The time came to take my beloved cat Shakira (the cat in my avatar) to the vet last night. She was 19.5 years old and had, I think, a good life. She will be sorely missed.  

My deepest sympathy

I know how you feel, we lost our sweet little cat Donna 3 years ago at the age of 12 due to breast cancer and I still miss her.

Sorry to hear about that Caroline. I still greatly miss my pets that have passed on.

My deepest sympathy too,it is always a loss when it is youre nearest! 

I am sorry to hear of your loss Caroline.

When I was a kid I had a cat named Tassen (that's 'Little One' roughly translated from Norwegian).
He lived to be 18 years, then my mum had to put him down. The reason for her to put him down was that in his later years, he was "adopted" by my mums old aunt Olga that lived with us until her death (God rest her soul) - she absolutely adored Tassen and after her husband died devoted her whole life to care for him. She used to feed him roast beef, fresh crab and shrimp and liver, so it is safe to say that he lived a very good life.

Anyway, my mum's aunt lived to be 93, and when she eventually had to go to the hospital to be taken care of, Tassen got so sad and missed her so much that he refused to eat and as I said eventually had to be put down. An hour after he had been put down, my dear Aunt Olga died at the hospital - it's almost as she knew that her 'companion' had passed on, and was waiting for her to follow...

This was about 15 years ago, and I still miss them both... 

Caroline, I'm sorry to hear about Shakira. 

My sympathy as well. 19.5 years is a long time. I'm sure you had quite a bond.

I believe I got the link below from someone on this site. I had never read it before but it touched me as I'm sure it will anyone who truly cares for their pets.

Rainbow Bridge