Farewell to Chocolate. 21 years of faithful service.

2007. With my son's sippy cup. So fluffy.

2008. For a rescue cat, he was SO patient!

2003. With Slim. I call this one the Gone With The Wind shot.

2004. Omega & Alpha personalities. Best buds since day 1.

2004. That was them. Slim clueless. Chocolate plotting.

2007. That became his spot forever.

2007. The Three Amigos. He's plotting something evil here. I can just tell.

His final day, today.

So beautiful and so loved. He was a rescue as a kitten from gang that ran a dogfight ring and used him to rile up the dogs. His name was Scarface. My sister in law went in and took him. Those who dared try and stop her she told them to try and she'd call the cops on what they're doing. They let her go.

She drops him at my then GF's house whose slumlord refused to deal with a mouse problem. It took her almost a year to firmly but gently train him that she wasn't going to hurt him. I moved in (married her) and he was sleeping in her bed. He moved to the bottom and eventually out of the bed. Like he wanted to make sure I would protect HER or else HE would. I earned his trust and love.

We got Slim Shady (the gray one) a year later, a skittish, omega cat. They got along so well.

My son came by a year later. They were curious and scared at first but they became fast buddies.

Slim passed away about 3 years ago (they'd become outdoor cats for about 8 years) but after Slim gone, we moved Chocolate who was 18 at the time indoors. He gave us a couple of scares healthwise but his kidneys were starting to fail last year so we put him in a special diet for it as well as hydration packets to help him stay hydrated.

He'd occasionally cry around the house, not sure if in physical pain or emotional from missing his buddy, probably both.

He'd become very slow and frail, and decided that we were being selfish keeping him around. He died in my arms an hour ago.

TL;DR; Best cat in the world passed away after 21 years of being a part of my family.