Healing on the Trail — A Conversation That Brought It All Back
A 40-minute walk through love, loss, and the pawprints that started it all.
Hey Golden Whiskers Family,
I recently had the honor of being interviewed by Dr. Ruth Roberts on her podcast, Healing Trails, and the episode just went live this week.
If you’ve never listened to Ruth before (which you probably have, since I’ve interviewed her twice), she’s one of those people who instantly makes you feel calm, like you’ve just sat down on a porch swing with a cup of tea and someone who truly gets it. She’s been a holistic vet for decades, and she’s walked alongside countless pet parents through both the joy of life and the heartbreak of loss.
When she invited me on her show, I thought we’d talk mostly about Golden Whiskers — the brand, the podcast, the fundraisers. But instead, what unfolded was something deeper.
It was a 40-minute walk down memory lane — through the love, the loss, and the trail that started it all.
🎧 You can listen to my full conversation with Dr. Ruth Roberts here or watch it on YouTube here.
🌙 The Story of Nomar and Mia
It all began in a mall in Dallas back in 2003.
I wasn’t planning to adopt a cat that day, let alone two. But when I saw Nomar and Mia, something in me just knew.
Nomar was bold, curious, confident.
Mia was softer, cautious, but full of quiet sweetness.
I didn’t know it at the time, but those two cats would shape the next two decades of my life.
They were there through every chapter — new homes, breakups, business launches, and the everyday quiet moments that make a life.
They saw every version of me: the athlete, the entrepreneur, the friend, the guy who was still figuring himself out (and still is. 😊)
They were family.
💔 The Week That Changed Everything
In 2019, Nomar — who had always been healthy — started showing signs something was wrong. He lost his appetite, stopped jumping on the couch, and just… slowed down.
Within a week, he was gone.
That same week, Mia was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease.
I can’t describe the shock of it. The whiplash between grief and responsibility. I remember sitting on the kitchen floor, the vet report in one hand, Nomar’s clay paw print in the other, trying to process how everything had changed overnight.
I kept thinking, How do you grieve one cat while fighting to save the other?
🕯️ The Slow Goodbye
Mia and I started a new kind of journey together — one that required patience, routine, and courage.
If you’ve ever cared for a senior cat with kidney disease, you know it’s a dance of hydration, appetite, and hope.
There were subcutaneous fluids every few days.
Frequent vet visits.
Appetite stimulants.
Tiny adjustments to food and water bowls.
But there were also soft moments, like her morning purr when I’d sit beside her, or the way she’d close her eyes when I rubbed the top of her head.
Over the next three years, I learned more about love than any book, course, or therapist could have ever taught me.
Then came January 2023.
🌄 The Night I Slept Beside Her
On New Year’s Day, I hiked Frozen Head State Park. I loved ringing in the new year with a morning hike. It was one of those crisp, clear mornings where the air feels full of possibility. I remember thinking, This is going to be a good year.
But when I got home, Mia tried to walk toward me and collapsed. Her hind legs gave out completely.
That night, I moved my couch cushions to the floor beside her crate and slept there. I wanted her to know she wasn’t alone.
And then I did it again the next night. And the night after that.
Days turned into weeks.
Weeks turned into months.
I tracked her food, her water intake, her litter box output. Every detail. I learned to celebrate small victories: a tiny lick of chicken, a short stretch, the sound of a purr.
I also cried more than I ever had in my life.
Those nights on the floor — the exhaustion, the fear, the deep love — became a kind of sacred ritual.
I didn’t realize it then, but that was the beginning of Golden Whiskers.
💧 After the Silence
When Mia passed away, the silence in my apartment was unbearable.
No more meows in the morning.
No more pitter-patter across the hardwood floors.
No more reason to rush home at night.
If you’ve ever lost a pet, you know that strange mix of grief and guilt — the feeling that you should be “moving on,” but you don’t even know what that means.
I ended up connecting with the UT Veterinary Social Work Program, which offers grief support for pet loss. Talking with them helped me realize something powerful:
I wasn’t broken. I was human.
Grief is love with nowhere to go.
And maybe — just maybe — we’re supposed to give it somewhere to go.
🌟 How Golden Whiskers Was Born
So I started writing.
And soon, I started building.
Golden Whiskers wasn’t just a brand idea. It was a lifeline.
I wanted to take everything I’d learned, from Mia’s kidney treatments to the emotional roller coaster of caregiving, and create something that could help others.
Not just with the practical stuff like food and health tips, but the emotional stuff too.
The grief.
The guilt.
The hope.
The deep, complicated, beautiful love we have for these animals who share our lives for too short a time.
From there came The Golden Whiskers Podcast and Newsletter, and the Tails on Trails Hike — a community event that helps raise funds for the Nomar & Mia Compassion Fund, which provides financial support for pet parents facing emergency vet bills.
That’s what I told Dr. Ruth on Healing Trails:
Every good thing that exists in my life right now, the hikes, the fundraisers, even Niko and Milo, came from that pain.
From that floor.
From that love.
🐾 Lessons From the Healing Trail
Dr. Ruth asked me something beautiful near the end of our talk:
“If you could go back and whisper something to yourself in those hard months beside Mia, what would you say?”
I thought for a moment and said,
“I’d tell myself: you’re doing enough. And she knows you love her.”
Because that’s what every grieving pet parent needs to hear.
We second-guess everything — the timing, the choices, the “what ifs.” But love isn’t measured in perfect decisions. It’s measured in presence.
In showing up.
In staying.
Here are the three biggest lessons that came from that trail:
Grief doesn’t end. It evolves. You don’t “move on.” You carry it forward in a different shape.
Love is an action, not a word. Whether it’s giving fluids, cleaning up after a sick cat, or simply sitting in silence. That is love.
Legacy is the echo of love. When you use your story to help someone else, your pet’s life continues through them.
🐱 Life Now with Niko & Milo
Today, my two boys — Niko and Milo — are healthy, goofy, and endlessly curious.
They’re bonded brothers who remind me daily to play, to rest, to be present.
They don’t know it, but every time they curl up beside me, I see flashes of Nomar and Mia. The way Milo bats around a toy like a soccer ball feels like Nomar. The way Niko purrs feels like Mia.
Sometimes, late at night, I’ll catch them both staring out the window at the moon.
And I think, Maybe they feel the same connection I do.
Maybe the ones we’ve lost never really leave. They just become part of the light.
💛 Cattitude Prompt
If you’ve ever lost a cat — or any loved one — take a walk today.
Bring them with you in your thoughts.
Speak their name out loud.
Then, when you get home, write down one small way you can honor them this week — maybe lighting a candle, donating to a shelter, or just sitting quietly with your current cat and saying, “Thank you.”
Because love doesn’t end. It just changes form.
🎧 Final Thought
Dr. Ruth closed our conversation by saying,
“Scott, you’re helping people find healing through stories. One pawprint at a time.”
I think she’s right.
That’s what Golden Whiskers has become: a trail where we walk together, through loss, through love, through legacy.
So wherever you are this Sunday, whether you’re sipping coffee with a cat in your lap, or walking alone missing the one you lost, know that you’re part of this trail too.
With gratitude and love,
Scott
Founder, Golden Whiskers
🐾 goldenwhiskerslove.com
🫂❤️