Shadow's gone

The 16+/- year old cat that I shared my house with was named Shadow. Shadow & I spent about three years together. He came with the purchase of the house, this was his only home for a long time. Shadow was never a house cat, he lived in the basement and garage as he would "mark" his territory with that godawful smelling yuk-fluid. Shadow would bring me small animals, lizards, snakes, birds, almost anything smaller than he. I'd usually wind up burying his "gifts" as they were dead or nearly dead by the time I saw them. This May I had the vet come out to give Shadow the requisite vaccinations. In addition, I had noticed that Shadow had becoming finicky about his food, he wasn't eating his kibble. The vet found a tumor underneath Shadow's tongue. The tumor was affecting the way Shadow's teeth meshed, thus explaining his reluctance to eat kibble. The vet advised me to make Shadow comfortable and that Shadow's end was near. I had been feeding Shadow sliced luncheon meat but last week he stopped eating, though he drank as much water as he could. Then he couldn't jump atop his favorite perch in the garage. Shadow had become skinny and was walking with a "strained" gait. So I called the vet's office again and made another appointment for Friday the 17th. Friday arrived and a second vet presented himself. I explained the first vet's diagnosis and it was confirmed, though the second vet showed me that the tumor had grown to partially block Shadow's throat. The vet very kindly injected Shadow with a tranquilizer, then another injection was given intended to stop Shadow's heart function. Shadow died. I buried Shadow on the north side of the house, fairly deep so as to frustrate any scavenging animals. I'm not a happy camper.