This afternoon our family said "Goodbye " to an amazing feline. She was one of a litter of kittens taken in by our daughter and her then companion 18 years ago. The rest all died that fall. They contracted FIP. This one lived, but she was a carrier. She could not have contact with other cats.
As my daughter went through relationships Lilly would come to visit from time to time. Always isolated in the downstairs bedroom, but I built a small enclosure she could access through the window. The point when my daughter couldn't have a cat in her apartment coincided with my MIL losing her companion kitty, so Lilly filled in there for a few years. When my MIL went into care, we had anticipated Lilly would need a home and had not got a cat after Jasper passed.
Lilly decided I was her person. If I was sitting anywhere but the table, she would be on my lap within minutes. She always slept on my side of the bed usually burrowing under the covers to bank up against my back.
A couple of years ago, she developed epilepsy and we used medication to control the seizures. This spring her kidneys started to fail. Today she was too weak to stand.
My granddaughter wanted her to be wrapped in one of her old towels when we laid her to rest next to the rose bush she would have seen outside 'her' window.
Goodbye Lilly. We are going to miss you.