Preparing to say goodbye to an old friend

I think my cat is on his last legs. We've had him since the eighties, a long ago decade in another century, and he has been a healthy twenty years old. Until now.

He stopped eating yesterday, seems to have trouble getting his back legs to cooperate with what he wants to do. He does not seem uncomfortable, but he seems resigned to something, and wouldn't take a drink when we put his glass next to him (yes, he prefers to drink out of a glass. If it is good enough for us, I guess.)

I am not quite ready for this. If love alone could save him, I would love him until he is well, and I wouldn't let go. But it does not work that way. I have to learn to say goodbye to a friend we have had in our lives longer than most of our friends and acquaintances. I have to. But I do not want to.