20 years, 5 months, 3 days

That was the age that appeared on the computer when we took Poppy to the vet this afternoon. Yesterday morning she had three seizures, and although she appeared to recover to some extent, we eventually realised that she could no longer see. She'd always been an outside cat, spending as much time as possible in the garden, so losing her sight would have made her quality of life miserable. Chris, Lizzy, Ben and Sarah all came over to say goodbye last night, and her last food was a bit of duck from our Chinese meal - she always loved to share human food!

With a heavy heart I rang the vet this morning and made her last appointment. She hadn't seen the vet for years, having always been in very good health. Although she had slowed down somewhat in the last couple of years, she could still put on a turn of speed and climb up onto out picnic table where she loved to snooze in the sun. The vet found it hard to believe that her deterioration could have been so rapid, but was eventually persuaded and agreed that it was the right time to say goodbye, particularly when she'd confirmed that she was completely blind.

She was a very lovely caring young woman, and we were taken to a cosy, private room where I was able to snuggle and stroke Poppy as she slipped away. It never gets any easier to lose a pet, but the sadness was tempered by the fact that she would no longer be in any distress. We brought her home and buried her in the garden close to her sisters.

For the first time in over thirty-five years we have no pets and the house seems very empty.