[Catwoman]

I don't know if this will help but I would like to tell you about my experience of death, and although it relates to a human, I think we all get inextricably emotionally attached to our pets, sometimes as much as we would to a friend or family member.

It's about a boy, aged around 9. He went to my school. I didn't really know him but my mum was friends with his. One day on a school trip he fell into a river, was carried along by the current and he drowned. Just like that he was gone. He had been at the back of the group of children and disappeared. They tried to help but it was too late.

I went to his funeral. His mother wanted it to be a celebration. There was music and laughter and an open coffin. She said that for weeks before his death he had been talking about dying, not in a morbid, unpleasant way, rather like he was looking forward to it, like it was the right time, and he wanted to go.

I saw him in his coffin and was profoundly moved. I touched his head, he was so cold, but seemed so pure, and overwhelmingly at peace. There was such a calm atmosphere, an incredible feeling. Suddenly I realised there was nothing to be afraid of.

His death was a tremendous shock for everyone involved. The grief, for his parents, and friends, teachers, must have been intolerable.

But how this relates to your tragedy is that I believe there is peace after life, whether it is a human or an animal, and you can rest assured that Princess is happy somewhere enjoying this peace. Her body was just a carrier, and if you believe in a soul, you know that despite her body's trauma, this is untarnished, because it transcends earth and body.

Maybe you can replace the image of her death with one of her completely at peace, looking down on you with her big eyes and miaowing playfully to say hello, and that everything's ok.