Dorrie is getting old
We've gotten so distracted with children and other cats dying that we keep forgetting how old Dorrie (Tandoori Chicken, because she is a very timid cat) has gotten. The best and I have been involved for ~14 years now, and she had Dorrie before I met her. About the only indications that she's getting old is that she's gotten quite plump (until about two years ago she was quite a skinny little cat, but when Suzzy went into her fatal decline Dorrie became a flitting shadow, only dashing out to eat and pee on the floor), she's started to snore, and she's getting some age spots on her muzzle.
Because she's terminally skittish, it's close to impossible to get her to the vets office; the last time we managed to get her to the vet was about 4 years ago, and she hated it so much that the next time we had vets appointments we had to leave her behind and just take Suzzy. This probably means that, like poor Vanessa, the first indication we'll have that something is wrong when we find her doing an all-too-convincing dead bug imitation on the kitchen floor.