The grey cat in this photo is Einstein. We adopted him 9.5 years ago from the local Humane Society as a 4-6 year old adult cat that was taken off of the streets. He chose us. When we went in to the cat room he jumped up onto my wife's lap and would not get off for anything. In August of 2009 he died while under anesthesia at the vet and they brought him back. It turned out he had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (heart wall too thick). They said we would be lucky to have him until Christmas. (They were right, they didn't specify which year!!) I fed him 4 medications twice a day and literally said goodbye to him every day. He completely lost his marbles on Wednesday and acted really bizarrely with wanting to go outside (which he used to go out every day). SWMBO took him out for a romp and then on Christmas Eve he let us know that he was ready for his journey to Valhalla. He went out surrounded by his family. I'm torn up inside but I really feel bad for my daughter, it's the second cat she's had to say goodbye to this year and she only turns 4 in 2 weeks. I love that she loves animals so much. She told me that now Porshae (the white cat, the one that died in June) wouldn't be lonely in Valhalla anymore.
Godspeed Einstein.
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