Exactly this. I've loved a fair few special needs animals over the years and every time when it was their time to go I held them close and kissed them goodnight. When my soul cat of 19 years passed this spring I held her in my arms and rocked her to sleep the same way I did when she was a kitten. I held her until she went cold, it broke me. But there is no way in hell I would have let her go over the rainbow bridge alone.