WindSparrow made me tear up. I hope there is something which can be done for the kitty, Tep.

I've said for a while that we know she's ancient and obviously won't live forever, but knowing it is different from being faced with it. The poor thing keeps pacing around the house and can't get comfortable -- she goes from the dog's bed to the bathroom to the chair and back again, staying in each spot for just a little bit. She keeps yowling, which sounds awful. She hasn't been eating, but when I offered her the water from a can of tuna, she drank some of it. Last week, she guzzled it all down and mugged me for more.

Poor old kitty. I want this to be fixable, but you really can't ask for much more than 18 years, all of which have been good (other than the weird sneezing blood thing) up until these past few days.

The dog and the other cat are NOT allowed to get any older. Kato and I shook on it. Toke is indifferent, as usual.

Yeah, Truman, our big sweet poodle, is getting a little deaf and his eyes are getting a little cloudy. In the past week or so, he's started waking in the middle of the night with a lot of anxiety. One of us has to go lay down with him and pet him until he goes back to sleep.

Kato is 14, which is apparently old (but not ancient) for a dog of his size. He's slowed down a lot and doesn't really even like walks anymore, but he's in good health still and generally in good spirits. I'm afraid he's going to start declining significantly this year.

But he won't, because we shook on it.

Yeah, when Shadow just laid in unhappy lumps and cried, I knew it was time. My poor old Koogie just got slower and slower and then just faded out one night, curled up next to me in bed.

Darby's still only like six months old, tops. So nothing to worry about.

In reality she could be anywhere from around 8 to 12, so it's really hard to know/mentally plan.

I don't think I ever saw my cousins' cat Sunshine once she made it into her mid-20s, but I assume she resembled something out of Pet Semetary.

Dang, that really is an eternal cat.

Koogie made to something like 18 or 19. He actually had fur worn off of some of his joints, and I had scarfs that weighed more than him. We called him the lich-cat. I miss the old bag of bones.