The New Pussycat on the Block

Seems I'm not that good at blogging, as it's been nearly a year since my previous post.  And in that post - just after our handsome cat, "Peeps", unexpectedly died, I posed the question of whether we would ever want to have another pussycat?  After all, whenever a truly-loved pet dies, it is always hard to believe you could ever have another; because, surely, the one just passed away was the best ever, and no other could hold a candle to it...

Watch this space, I'd written.  And indeed, 6 months later - last September - our friend Julie, who volunteers with MK Cats Protection, told us about a gorgeous little tortoiseshell 'puddytat' which MKCP had just rescued.  She showed us a photo of her - Jemima, they'd called her, and said she was presently in quarantine whilst she weaned her 3 kittens!  Poor little mite was only about a year old, and already a 'mummy'!

Well, the photo of 'Jemima' helped us decide to arrange a visit to the MKCP foster-carer, looking after Jemima until she was re-homed.  Once seen, we were smitten!  She's only a tiny little cat, and even now, 5 months after we adopted her, she still looks more like a kitten than an adult cat which has had kittens!  MK Cats Protection organised a vet to neuter and vaccinate Jemima before we adopted her, and once we took her on, we registered her at our veterinary practice, had her 'chipped', and bought pet-health insurance.

'Jemima' came to live with us on 5th September 2014 and very quickly made herself at home!  We decided that 'Jemima' was a bit of long name to have to call out every evening if she went 'walkabout', so we shortened it to 'Jem' - and she soon got used to her 'new' name.  But we didn't have to worry about her wandering off down the road, or, (worse,) going over the back fence and through the copse to the main road, just 50 yards behind our bungalow... She's only ever once been over the back fence, and only ever once gone out of the front garden!  She really is a home-loving pussycat, and gets all the fun and exercise she needs racing about our home, or back garden, chasing birds and squirrels!  And she's such a playful little thing!  She loves nothing more than tossing a ball-point pen or a pencil around the floor; and has lots of fun chasing her furry balls, or "killing" her furry rat.  And after a good chase-about, her equal next pleasure is to stretch out, lengthwise, down Ann's lap or down between my legs, as we sit in our reclining chairs.

So 'Peeps' remains a beloved pet, but 'Jem' has taken her place as our treasured, and much-loved pussycat, and we trust we'll have her energetic and lively character for many years to come!

"Peeps" - The results of the Post Mortem

It's been 11 days since we lost our beautiful, loving, pussycat, "Peeps".  And 10 days since we got the results of our veterinary surgeon's post mortem report.
When our vet phoned me with the report of how poor little Peeps died - (little? He must've weighed 14lbs / 7kg at least!) - anyway, when she phoned me with the result, the day after he died, it was really quite 'liberating', as I'd been kicking myself for 24 hours that "if only I hadn't let him out into the front garden and left him there...".  She informed me that he died of 'Sudden Death Syndrome' - the same condition that has claimed the lives of some very fit, energetic, sportsmen in recent years.  He also had an enlarged heart, and the heart attack which killed him might have occurred at any time - even as he scampered round our living room...  It was a real comfort to me, to know it wasn't "my fault".


When we left Peeps at the vets that Thursday evening (13th March), we'd also instructed them that after the 'PM' to send his remains for cremation and return them in a wooden casket, with his name on a brass plaque, as we've done with all our other pets... And each one now rests on the floor of the summerhouse, where we can continue to see and remember them; and their individual characters.
We got Peeps 'back' today.  I phoned the vets and went and collected him this afternoon.  The crematorium which our veterinary practice uses has been the same throughout the years we've owned pets, and finally had to say goodbye to them, and so the caskets are identical in design and construction - a fine, light, hardwood - and when returned from the crematorium there is always a condolence card contained in the package - a really nice touch, and *so* helpful to a grieving pet owner.


So that closes that chapter of our lives, but, like the memories of "Jen", (my wonderful German Shepherd dog, who I had before I met and married Ann), "Whisky", (the cat that came with our bungalow when we bought it, back in '86), "Lynx", the most soft, loving, pussycat, who stayed as small as a kitten all his life), "Peer", a big, bruiser of a cat who finally softened and loved being cuddled by the time he passed away, and lastly "Peeps", the biggest, most colourful - ginger & white - most adoring of his "Mummy" pussycat who's short life with us was, at least, the happiest 6 months of his two and a half years... ...


Will we have another pussycat?  Watch this space!