My wife adopted Simba when was 5. He was very protective of us and very smart. When he started refusing his food and losing weight, we brought him to the vet who said that he had a large tumor in his lungs. She asked then if we want to put him down for he surely would deteriorate. I said no, I would take care of him until the very end. He did deteriorate badly. He became so weak that I had to feed him by hand. He would crawl around the house to stay near me. One time I was in the basement he slid down the stairs. I was so scared he broke something. I would carry him outside to do his thing. When he could no longer control himself, we put training pads. I know he was ashamed when he got soiled. Everytime he gets soiled he turns around and try to fold the soiled pads. I bathed him everytime even if it was dawn. My biggest concern during those 6 months was whether he was in pain. One day I saw him unable to move. He was looking at me and I believe I saw it in his eyes that the time has come for me to let him go. We brought him to the vet praying that we have done everything we can for him. He was very light. He was around 90 lbs before he got sick. His hair was still shiny and soft. I wrapped him in a clean white towel. I never let go of him until his last breath. I kept looking at his eyes until he closed it. It had felt like he was reassuring me that it was ok. I would probably have been easier if we had h put down earlier, but I felt that it may be a form of giving up, an abandonment. 4/4/2015. When I saw the video it reminded me of Simba. I wrote the comment on my phone with my hands trembling, my eyes were wet. Some of the details were not there. Simba died in the vet's office after having the injection, was cremated and now in a box in my living room. What was so remarkable about him was his will to live. There were a lot of days were I would sit beside him holding his paw. Whenever i took my hand away, he will nudge me. I might be wrong but it felt like he does not want me to let go. (god my hands are trembling again). I have to carry him wherever I go in my house for if not, he will do his commando crawl, looking like a mischievous puppy whenever he got caught, just to beside me. Whenever I go to the bathroom I have to be careful in stepping out for he will wait outside. How he can crawl so fast, I honestly don't know. I am very much familiar with pain and suffering, and I also have seen remarkable strength of the will to live. Simba had the will to live more than any person I had care for. I am a nurse since 1990. If I can comfort the strangers and help them to the very end,why would I deprive Simba, my family of such care? Who are you to judge about cruelty and suffering when on the days that I took care of him I was devastated, but carried on taking care of him, like I would of a patient. The husband of my wife's cousin who stayed with us for a visit and saw me with Simba said to his daughter, " I hope your uncle is still around when I get sick". The only time Simba lost the will to live was on the day I brought him to the vet for the last time. I have dogs now and I had dogs before him. Simba stood out because he had showed tremendous courage and effort of not giving up. I was not brought up to give up on the living nor I am trained to do so.