[Leica] Slides the cat has gone to kitty heaven

[DouglasMSharp at netscape.net (Douglas M. Sharp)]

Mark,
So sorry to hear of your tragedy. I remember well a couple of years ago 
sitting on a beach in the North of England
and crying my eyes out after we heard from the vet that our Lucy had 
passed on. On the day before we left
for our annual holiday in the UK she was savaged by two free running 
Dobermann dogs (whose owner had
been instructed to keep them on leads after they ripped a Yorkshire 
terrier to pieces before  its owners eyes)
I'll never forget her look as she lay in my arms at the vets door - sad, 
shocked, wide-eyed, she , as usual, pressed
her nose against my face.  Then miaowed quietly as if to say  - well 
that was it.
She looked superficially ok after the vet had cleaned her of all the 
slaver  and dirt, she had managed to get back home
on her own, she'd probably been sunbathing on her favourite spot behind 
the garden. We found her on the back step
when her sister Posy came to us growling - which usually means something 
needs looking at.
So we left for the UK in high hopes that she would be ok when we get 
back. The bad news reached us in England
and I just broke up. Sad because she had gone and sad because we weren't 
there to see her go.
When we got back the vet said her sister probably wouldn't notice that 
she was now alone - we thought he was
right until, one night quite some time later , on TV, somebody in a film 
said "Where's Lucy", Posy jumped up
and searched the house and garden looking for her sister - so much for 
cats not having a memory!
Cats don't do much, don't come when they don't want to and our Posy 
seems to want to commit
genocide on garden voles, but  they always come when THEY know you need 
them.
Posy has since developed a habit of tucking us into bed every night, 
walking around the duvet and pressing down the edges
before she lies down at the end of the bed, which used to be only her 
sisters territory, and now refuses to leave the bounds
of the garden.
I hope Lucy and Slides meet up in heaven , where the fridges and cans 
are always open,

I shouldn't have written this , I can hardly see for tears again after 
all this time.
Douglas