That's the hard thing with pets, you usually outlive them and know you have to say good-bye one day. We had our cats neutered since they're housecats and never go outside - they don't seem inclined to do so either, they like their comfy house, LOL! My old one was 12 when he died too - that's actually not that old for a cat, but he got sick too, some kind of liver disease that was probably genetic.