RIP Pearl cat

We got pearl as a 6 week old kitten when Alice was a toddler. Alice would carry the kitten around by the middle, and Pearl put up with that. She ingratiated herself into Ghost's good graces, and the two cats, black and white, would sleep curled up together on my bed. That was long ago now, especially counted in cat-years. Ghost has been gone since January 23, 2007. The spring we got Pearl was the same spring we got Blaze, Sylvie, and Squeak, the Kinney Hill barn cats, all of whom have already passed beyond the veil. Pearl's passing marks the end of an era of cats. She was a good cat. She was present but not overly cuddly. She had various health problems, including a heart murmur. We tried to medicate her for that, but then she became the perpetually hiding kitty. So we fed her good food, and kept an eye on her. A couple of weeks ago, she started asking to go out, which she never had been in the 16 years she's lived here. Last week she stopped eating. She was little more than skin and bone. Pearl did not even have to go for that final ride, as I was having spring shots for the horses today. When the vet came in, Pearl walked right up to her. It was the calmest, quietest and fastest passing of a cat I've witnessed. She's buried down by the Fameuse (apple tree) next to Spot (cat) Teddy (cat) and Shadow (dog).