She'd been going downhill for most of the last year - kidney disease. Last June she started setting up camp in various out of the way places. She'd move every few weeks, but always to some isolated place. And that’s where she’d stay. She wanted to be alone.

Rarely, she'd come out and socialize a little, for a few minutes or so. A couple of times she came back on the bed to sleep with us for a little while. Maybe she was just cold; it was winter. But that was nice.

But even that stopped a month or so ago. She would only leave her spot to use the litter box. Her food and water was delivered. She did seem to enjoy visits; she just didn't want to come see us. And she seemed afraid to be away from her spot - she would run as fast as her old and weak arthritic legs could take her to the litter box and back.

Kidney disease also made her fur change from gray to brow (it reduces melanin production).

In the winter, she started losing weight. And she developed a throat issue where simply purring made her start to cough and gag, which limited how much time I would spend with her - because I didn't want to make her choke. That was heartbreaking. But she still liked to see us, even if only for short visits.

So we'd been expecting this day for a while. Maybe not as long as she had been...

Over the last week, she grew very weak, and her eyes started to cross. Her breath started smelling very unhealthy. And two days ago she pretty much stopped eating. And that made it clear she was ready.

Bye, Peps.

Here she is riding home in the car with us, her first day in the family.