I spent more time with our cat Mogget than any living thing. I had to steel myself to bring that time to an end | Gayle Bryant

Just one of millions of pet cats, to us she was the one. She soaked up my bad moods, angst, illnesses and purred them away

When my son was nine, he asked for a sibling. I negotiated him down to a pet and Mogget arrived in our lives as a two-month-old domestic short-hair kitten. Eighteen years and three months later, she stopped eating. And within a week, drinking.

At the vet's, I learn she's lost a kilogram since her last visit - how did I not notice? The vet is kind. She dances around what needs to be said. I tell her Mogget continues to walk up and down our stairs, wakes me every day at 4.55am by bulldozing my head, loves lying in the sun.