Growing up with allergies, my family and allergist decided the only pets suitable for me, were goldfish. My brother had a mouse for a short time and that was it. Twenty-one years ago, I met my husband, the hugest animal lover – EVER! Shortly after, we began our home of furry 4-legged pets.

Our first cat, “the matriarch,” Goldie, was everything you would want in a cat. She was loving, smart, extremely social and even helped raise the kids! She escaped our house, just one time, and discovered an anti-freeze leak under our car. Shortly after, she went into kidney failure. Long story short…we were crazy about her and had her get a kidney transplant. The deal was, we had to adopt the donor cat(s). Her first transplant was from Yoda (she came with the name) and failed. But, we got to love this fabulous lab cat. The second donor was a success (we only had to pay for one – but had to take 2 cats) and Goldie actually outlived the donor, living 10 more years! I was known by many vets as the lady supporting the one-kidneyed pet population- we had 3 of them!

Yesterday, was a very sad day for us as Yoda had to be put to sleep. She was “my cat and I was her person,” for 15 years (she was 16). Every night, she slept on my pillow while annoying me by wagging her tail in my face and then burrowing under the covers next to me. In the day, she could often be found near my work desk on the bench – catching some rays. She also adored the kids. She would hang with oldest while he was studying in his room, on my second son’s lap while he was playing Minecraft or with Princess on the couch. Yoda became really skinny over the past two months as her kidney was failing. Like one vet said to me a long time ago,”You will know when it is time.” Yesterday morning, hubby and all the kids said their final good-byes and me, the one who never cries, became a blabbering fool as I took her to the vet. Last night was the first night I slept in my bed without her annoying me and she was missed. Hubby placed “his cat” next to me as he knew I was sad.

As with everything, I like to keep a positive attitude and am soooo thankful we had a wonderful 15 years with her!!! Pets truly are part of the family!