Our treasured shipmate and cat, Clyde, had to be euthanized the other day after several months with liver cancer.

He started losing weight the last month or so of the cruise and when we got home the vet eventually discovered numerous lesions on the liver.

Clyde continued to lose weight despite our best efforts, but he remained alert and seemed to have a good quality of life until the end. He never stopped enjoying those things he always liked to do, although he obviously got weaker and slower.

There was not one event that made us realize it was time, but it had been two weeks since he last ate (as far as we knew) and he had lost half his body weight.

We have wonderful memories of him, of course, and suspect it will take a while before we stop thinking of him as we go about our daily activities.