Goodbye Oscar

On Tuesday my family said goodbye to Oscar - the oldest cat that they had. We got Oscar when I was in 11, in 1995. So he's lived a good 15 years. He was technically my cat, but he was at the same time very much just part of the family.

Over the last while his arthritis has been getting really bad, making it very difficult for him to function normally, and on Tuesday morning my mom thought that he had dislocated his hip. I went with to the vet, and she said he hadn't actually dislocated it, but he was definitely in a great deal of pain. The decision was made that he should be put down (my parents had been thinking about when the time would be right for a while now, so it wasn't just a reaction to his condition on Tuesday)

I stayed with in the vet's room... Not an experience that I hope to have too many times in my life, but it is great to know that he didn't have any pain. So a chapter closed...

Here's the old man: