Bye bye Smokey-Joe

Stu's cat, a member of the family for seven years, has unfortunately expelled the ninth of his lives.
A huge, temperamental, yet fairly active boy, we were all expecting many more years of his grey hairs floating around the vicinity.
Alas, Stu's sister found him sprawled on the lawn, still alive, but immobile from the neck down. How he sustained a spinal injury, we'll never know.
When we visited, he was purring, glad to see familiar faces, but he was obviously distressed at not being able to move, and seemed to have shrunk from his usually proud, imposing self.
After a few days hoping that there would be an improvement, the decision was made to ensure that he was comfortable.

Ciao, boychops.