Satori: sorry to hear about what happened to your cat. I know how it feels, my first cat was 16 and i was 15 when she got a tumor in her stomach, she stopped eating, and i came home from school one day, and i bought special treats for her, but when i got home, she was in her bed appearing to be sleeping, but alas... *sniff*
My father still made me go to school next day, and I kept crying in lessons.
So we went to the animal rescue centre and "adopted" Misty, we bonded straightaway, she had previously been mistreated by her former owners, so she was quite fierce, and would attack people for no reason, but i was the only one who she would let pick up and cuddle.
Then some people we knew adopted a stray who gave birth to kittens, so I went and choose Sunny, all the kittens were the same color, so I choose him becoz he was the only one with a white tummy. Otherwise when we came back to collect him, we wouldnt have known which one we chose, (^_~) lol.
even his sister was ginger, it's unusual, gingers are generally male.
i made good choice though, he is a real character. he is so special to me.
Sadly Misty, whom I loved dearly, was involved in hit & run accident in the street.
Sunny, I missed too when I was in Japan, and also he would run around the house looking for me while i was away. he didn't understand why i wasnt there. So i don't really want to leave him for 1 year, next time i go to Japan. I will miss him so much. My friend from Japan has been studying here 3 years in University, and he really misses his doggies. he goes home every summer though. But he told me last week he was worried about his older dog, becoz he had just had a heart attack, but luckly his younger brother, (studying dentistry) managed to get the dog's heart going again by massaging it's chest. It was very lucky! I'm glad for my friend.