Diamond was 9 years old when I married my second wife.  She and her Sister Emerald had belonged to my new wife since they were kittens.  All during the engagement Diamond shied away from me.

Returning from our honeymoon, the first night Diamond showed her anger at the new guy in the house by promptly leaking on MY side of the bed in the middle of the night.

The third night, she did the same and my bride asked if I wanted to give her to a friend.  I declined, deciding that I was going to make friends with this felonious feline if it was the last thing I did.

I took a year and a half, but one day, Diamond decided that I was her human and jumped up in my lap while we watched TV.  From that day on we were inseparable.  Each night, as soon as I turned out the lights to go to sleep, Diamond jumped up on the bed beside my pillow and spent the night.

Several years later, while recovering from major surgery she didn’t leave my side except to eat and use the litter box.
One night, about 8 3 years after my surgery, Diamond didn’t come to bed with me and I went downstairs to see if she was OK, and halfway afraid that her advanced age had caught up with her.  She was on the arm of the couch and mewled, glad to see me.   I took her up stairs and the next three nights the same thing happened.  Then, she seemed to recover and for a few weeks was pretty much back to normal.

Then, about a month later things started to change. Diamond didn’t come up to the bedroom anymore, prefering to sleep on the arm of the leather couch. Finally, noticing a decrease in weight and energy, I took her to the vet. Renal failure was the diagnosis and he prescribed medications and a special renal diet. Diamond didn’t get better though, then one morning she was more listless than usual and I knew it was time.

I took her back to the vet, my heart breaking and informed him of what I wanted done what I knew had to be done though I hated doing it. Diamond breathed her last with me beside her, petting her and I know that she knew that I would be with her to the end.

That night I cried like I hadn’t cried for years, In fact, not since my first wife passed away.  Diamond was special, very, very special and in this case, a boy’s best friend.

— George from McAllen, TX