So I posted my current boys above. Previously we had another catā¦this is a bit long, but there you go.
My GF and I moved in together about 18 years ago. As soon as we did we knew we wanted a cat. The Cats Protection League got in touch as they had a little girl. She was 2 years old and had already had 3 litters. Her owners had moved away and just left her in the empty house. We went to see her and it was this timid little tabby/tortie mix who looked very meek and afraid. It was pitiful. She let out a little meow when we walked into her cage and came to talk to usā¦we had to rescue her. We called her Ellie.
At first she was very afraid of us, she had been badly treated and the kids used to swing her round by her neck, so it took a long time for her to trust us. But as the years went by she did, and she made our house her home. After ten years she was a different cat. She was besotted with me. And at 6pm every evening she would sit on the sofa shouting for me to sit down and she sat on my lap (never my girlfriends) if I moved to get something, she would jump back on immediately. She did love being in the garden with my girlfriend though.
After about thirteen years, when she was 15 She started suffering from arthritis and was on tablets, but all of a sudden lost weight. And the blood tests revealed her kidneys were failing. We had to make a decision in a matter of hours what to do. Nothing and potentially let her die painfullyā¦or put her to sleep.
We had to take her to the vets and do the right thing. Iāll never forget being with her in the last moments of her life trying to comfort her when the vet injected herā¦walking back from the vets with an empty cat basket and being unable to breath. Or how I missed her for so long, for months and months. For a while I sat with a cushion on my lap as it was too weird without her being there.
She died three years ago and I still miss her at times. I know some people find it hard to believe losing a pet is hard, but grief is grief. She was our friend. Always there for us, and whatever was bad in my life, she made it better.
And finally. Last Xmas I gave this to my other half on Xmas day. A picture my brother took and I threw into a frame. She burst into tears, and itās above the bed looking down on us.
