Kathryn,
That eulogy was beautiful and brought tears to my eyes. In my life I have had nine cats. Two (my childhood cats) died of old age, but away from home so I was never really sure what happened to them which was hard. Seven of the cats I have had since moving out of my parents' house about fifteen years ago. Two of them died, both needed to be put-to-sleep. Those were the most heartbreaking days I have ever had! I still have five of my kitties, two from the first week of living on my own fifteen years ago. Benjamin, one of my fifteen-year-olds, is also diabetic and needs his two shots per day. He and Maggie (the other fifteen) do a pretty good job of keeping up with the younger guys, but I know they are older cats and I don't know what I will do once they go. I could hardly bring myself to type that. I say they've been with me since I was first on my own, but I have never really been "on my own" because I have always had them (in the beginning it was them and Gppetto, who passed on several years ago)and I feel like we have been a team all these years. I'm not sure what it would mean to be a grown-up without them!
Anyway, thank you for sharing your beautiful story; what lucky cats to have such a loving and expressive human friend. It's wonderful that Scooter also had such loving cat friends around him, even to the end. I'm sad for his passing and for your loss, but so happy to hear of a cat getting to enjoy such a life.
--Laura