So sorry to hear of your loss. Your cat had a nice, long life, which doesn't making losing her any easier, but I hope you have a lot of good times to remember over those 17 years.
I'm so sorry about your kitty, I just lost my itty bitty kitty in March, she was 15 and my friends just had to put their 19 year old kitty down over the weekend.... it's not easy right now, but it will get a little better with time.
Thank you all for your kind thoughts. I thought about my little beanie a lot today and I'm feeling much better tonight. It helps to talk about the loss with friends and I'm lucky to have so many.