I recently lost my nineteen year old Siamese cat Shylo and boy do I miss him. He had been sick for a while and after slipping into a diabetic coma we decided that it would be too cruel to bring him back and that we should let him move onto a place where he could be in peace. While we all miss him dearly, we would never wish him back as he was. He had dementia and was going blind and deaf and it was very sad watching him slowly go downhill.

A few days after we got him put down, I turned twenty two. While I had a great day with friends and family part of me was sad too. Shylo wasn’t there to celebrate with me like he had been for the last nineteen years. He and I practically grew up together and a lot of my favourite memories were made with him by my side.

One thing I have found is that it does get easier. While I miss him dearly and miss having him around and seeing him everyday I can accept that he wasn’t well and he is in a better place now. It makes me wish that old age wasn’t a thing. Though I am grateful that he didn’t have a tragic death like some do. I think that would be worse.

It also makes me realise how things change. For instant I actually miss his annoying habits like tripping me up fifty times a day. He was the absolute best cat and he put up with quite a lot. I remember every Christmas where I would dress him up in his Christmas jacket and every Easter in his bunny ears. he was the most photogenic cat ever and he became used to the camera coming out meaning that it was his time to get his photo taken, it got to the point where you would get the camera out to take a picture of something else and he would be there posing so you would have to take a couple of pictures of him. He took gorgeous photos so a couple usually turned into a handful and they more often than not ended up on Facebook.

Not only did Shylo bring joy to my family but also to others he met. he had many wonderful quirks and traits and he even had his own special chair outside on the neighbours porch. With a cushion, of course!

He was a cat with fifty lives, all of which he had well and truly used by the time he passed. I don’t know whether he was incredibly lucky or just incredibly brilliant. Thinking about it now he was definitely incredibly brilliant but he also had a dash of lucky and mischievous thrown in there.

I can think about him now and smile because I know that I will always have the memories of him close to my heart.

So this is a tribute to my buddy and one of my very best friends, Shylo. We really miss you buddy and we hope you rest in peace.