Goodbye Mommy Cat

Mommy Cat, yesterday.

Mommy Cat, the mother of four cats who became part of our family for varying lengths of time, passed away today. She was probably 17 years old, it’s hard to know for sure, but we had her for more than 15 years.

She was a wild cat. Many years ago she appeared and adopted us, dragging in with her four kittens. For most of her life, she wouldn’t let anyone touch her. She’d gladly accept our food and shelter, though! But, in the last few months of her life, with encouragement from my wife using treats, she came to accept us rubbing her head. At first, she’d flinch away, but in the last few weeks she moved into the rub, enjoying it. She even followed me from the kitchen, to the garden and back again, looking for treats all the way, looking up at my face in that piercing way cats have.

Her daughter Hoppy is still here. She’s as adorable as ever, and it appears she’s none the worse for the loss of her mother. Mother and daughter led quite separate lives. Mommy Cat rarely left the garden for the last two or three years.

Caring for Mommy Cat has been pretty intense in the last few months. It’s going to be very odd to go down to the kitchen in the morning and not hear her screech for food, or gurgled attempts at purring. Where once there was a fence around a kennel to discourage her from roaming around the kitchen, we are now back to the dog’s bed, where Hoppy will sleep tonight.

She’ll be missed. We love her. She was such a feisty creature. A presence in our lives for most of our married life.

A Dog Named Beau

Today is the day I first heard actor Jimmy Stewart read his poem about his dog Beau. You should hear it too. It’s beautiful.

A dog named Diego

I can’t post something about dogs and not include a photo of my dear little Diego. His muzzle is a little greyer than in the photo above but he’s still a puppy at heart, loving to play and go for walks. He’ll also happily accept cuddles, sit on your shoe for comfort, or curl up in a ball on top of you if you’re relaxing on the couch.

Tiny Little Kitten

Tiny little kitten

A tiny little kitten wandered into the dog’s kennel this morning and started to meow her heart out. She’s so small I can fit her in one hand. She tried to befriend and approach a local tomcat but he didn’t want anything to do with her. Thankfully Adam kept his distance from the new “baby” and I was able to feed her heavily diluted milk in a syringe.

Not sure what’s going to happen next.

When a dog loves a woman

The happy and sad story of Goofy, a dog rescued from Greece, who took over Belinda Harley’s life.

If you enjoyed story of Goofy’s rescue, look for the book, “Marley and Me”. It’s a lovely story, and you’d need to have a hard heart not to shed a tear by the end of it.

The only time that Mark Birley, that quintessentially reserved Englishman and ruler of the nightclub Annabel’s, sent me a love letter, it began: “Darling Belinda, I know I only saw you last night, and will see you again in a few days, but there is something I wanted to put in writing. I want to tell you how much I love and admire you” (here, I caught my breath) “for rescuing that divine dog.”

The rest of the letter was not about me at all. It was all about Goofy, the mixture of spaniel and scamp with the wonderful, intelligent eyes that I had brought home, after nightmarish battles with official-dom, from the Greek island of Paxos.