Cutest Dog in the World

The Owl and the Pussy Cat

Nobby’s Dog

…Freddi is dead. His son took her to the vet’s on Friday morning. In a nutshell her lungs had simply stopped working. She was in great pain. Nobby’s son telephoned him from the vet’s and he consented to have her put to sleep. When I spoke to Nobby in the afternoon he could hardly get the words out. ‘How is Freddi?’ I asked.

‘Freddi…put..to…sleep.’

I don’t think those around him understand what this had done to him. He is ninety one. He has lived through a war. He fought in Italy in a Special Services Reconnaissance Commando Unit. He has seen men blown to bits, trapped in tanks, burning to death and yet none of that affected him as much as the demise of ‘a little white dog’. It’s like Freddi was an anchor, tethering him to the earth and now she has gone there is no reason for him to stay. He is broken. There is a wall between us. I don’t know what to say to make it all better. Why are we given things only for them to be snatched away?

When someone asked me if I had had a ‘flutter on the grand national’ I directed them to this link.

High on Coke

Freddi (Nobby’s dog) is ill.  Her breathing is shallow and she is subdued.  She will be taking a trip to the dog doctor tomorrow.  I managed to sooth her by stroking her gently as she lay at my feet.  I have come to love her almost as though she is my own.  Listening to Nelly Fertado’s Why do All Good Things Come to an End? : flames to dust/Lovers to Friends/Why do all good things come to an end?  I ask why things come to an end, maybe it would be more productive to ask when and why things begin.

Diet coke really isn’t a good substitute for food, but then I expect most sensible people knew that already.

Hiatus

Nothing much to report. I stopped visiting a certain blog when I began to use phrases such as ‘festering ferrets’ , ‘deluded Dalmations’ , ‘pernicious penguins’ and ‘catatonic kangaroos’ (yes, I know that last one doesn’t really work) in everyday conversation. Credit where credit is due though – its contributors had some very sweet and comforting things to say about Bella. I keep seeing Bella’s ‘ghost’. Her image is embedded in my mind so I am seeing what I expect to see. My GP understands. He has his own phantom feline: a cat called Marmalade who died last year. He says it will pass. Eventually.

GhostCat: Where are YOU?

There will never be a perfect time to have a pet. I am being bombarded by offers from my friend Andrew who works at a cat sanctuary – He has found a lovely little affectionate cat called Bounce. I don’t even feel like visiting. I am so tired. I don’t think this will be a good time to bring cats into a still grieving home.

Bella has been my (almost) constant companion. For a decade she has been by my side. (Apart from my trip to America and Europe when Bella stayed in Birmingham with my parents). But I thought about her, I dreamed about her.

But Bella was a stubborn little Madam and would make me endure lots of silent treatments when I returned which were resolved when Bella felt that she had made me suffer enough. She wasn’t nicknamed ‘Bratcat’ for nothing.

I know I will never find a cat like Bella again. One night, back in 1996, I opened the front door to let a friend out and, as the friend left, this little white cat invaded by apartment. She slipped through the door and let out a piercing miaow, a miaow that said ‘I’m here and I’m here to stay’. And stay she did for eleven years. A lady downstairs had one more cat than she needed. The youngest(Bella -6) was being bullied by the Top cat. So, she came to live with me. Melissa, her first rescuer, told me that she’d been wandering Mill Road – emaciated, with no fur on her back legs – when she found her. She took her back to her flat and was surprised to find that she was house trained. She had also been spayed. My neighbour nursed her back to health but cats can be fickle creatures and Bella began to explore other flats in a bid to find herself another home. Bella had made up her mind. Every night she stood outside my door calling for me to let her in. I did. And every night she came. I made an agreement with her human who found it difficult to have to deal with night after night of hissing, spitting, snarling.

So she surrendered and brought Bella to me. She sat perched on my chest that night and the purrs she emitted soothed me into a sleep devoid of dreams. She became a permanent fixture in my life, almost to the exclusion of everyone else. And she was loyal to the end. She died in her sleep. Next to me. The best way to die some say. I’m not so sure. Doubts are setting in

If anybody’s interested Bella was 17

More Later

Bella

Bellacat can barely walk. She can barely eat. I think the end is coming. Some will dismiss this as a kind of cloying sentimentality. But Bella has become a part of my life, a part of me. And she has been for eleven years. I think I will die without her.
I am so afraid. She is me. I am her. I don’t know what to do.
I don’t want her to die for if she does then a part of me dies too.

Monster Cat

Imagine how the local mouse population feel.

The Language of Cats

Cat Phrase Meaning

miaow: Feed me.
meeow: Pet me.
mrooww: I love you.
miioo-oo-oo: I am in love and must meet my betrothed outside beneath the hedge. Don’t wait up.
mrow: I feel like making noise.
rrrow-mawww: Please, the time is come to tidy the cat box.
rrrow-miawww: I have remedied the cat box untidiness by shoveling the contents as far out of the box as was practical.
miaowmiaow: Play with me.
miaowmioaw: Have you noticed the shortage of available cat toys in this room?
mioawmioaw: Since I can find nothing better to play with, I shall see what happens when I sharpen my claws on this handy piece of furniture.
raowwwww: I think I shall now spend time licking the most private parts of my anatomy.
mrowwwww: I am now recalling, with sorrow, that some of my private parts did not return with me from that visit to the vet.
roww-maww-roww: I am so glad to see that you have returned home with both arms full of groceries. I will now rub myself against your legs and attempt to trip you as you walk towards the kitchen.
mmeww: I believe I have heard a burglar. If you would like to go and beat him senseless, I shall be happy to keep your spot in the bed warm.
gakk-ak-ak: My digestive passages seem to have formed a hairball. Wherever could this have come from? I shall leave it here upon the carpeting.
mow: Snuggling is a good idea.
moww: Shedding is pretty good, too.
mowww!: I was enjoying snuggling and shedding in this warm clean laundry until you removed me so unkindly.
miaow! miaow!: I have discovered that, although one may be able to wedge his body through the gap behind the stove and into that little drawer filled with pots and pans, the reverse path is slightly more difficult to navigate.
mraakk!: Oh, small bird! Please come over here.
ssssroww!: I believe that I have found a woodchuck. I shall now act terribly brave.
mmmmmmm: If I sit in the sunshine for another week or so, I think I shall be satisfied.
mreoaw: Please ask room service to send up another can of tuna fish.
mreeeow: Do you serve catnip with that?
mroow: I have forced my body into a tiny space in order to look cute. How am I doing?
miaooww! mriaow!: Since you are using the can opener, I am certain that you understand the value of a well-fed and pampered cat. Please continue.

From feline to canine: I hope the doggy in this story will be okay.

A father of two? Now, that is depressing!