Oh, Thank you everyone. And Dan, hubby helped me alot with this problem. Over the years Sheba became very attached to me. He often called her my "familiar". I adopted her 24 yrs ago from the same Vet clinic she finally ended up at. She was dropped off there by a family as a kitten. She and her littermate
were up for adoption. We had just lost our Charlie Cat who was 19 and also black, and we wanted a new cat. There was a litter just born and the Vet said I could reserve one and to come in.
Well, how does one pick a cat at that stage? No way to determine personality etc. So above this new family was Sheba, crying piteously, because her littermate was adopted out and now she was alone. She had rubbed off the fur from one side of her face, rubbing on the bars of the cage and looked pathetic. So I asked the tech about her, and she said most likely would not be adopted because she is a black cat. So I asked to hold her to see if she had a nice personality, the tech trusted us to have her (screening for owners for black cats was carefully done there). From that day, Sheba was bonded to me mostly, and hubby often was mildly jealous too. He used to call her Pork Chop when she was heavier, and also the Big Bag of Protoplasm when he had to pick her up. But he also was kind to her basically. She just never warmed up to him. One of our other cats Oreo, is highly bonded to him instead. She is 9 now.

Sheba was very dignified, and rather lazy. Very Queenly! LOL
She was definitely Alpha here, and the other 2 cats are now
in a mixed state of confusion. Today I will redo her box which she used as a day bed. Sheba had the best spot over the part of the floor above our steam pipes for the winter. I am removing her box completely and setting up a new one for the others to use. Cats really love "boxes", much better than fancy beds IMO. All our cats love tissue paper as a liner! Not very Martha Stewart, but the kitties love the boxes! We have found some wonderful types at Costco in fact. They use them there to pack up your purchases. They are very heavy duty and have fruit and veggie pictures on them!

I cried so much yesterday and was soooo tense, I had to get the Ultram out ...I am all congested. I am relieved for her, though because since June when the Vet found the rising renal values, I've been focusing on her all day long, seeing if she were worsening. This weekend she suddenly turned and we knew it was the end. She was at the Vet overnight with IVs to see if she would rally, but the tests were really bad, so we had to end her suffering. With my son now living on his own, and busy, and no grandchildren, yet, we only have the cats. They seem like children to me and we are highly invested in them emotionally, as a result. I miss her terribly so far!

Let me know if you get one of these cushions. So far mine has really helped my legs, which were getting stiff with all the computer time I put in here!