Aww I'm sorry to hear that about your cat!
Luckily, my parents always realized how precious my cats were to me.
I lost quite a few growing up, since my parents live at a busy road.
Most of my cats never made it to 4 years, they got run over or just disappeared.
A couple of days after having kittens, my cat Prutske (who I still miss beyond anything!!) got run over. This was about 5 years ago. I raised the kittens myself and my parents respected that. Others were like: "Just dump the kittens in a hole and get rid off them". Grrr.
Anyways, I still hear such great stories about how awesome the cats are that I raised.
Right now, I live with my boyfriend and we have 2 cats who never get outside.
I think it's a bit sad that they can't go outside but at the same time, they are safe here from diseases and traffic so I guess it's for the best.
I can only hope they'll live to be 20, they haven't even had their first birthday yet