Oh that is so sad, I am so sorry about your dear cat. I just lost mine three weeks ago after 15 years and you absolutely did the right thing. A guy I work with just told me that a few years ago a neighbor was on a flight to Puerto Rico and saw this big man struggling to shove a huge bag in the overhead compartment. The FAs tried to help but he waved them away and said to not touch his bag. He was holding up the pax and it was obvious that there was no way he would get the bag in the bin. Finally one FA got aggressive and tried to help him shove the bag in the compartment.

The zipper ripped and out came an arm. He said people started to scream and then out came a head. It turned out that the man's mother had died and he wanted to save money getting her home to be buried. He said that his neighbor was pretty traumatized by this.