We lost Zoe after a long battle with chronic kidney disease. She was 18 years old. She was so smart and could communicate so easily with us. We loved her so much that words could not describe. She slept every night with my husband. She was indoor/outdoor and knew just what her limits were. She had no front claws but climbed trees and got onto the top of our house despite this. She was my cat first, but then fell in love with my husband, and wanted nothing to do with me. I didn’t care, I loved her still. He felt as though she was the love of his life, and went to pices when she passed. He is a fisherman and wants her ashes to be spread with his in his favorite fishing place when he passes. We got Buddy when she was about five, to keep her company, and she hated him, always. But he was such a loving cat, he simply put up with her. All he wanted was love and affection from both of us. He lived for love (and food). He slept with me, and unusually for a cat, loved to be squeezed. He always licked my cotton t-shirt (only cotton) and kneaded my side every night. He died suddenly of an unknown heart condition and consequent deadly blot clot, at 11 years old, shortly before Zoe. I miss him so much. We miss them both, they were our family, our beloved children. I am crying now, as both my husband and I do often.