My beloved old friend and feline daughter Samantha was only around until about age 17. I am still heartbroken over her loss almost ten years later. She also had reached the point where she couldn't groom herself, and I made sure to give her long black hair one final very loving combing on her last day... and she responded by purring as she had so many times before. She started out as Queen of Cats, but she graduated to the title of Dowager Empress of Cats in her later years. Friends would laugh at how she would answer to "Samantha," "Sam Sam," "Your Majesty," or "Dowager Empress." Kittens have their charm, but I do so much love the company of an older and more settled cat like Kahlua.

Now the cat who was Samantha's younger companion is 16 years old. She started out feral and only learned to trust people by following Samantha's example, developing in time into a sometimes cranky but always lovable lap cat. I'm sure that Shadow and Kahlua could swap plenty of hints about how cats can best train their humans.

As far as I'm concerned, the only problems with cats are that they simply don't live long enough and the matter of litter boxes!