I was never sure of your exact age, but the best we could guess you were born in the early 1990s and lived about 16 years, give or take. From what I understand, your original owner was an elderly lady who had to give you up to an aquaintance of mine in the mid 90s. After living there for a few years, my downstairs neighbor, also a friend, decided to take you in. You didn't much care for that arrangement, living with the other cats. You started beating up on one that was smaller than you, and then a larger male cat decided you were fair game. You ended up hiding under the bathtub a lot of the time. 



It was during this time that you and I first became friends. Whenever I would stop in, I'd pet you and give you attention, and you took to me right away. You would come right over to me looking for some attention, sitting on my lap and pawing at my back when I would sit on the edge of the couch. I'd never had a cat who'd been declawed before, and while I was sorry someone had your claws removed, I thought it was neat how it felt when you pawed at me, sans claws, and how you still scratched at rugs and things like your claws were still there.



After my last cat passed away in 2000, I brought you upstairs to my apartment, and you couldn't have been happier to have a place of your own, without any other cats! We were best friends ever since, and I always loved how you would paw at the covers and insist on sleeping under the blanket with me, among so many other things.



Over the last 3 years, your age really started catching up with you. First they found you had heart disease and high blood pressure, then your right eye went bad, followed within a year by your left, and those back legs of yours weren't nearly as useful as they'd used to be. I put boxes on the side of the bed so you could still get up there.



You became a bit of an inconvenience in the last couple of years. Having to give you meds and vitamins throughout the day, and your growing troubles finding the litter box. Other people would ask why I didn't just have you put to sleep, but I knew you still enjoyed sleeping, eating and getting attention. There were still things you enjoyed.



I wish I knew last friday would be your last night with me, so I could have made it special. You were having potty problems all night, and when I got you to the vet on saturday, you were clearly in more discomfort than I'd seen before. The vet said a number of things could be going wrong and your temp was only 95. They said you wanted to go. 



I can't believe you were your 'normal' self just a week ago. While part of me thought it would be a relief when you passed on, I'm now missing you terribly, and it's so hard to go to sleep, knowing I'll never feel your warm little body at my side again. You were my best friend and my baby. I love and miss you so much.