We had to put our cat down a couple of weeks ago, it was rough. My daughter got him when she was 2. She is away at college and we tried to help him hang on until the weekend when she could get home, but he just couldn't make it. He once weighed 21 lbs. at the end he was about 7 lbs., we had a lot of tests done but couldn't figure out what was wrong. It was difficult but he is no longer suffering.
Good for you for not drinking to comfort yourself on your loss.