We adopted Black Kitty (House Guest, H.G. and Chester) about a year ago.

It has been a great pleasure to have loved him. We'll miss him a lot. I'll miss him more than I can say.

He died in great pain; he had a heart disease that is common and hereditary in felines. He also died in a trauma clinic, which will never sit well in my heart.

The things Black Kitty taught me include the following:

1. You have to have experience with animal death to adopt an old cat

2. Unconditional love is worth every minute of joy and pain

3. Loving to cuddle and sleep for long hours with crazy manic humans doesn't always mean love; lethargy and age feel and look very similar with most mammals

4. Heart disease is, as far as we've learned, pretty much hereditary in felines

5. It's also difficult to detect because feline heart muscles, when diseased, expand inward

6. Steroids exacerbate feline heart disease

7. Black cats are fucking awesome

8. Love

9. Love

10. Love

Getting rid of that second catfood dish is going to suck.

 But there is *always* an old and mostly unwanted cat who needs a good home. Thank you, Black Kitty, for everything. Wherever you came from, whomever that person was that let you go, she missed out on so much love.

- M,L,J,N,P & B

P.S. Sorry about the name. You hated Chester, H.G. and all the others. And after all, you were the blackest kitty of all the black kitties in our whole wide world. We love you to death and beyond.