The old cats gone aloft.

When me and David got married  he had his cat. I had my dog.  They did not get one. They spent the first year of our married life in separate rooms. Gradually they accepted each other but for three years at the various churches I visit the main question was always, "How are the cat and dog getting on ?"
Moving house helped because it was shared territory and gradually they have become closer and have even got to the stage of standing one on each side of me hassling  for food. They had finally managed to work as a team.
Tosh had been a dominant cat in his time. He was clearly part wild and he was adept at running up, bashing Crispin on the nose and away again. It was his stock in trade.
David's grandchildren asked me  when we were first married if I had to walk around the house in wellies as they had had to do in their youth because Tosh had an endearing habit of rushing out and lacerating their ankles as they walked.  He had already grown out of that by the time I knew him.
He was a good hunter though and brought the mice and birds back home as presents for us all......often still alive!
In the last month we have watched a sudden decline in his health and I was shocked to find that he was 15. He did not behave like an elderly cat until quite recently. He started to collect water in his stomach and looked about nine months pregnant so today we took him to the vet.
The man was sensitive and we trusted him after he had looked after Crispin so well. The prognosis  was not good...the kindest way was to euthanise him. We sat apart in a small room and nursed him and stroked him until we were ready.   He's gone now...I told him his first mummy was up there waiting for him and would look after him.
Rest in peace Tosh....he's been a good cat.