Bit of a sad day yesterday....

....I know that cats dont get a lot of love on the boards, indeed animals full stop. But I had to have my cat Ive had for 14 years put down yesterday, he'd been really unwell for a month or so and had basically stopped eating and drinking, had a huge tumour in his stomach and was in a lot of pain. He was lovely old boy, have to admit to shedding a fair few tears and im not ashamed to say so. House feels very empty even with my two little girls causing mayhem. But he's buried in a nice spot in the garden now and wont be forgotten. RIP TC, you were a good lad !!

Aaw Digs, I know where you're coming from, it's always sad to lose a family pet. Had to say goodbye to Thomas when she began to have kidney failure after 19 years. Still miss her, even now, but don't think we'd ever be lucky enough to get another cat which was so loving.

Digs, my condolences, I'm sure TC had a good life with you and as Mary said it's hard to lose a pet even though they've had a good innings with you. I'm sure it won't be long before your girls are after a puppy or kitten or rabbit or hamster or and the list goes on.

So sorry to hear that Digs. I had to have my beloved Hooligan (later known as Bum - but I won't go into why!) put down four years ago at the age of 21. I'd first seen him with his mum at the age of 2 weeks when I could hold him in the palm of one hand and he had been my constant companion since I took him home when he was 8 weeks and 5 days old. It was the hardest - and the easiest - thing to do to take him to the vet and hold him in my arms while he slipped away. He too had kidney failure which the vets managed to keep under control for almost 5 years with medication and treatment but when he stopped wanting to eat his favourite chicken and looked at me with such sad eyes, I knew it was time to say goodbye. (I've got tears in my eyes even now). I have his ashes in a beautiful little casket on my desk at home. When we eventually move house and settle in our retirement, I may bury them. We didn't want to bury him in our present garden because we knew we would be moving eventually and didn't want to leave him behind.

LordPutt and I still miss him dreadfully and talk about him often. We will get another one once we are settled but there will never be another character (half Siamese who talked constantly) like him

Sorry to hear that Digs, know how you feel.

Before we had kids I bought my wife a pair of Burmese kittens. The male, Hagar, was a beautiful cream colour but we lost him on the road when he was quite young. His sister Polly survived until she was 16 when she too succumbed to kidney failure.

A couple of years after we lost Hagar we were playing golf one summers evening when we heard a pitiful cry from the bushes along the bank of the river that runs alongside the course. It was a young cat, thin and without a collar that had obviously been dumped. We took him home, fed him and nursed him back to health. We christened him Obie, as we had found him OB, out of bounds! He was a good friend for many years until he passed away the year before Polly.

They are all buried in the garden now, under a favourite tree where they used to play and enjoy the sunshine. That's it no more cats for us now though, it's too bloody upsetting when you lose them!

Cheers guys, yes you do get very attached to them. I like the fact they just come and go as they please and the affection is pretty much always on their terms.
Cant see us getting another pet anytime soon, the wife is actually allergic to cats so it was big effort from her when she took me and TC on. If anything she was more upset than I was yesterday though.

Digs - it was the same with me and LordPutt. When we met he was allergic to cats and used to end the weekends with red eyes and a runny noce. When we decided to move in together I said Hoolie and I came as a pair and he had no problems with that. Gradually he became sensitised and at the end the two of them were inseparable and he was even more cut up about losing him than I was.

It's amazing how these little furry creatures get under our skin and take over our lives.

Sorry to hear that Digs
We have a cat - Bert - who, like LP, we've had since you could hold him in one hand. He also talks a lot and loves to sit on my shoulder like a parrot?! (not a joke!).

I know it's a bit silly but i'd be devastated if anything happened to him.
With the little lady recently having taken over a bit, Bert has been neglected a little and kicked out of the bedroom. I quite often find myself sneaking into the spare room where he now sleeps to let him know i still care

Sad times

LP, you're going to have to tell us about the Hooligan/Bum thing??

Our Burmese was called Polly because she used to love to sit on my wife's shoulder!

I once rather stupidly took TC up to my folks , about 250 miles , in a car not on a cat box. He sat on my shoulder most of the way, got some very odd looks !

So how did Hooligan become Bum?

It's all down to LordPutt I'm afraid. Hooligan (so called because was one when he was young - the vet called him a Lager Lout because he was always getting into fights and then having to have antibiotics for abcesses) was immediately called Herbert by himself because he said he was "a bit of a Herbert". He then started calling him Herbert Furry Bum (because he had one) and then eventually that was shortened to Bum!

Simples

Nice one LP. A cat should have a few names. TC was also known as Sargeant Podge which was name we heard connected to this brilliant news story below -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/7092301.stm
TC was a right heffer at times so the name stuck with him , aka The Podgemeister and Podgemeister General.

Although our cat was female, she was stuck with "Thomas" as her moniker as Steve was only 3 years old when we got her, and he was determined to name the cat after Thomas the Tank engine. It was just too complicated to try and explain to a three year old about genders and names. It didn't really suit her, as she was a very pretty little cat, who was often mistaken for a kitten due to her delicate size - deffo not a tank engine!

Lovely to be part of such a diverse forum - golf, football, politics, and now we are sharing out cat tales! (or should that be "tails")

Mary_S wrote:Lovely to be part of such a diverse forum - golf, football, politics, and now we are sharing our cat tales! (or should that be "tails")

You don't get that on the Dark Side - they mostly seemed to be cat haters there. That's what is so lovely about this forum - we are a soft-hearted bunch deep down. And add to that the support we give to each other in times of sadness, I think it shows how a forum like this can be used to it best advantage. all round!

Maybe more to the point LP is that we are more tolerant here. I'm not cat lover (could even just about stretch it to the point of cat-hating) - yet I'm happy for others to talk about it without imposing my own thoughts on the rest of you

BTW I'm glad your "hooligan" story was simple - I'd have hated to read the more complicated version!

BAN THE CAT HATER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Loving the tails of the unexpected and the Sgt Podge story was great Digs.

We adopted a cat or the cat adopted us and we called her Cinders as she inherited two ugly sisters. Our other cats had suffered cat flu as kittens and had really cloudy eyes. Cinders would climb in through the small casement windows if we couldn't or wouldn't open the door. She would also knock on the front door by jumping up at the window in it, she would the hang off of the window ledge until the door was opened. She could also stretch up and open doors by pulling down on the handles, she taught that to her sisters, but round door handles caused a bit of consternation.

I always have been a cat lover. We always had a cat as a pet when I was growing up. My wife was the same so when we moved in together it was no shock that we acquired two kittens (brother & sister) from hampshire rescue home. Lucy & Jamie were part of the family for the next 17 years until Lucy passed away & Jamie the following year. My youngest son adored dogs & pestered us for years to get one. I was not a fan, but after Lucy passed away & for his 12th birthday we relinquished & got him a lab puppy. This was about 3 years ago & I have to say I am now a fan. I love him to bits & so does the wife. I still love cats & may go back to them when I am retired, but there is a lot to be said for dogs & I thought I would never say that.

Have to agree about the darkside. You couldn't have this conversation without having the p@ss taking out of you. Much nicer people on this forum.

Talking of pet cats, has anyone seen this story -

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2159103/Meet-couple-share-South-African-home-27-stone-Bengal-tiger.html

It's going to end in tears!
That 'tears' as in to pull apart rather than crying

That's just wrong!