Tammy Cat came to live with me after living with her first mamma & daddy for 8 yrs, they lived in a nursing home and Tammy Cat was allowed to live with them, until the time came for them to pass to the other side. I was a carer at the home, Tammy was such a lovely cat that when the owner of the home did not want to keep the cat (and the family could not) Tammy looked at me and i knew she just had to come live with me. The first few years were eventful, Tammy walked into the local towm and sat by the fish store(clever girl)even went to the post office!! and got delivered back by the local postie! She got bitten by the local bad boy, and had a nasty cyst and had to go an operation that made her tummy go baggy!!! all the moves of houses she coped so well with, until i went away one yesr and trusted a friend to look after her, and she ran away!well up the road to a local B&Q and sat in the flower beds!!! a local lady picked her up and took her home, those days when i thought i lost her where the worst"what had happened to her? where has she gone?" then i found her and she came home phew once again!! I went away on holiday, Tammy hated going to the cattery, she came back, and ran off!!! down to the lady down the road(that feed her mince beef mint i add!) took me ages to get her back! the next time i went away, i decided that Tammy was far to old to be put in a cattery or let anyone else look after her, she was nearly 16yrs old and was now a house cat. i found a lady that looked after pets at home and she was lovely, she looked after Tammy so well she was not even fusswd when i got home!!! i knew Tammy was old and getting more weaker and less active, i guess i did not want to face the inevitable, i wanted her to live to a very old age and die at home with me peacefully,that decision was taken out of my hands. Tammy was becomming increasingly unsteady on her feet, she was incontinent and was not really interested in food, it got less and less as the weeks went by, i tried to cox her into eating and she did(prod just to plese me) but the night of the tough decision was looming closer. those last 24hrs will remain with me forever, Tammy would not eat, her legs became weaker until, she was unable to move her back legs anymore, and she was dragging thembehind her, she was meowing in pain(something that she never did, meow much that is) she was trying to drag herself into any corner (and i knew what that ment) i could not see her in this pain anymore, i would not let my precious fur kitty be in this much pain, not when i had the option, to put her to sleep...the hardest decision i ever had to make, i called the emergency vet, and was asked to take her to the surgery, i knew the end was near and funnily enough i think Tammy did to, i got out the Cat carrier(which she hated) and she just went straight into it, no fuss, no purswading,she just went straight in. At the vets i knew what was going to happen, Tammy was taken out the carrier and put on the table,mo struggle, the vet wanted to put a towel over her head, i guess not to distess her, but no way was i having that, i held her from start to finish, as the vet shaved her paw to put in the injection,i was there, holding tammy telling her it was ok, as the injection was admistired i was there, holding her and telling her how much i loved her and telling her it would be ok and we would meet again at rainbow bridge, she went to sleep, no more pain, or suffering, she knew i loved her and i was there right to the end like i promised. i kept the clipping of her fur that the vet shaved off to give her the injection and the whiskers that she had lost during the last year of her life, i even slept with them after she passed for quite a few weeks. i will never forget Tammy, even though i have 2 new kittens who need my love and attention now. putting a pet to sleep is a very hard decision, but for me(and Tammy) it was the kindest and the last act of love i could of given her.