Good bye Tinkerbell

Our oldest animal--Tinkerbell the cat--was put to sleep on Monday.  She would have been seventeen next April.  I think it was time to let her go.  She has been fading for the last few months and I think it was just time.
She had a good life--she used to play fetch better than any dog I knew.  She loved her treat of canned food in the morning.  Hated when we moved from apartment to apartment to house.  She would freak out if we moved the furniture around because she hated moving.  She never really forgave us for moving out of the first apartment Nick and I lived in.
Nick and I got her after we had been together a year.  I wanted a cat and so we went to the animal shelter and got a kitten that had been found abandoned in the country.  She was a tuxedo cat--always looked like she was wearing a black coat with a white chest and toes.  She had white whiskers but only a couple above her eyes and sometimes they would fall out and she would look a bit lopsided. 
She taught me to play fetch with her by bringing me her toy one night in bed.  I just wanted to sleep and so I tossed her toy across the room.  She promptly chased it and brought it back.  Thus beginning a game she loved.  I can still hear her yowling with her toy in her mouth at night wanting to play.
Later in life she gained the reputation of Mean Kitty.  She would come and sit on anyone's lap, but don't touch her while she was there.  WE had big foot ball player type friends in college and they would ask me to come and get the cat off their laps rather than touch this small black cat to move her.  She also enjoyed sitting on Nick's shin and "boxing" with Nick.  She was the most playful cat when she was younger. 
Letting go will be sad but I think letting her go will be kinder to her than trying to hang on to prolong the inevitable.
So, so long Tinkerbell, a.k.a. Mean Kitty.  You have ruled our roost for years.  Thank you for sharing your time with us.  Sorry about moving so many times but we would be a tad cramped if we had stayed in the first place we lived with you.  I hope you are happier now and no longer in pain.  We love you and miss you very much.

Tinkerbell as a young cat.

She was never one for the great outdoors, she wouldn't go far from the door.

Tink ruled the roost, but hated that the fascinating fish were beyond her reach.

Goodbye Tinkerbell.