we lost a member of our family today

we had to put down our 16 year old cat, jake, this morning.
we've been suspicious for about a week now that he hasn't been eating or drinking water.
we've only been able to get him to drink milk.
he's been drooling for a couple of weeks.
he's sleeping more than usual & in front of the fire all the time.
he's not sleeping with us in our bed anymore...he's sleeping under the bed or in strange places.
he was starting to waver in his walking yesterday.
i bought some soft cat food yesterday & he lapped up the gravy part but left the rest until last night when i gave him more milk.
so i called the vet. we made an appt. for this morning.
he only weighed in at 8 lbs. 2 oz. (what brinley weighed when she was born).
during his initial physical exam, which started w/ his mouth...she found a mass in his jaw bone.
the mass she said could either be involved w/ just the tissue surrounding the bone or could be through the bone...which there at that point would be nothing we could do.
so we went with an x-ray.
15 minutes later, & drawing w/ chloe to keep her occupied...we discovered that the tumor had ate through his jaw bone & the roots of his teeth- poor guy...no wonder he couldn't eat!
so we decided to put him down.
we are having him cremated & then spread his ashes under his favorite bush in the yard where he is in this picture!
buck & i've had him since before we were engaged...since he was about 2.
i remember he hated me so much when i moved in with buck...i took his spot in the bed.
he was MY cousins cat!
he's had a great life!
miss him terribly already!
we still have to tell the girls...i'm waiting for buck to come home after work.
it's going to be rough!
i still can't believe he's gone! i keep walking around the house doing things thinking about him...finding fur balls on the floor, his hair on the couch, his food, his litter box...