Dealing with loss of a pet

In August of this year we had to put our kitty down he was only 10months old his name was Bentley he was the sweetest thing ever. He all of a sudden got lethargic & stopped eating so I rushed him to the vet! They ran many tests tried lots of antibiotics had to force feed him, but sadly he did not get any better so I was faced with an awful decision, I had to end his suffering & put him down. My 4yr old Aiden wanted to go say goodbye I was so back and forth with this do I let him go, It will be so upsetting, but death is a thing of life we have to learn. Hmmm... Well we had had fish that died & we flushed them down the toliet he didn't get too upset so maybe he'd be ok. So off we went to say goodbye to sweet Bentley we got there and we got to hold him and talk to him Aiden said mom is he gonna be ok & I said no sweetie he is very sick & he needs to go to sleep forever. Remember when your fishes passed well Bentley is going to. Aiden said "mom they are gonna flush him down the toilet" (Yes it's ok to laugh at this I did) I said no bud he is going to heaven where he can play with other kitty's & dogs. "Oh he's going to heaven ok well where is that?" Me:"it's up there as I point up" Aiden: "in the ceiling?" Me: "no bud up in the sky" Aiden "oh ok in the clouds well how does he get up there do they use a ladder?" Me:"Yes, yes they use a ladder." Oh the mind of a 4yr old well actually this was before his 4th b-day so he was still 3. But he sure brought a smile to my face in this sad time. Well we said our goodbye's I know little Bentley is in a better place, but it still is so sad & Aiden still names him off when he talks about his family & says he's at the hospital maybe he will get better, poor kid does not really understand :( Have any of you had to deal with the loss of a pet how did your children react? -C-