Paw Paw was the sweetest, kindest and, despite her diminutive size, toughest being I have ever had the privilege of knowing. Her life was not an easy one. We first laid eyes on her, and hers on us, in the back garden of a house we were viewing, and upon seeing her, there was a non-verbal consensus between my partner and I that we had to take the room and help her. Paw Paw, we later found out, was the landlady's so called 'pet' and she had just left her to fend for herself in the back garden. We moved in close to Christmas. On Christmas Eve we let her into the house and she came under the bed covers (her favourite place to sleep), and we knew she was thankful that someone truly cared about her, perhaps for the first time in her life.The first few months were bliss. We had started a new life in London and now had this little fur ball in our lives too. However, we began to notice some troubling signs that all was not well with Paw Paw. She was drinking more than most cats and vomiting as well. We took her to the vets and the vet nurse, after handing back Paw Paw after blood tests, casually gave us some medicine. We asked what is was for and, again, casually she said it was for renal failure. Our hearts sunk and at this stage we didn't know what this quite meant. After doing our research, we discovered the illness was terminal and opinions differed as to the best course of action. Some suggested euthanasia as the animal was going to die of the disease anyway. Others believed the illness was treatable and quality of life would be good with the right treatment. Fortunately, after doing our research, our vets' opinion and our own fell in the latter camp and we formed a strong alliance with the vets in helping Paw Paw. We can only assume that this illness was the reason for Paw Paw being abandoned, and in any case a totally inexcusable one.Many people will say this about their pets, but we truly felt Paw Paw was special. She was extremely gentle and always knew when something was not right with my partner or myself. She was also very comical and made us laugh every single day. Her loyalty was like that of a dog (no offence intended to cat owners who know otherwise!). Her strength and heart throughout her treatment was comparable to a lion. She had such a range of vocalisations, many that a cat would not typically make, that you could have sworn she was having a conversation with us.We built this mythology around her and her backstory evolved over the years. Her name was inspired by a little known indie movie called The Future. The film is about a couple struggling to establish themselves in life. This story, though not all the elements of it, resembled our own and they were planning to adopt a cat called Paw Paw. Paw Paw, like in the film, was waiting to be rescued by 'persons' and we became her persons. Her little paws were also unusually well defined, so the name was perfect.She was also the world famous star of a murder mystery show, the Paw Paw and Pops Show, a powerful business woman controlling a financial empire from the top of Canary Wharf, a globe trotting pilot wearing a captain's hat with holes for her ears, a crime fighting bat cat with a Paw Mobile (cat carrier), my getaway boat driver, amongst other things. Perhaps these are extreme examples of anthropomorphism, but I think it illustrates how central to our lives she was and that she was a fully fledged member of our little family.There were many ups and downs in the time we had Paw Paw. Such is the nature of the illness, she would 'crash' and have to be admitted for IV fluids for a couple of days. We moved to a flat, which had a mouse problem. Our neighbours downstairs were using poison to control the rodent problem and Paw Paw unfortunately ate a poisoned mouse. We rushed her down to the vets in the middle of the night and we thought we were going to lose her. But she always bounced back and we were always incredibly overjoyed to have her back. This only led to us bonding ever closer. Despite her health problems, we can safely say her quality of life was good and she was a happy little cat. We have so many happy memories of being with her.In the last month of her life, Paw Paw's health sadly began to decline. She was rapidly losing weight and not responding to treatment anymore. We hoped it would be a blip, but I secretly knew this was the beginning of the end. We knew it was time to for her to go, as did Paw Paw, and with great sadness in our hearts we let our baba go on the morning of the 25th of July 2016. Baba girl, your moms and pops miss you so, so much. We just so badly want you to be with us, sitting on our laps, sleeping under the covers, waking us up in the middle of the night and brushing your whiskers against our faces just because you wanted company, going for walks at our allotment and bathing in the sun, stealing our fish and taking it away like a little panther with its prize, barking orders at us like a little dog. You enriched our lives massively, taught me so much about myself and life, and helped us through some incredibly dark personal moments. I am so sorry that you had this illness, I am sorry we couldn't have more time together and I am sorry we couldn't do more to help you. I hope you know that we love you with all our hearts and you are forever imprinted on them. We will never ever forget you and you will always be with your persons. Thank you for blessing our lives. Rest well, Paw Paw, I hope you are happy and healthy again.