Hee hee keberoxu, he certainly did! I'm finding comfort in remembering our little moments in the sunshine outside on The Bench, and the hundreds of plates of best cat food I gave him, plus bowls of milk etc and diced chicken. The trouble with pet-ownership is their lives are naturally much shorter than ours and we have to brace ourselves for The End every time.
I've just spoken with our lovely neighbour's daughter the Vet nurse, and she still hasn't been able to find out what happened to Spirit eventually, but she too thinks he's no longer with us.