You want pictures, we have a whole website’s worth …
I’m terribly sorry about your loss 
Poor Henry… I can’t understand why people would go out there and shoot at any animal…
So sorry about your kitty.
I’ll never understand some people. When I was a kid we lost a lovely, huge yellow persian cat to some unidentified waste of space.
I currently have three furry friends. A yellow fellow with the standard number of toes and a penchant for eating anything he happens across, be it food or not.
And the other two, playing hide and seek. The guy on top wasn’t fully grown in this picture, he’s a lot bigger now but still as sweet as a kitten. He sleeps with me every night. The girl under the footstool considers herself Queen of the household. Both cats liked to play under that footstool in the picture when they were tiny kittens. Funny thing is, they still try to hide under it now that they’re grown only they don’t realize their entire hind end is sticking out. 
Don’t tell him that, it’ll only encourage him! But honestly, he’s got a sweet temperament to match. He runs everything around here, but he’s a kind boss.
So sorry to hear about your poor cat. And outraged that anyone would shoot at him in the first place.
I’ve had some near misses with my adored Neko and I’d be devastated if anything happened to him.
This photo and this one are of Neko (on the right) and Harley (on the left). Both are lovely natured cats, but I’ve raised Neko since he was born - he’s 8 years old in September - and he’s just got the most wonderful personality. He’s won over a few people who generally aren’t fond of cats, which says a lot for his charm skills, I think. 
He can be *extremely * charming when he’s of a mind to do so, and he’s definitely a socialite kitty.
Neko is an escape artist. When we bought our house we installed a cat-proof fence. Well, Neko discovered a way out of that, so we extended the fence higher. He found another exit. So we extended that bit too.
4 years later and many thousands of dollars of fence work trying to keep our cat safely in the yard (at least Harley never does the escape-artist thing!) Neko has now discovered a way to leap from the retaining wall to the roof of the house.
Neko has been hit by a car once - fortunately nothing worse than very bad bruising/swelling - and just 3 days ago he fell from the roof and dislocated his tail, which is still very swollen and can’t be raised up. Yet last night, I heard him leap up on the roof again. Looks like this weekend we have to install some kind of stopgap measure to prevent him leaping up from the retaining wall.
If he was a tom cat, I could understand the need to roam, but both our boys were neutered young. I’m chalking it up to his social tendencies.
Again, I’m so sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine how heartbreaking it would be to lose a cat you’ve had for twenty years, and in such a way. From the photo, it’s pretty clear he was a big ol’ softie, and he’s got the look of a cat that knows he’s loved. My heartfelt sympathies to you, yosemite.
Wow, thanks everyone.
I apologize for being such a slug and not writing sooner. I just didn’t feel like writing the last few days, I guess.
I want to thank all of you for your wonderful animal stories and all the pictures! I looked at every picture, browsed every photo album, and “oohed” and “aaahed” every one. Y’all have some mighty fine pets here! And I am really impressed by the quality of a lot of the photography, too. Hmmm…I think I’ll go browse all of your photo albums again. They are really wonderful.
It’s so nice to encounter so many other animal lovers. You are a great bunch.
We are getting Henry cremated and we’ll be getting the ashes back in a week or so. We’ve been getting all dear departed kitties cremated. Eventually we’ll make urns for them. (My sister and I are potters.) I will make a big orange urn for Henry.
yosemite, I am so sorry about Henry! I lost my Smokey just last week: she was 18, and by the end she had kidney problems, severe arthritis, heart issues, and possibly some fluid around her lungs…she was fine in mid-July, then went seriously downhill in a 2.5-week period. Putting her down was the only real option, but it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I still cry every day for her.
When she first stopped eating, and didn’t respond to treatment right away, I feared the worst and started taking lots of pictures of her: the one I’ve posted was taken the day before she died. It is actually my favorite one of her, of all the photos I took in her lifetime, and I am so glad that I got it!
yellowval, Pants looks just like my mom’s cat, Bandit, who died 5 years ago! I mean, the resemblance is quite uncanny!!