Last night I said my final goodbyes to a friend, companion and comforter who shared my life for nearly eight years.

Dudley was a shelter cat. He was also a "replacement" cat. I'd lost Duncan a couple of months before I adopted Dudley. Duncan was a very special little guy who died far too soon - only a year after I adopted him, of a brain aneurysm. Losing Duncan was particularly hard because he'd had a rough start in life, and only had a year of comfort and happiness in my home before he died, far too young. He was only three years old.