Ducky’s last few years weren’t easy.

The senior cat was 19 years old when his beloved owner passed away and he was placed into the shelter system, where he remained for the next five years as adopters passed him over for younger, more energetic cats.

But three months ago, Ducky’s life changed for the better. Reddit user help_ss was browsing the pet listings on Kijiji – an eBay-owned Craigslist competitor popular in Canada – and fell in love with the gray tabby.

“[I] knew that I had to get him right away,” Ducky’s future human wrote. Despite a two-hour drive to Ducky’s shelter – which takes in old and special needs felines – help_ss decided “it was going to be my mission to rescue him.”

The Redditor drove to the Comfie Cat Shelter in Orillia, Ontario, and took Ducky home that day.

If it talks like a duck…

Why Ducky? “His nickname Ducky was given to him by my girlfriend since his meows sounded very much like a duck’s quack.”

The senior cat adjusted immediately to his new home, making fast friends with the other two resident cats, but he wasn’t long for this world. Ducky passed away overnight in early July.

“What hurts me the most is how he passed,” help_ss wrote. “We knew that his time would come. I wanted to give him the best sushi, tuna and other delicacies for his last few days. I wanted to be there for him to say goodbye and give him a lot of pets, hugs and kisses as he left this world.

“Sadly, I wasn’t about to do that, and it hurts me a lot to think of him suffering alone as he passed away in the early hours of the morning. I just wish I could’ve been there for him to hold his paw and say goodbye.”

In memory of an amazing cat

But other users were quick to point out the enormous good instead of dwelling on the bad.

“You were in fact Ducky’s hero,” blondecalypso wrote. “You gave him a wonderful, happy, loving and safe home for his final days.”

Others implored Ducky’s last human friend to remember the days he lived, not the day he died.

“He knew you loved and cherished him,” another cat-lover, EmeraldSunshine, wrote in support. “He waited five years to spend his days with you. What you did was amazing and beautiful. Never forget that.”

EmeraldSunshine signed off by saying what everyone else was probably thinking as they read Ducky’s story.

“I need a tissue.”

Help_ss told Front Page Meews that Ducky’s death weighed heavily on him and his girlfriend.

“We have both been pretty down since his passing is still a very recent occurrence in our memories, but as time goes by we are trying to remember all of his moments with us and not just the very end,” he wrote the day he was scheduled to pick up the senior cat’s ashes and paw prints. Having those things to remember Ducky by, help_SS wrote, gives hope “that this will bring us some closure in the grieving process.”

There are thousands of Duckys all over the country who are waiting for their forever homes. Some are traumatized by the pain of losing their beloved humans. Others have been rescued from bad situations or were callously surrendered at shelters.

Senior cats have a lot of love left to give, but they’re easily overlooked, especially when kitten season comes around and would-be adopters have their heartstrings tugged by those tiny balls of playful energy.

That’s why November is national Adopt A Senior Pet Month, and it’s why many shelters encourage cat lovers to consider older animals, reminding people that older cats are more laid-back, much more predictable in terms of personality and won’t tear through the house like a hurricane the way kittens do.