment, but he was not simple in the sense that he was not wise.<\/p>\n

The very core of Purr Prints<\/em> is the story of a cat that teaches his humans lessons about life, death, and letting a pet go with beauty and dignity. Purr Prints<\/em> is a timeless book for all ages and a multitude of circumstances. It is meant as a gentle hug\u00a0to help heal broken hearts and is the perfect gift to give someone who has lost a pet and is struggling with how to make sense of it all.<\/p>\n

\"DebBook\"<\/a>

February 26, 2015 – this was the day I received the first draft copy of the book in print form – it was an overwhelming moment for me to say the least!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"DSC_8503\"<\/a>

Purr Prints is all set and ready to go! I am seen here in my kitchen where the formal process of autographing and packaging takes place!<\/p><\/div>\n

If you would like a copy of Purr Prints<\/em> for your feline library or know someone who would appreciate this book, please visit www.zeezoey.com<\/a> for details, including information on how to get an autographed copy with a gift wrap sleeve and custom bookmark. And please keep in mind that even though\u00a0a cat wrote book, the story is one that has a universal message for anyone who has loved and lost a\u00a0pet of any species. There is also a useful \u201cCoping with Pet Loss Guide\u201d that is full of resources, information, suggestions, and insight on the subject of grieving and pet loss.<\/p>\n

\"jazz-sympathy-1\"<\/a>

This sentimental sympathy card can be found at Zee & Zoey’s Zazzle Boutique. Click image to be directed to the shop.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

If you would like to learn more about Purr Prints<\/em>, please take a look at this comprehensive list of reviews.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the roller coaster journey of writing Purr Prints of the Heart \u2013 A Cat\u2019s Tale of Life, Death, and Beyond, a meow-memoir written in the voice of my dearly departed Ragdoll cat, Mr. Jazz, who I had to help cross over the Bridge on August 28, 2013, after 15 years of life, it turns […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1098,1094,1143,1099],"tags":[970,857,971,671,968,37],"class_list":["post-14390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cat-behavior","category-purr-prints-of-the-heart","category-rainbow-bridge","category-the-zee-zoey-cats-and-family","tag-grief","tag-human-feline-bond","tag-meow-memoir","tag-pet-loss","tag-purr-print-of-the-heart","tag-rainbow-bridge"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/DebBook.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14390"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16428,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14390\/revisions\/16428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}