Dinah, this weekend would have been your 20th birthday. I’m sorry I’ve not written something for you sooner, but I couldn’t find the words.
When you came to us it was only a few weeks since we had lost the Proot and didn’t feel ready for another cat, but your Mum had gone into hospital and we just couldn’t say no to looking after a 17 year old girl – and anyway it was only going to be for a few weeks…
We were told that you liked to sleep a lot and didn’t do much, but it wasn’t long until you were exploring the garden, trying to terrorise the neighbours’ cats and waking us up playing with your ping-pong ball at 5am. Once you’d decided that actually, we were quite nice and weren’t going to turn you into mittens, you quickly settled in to a routine, cuddling up on my arm with your quiet purr, then stealing my pillow the second I was asleep, wisping my face with your tail, sticking your fluffy bloomers in my face, patting my face at 6am, and refusing to eat the same food two days, or sometimes two meals in a row. You told us when it was bed-time, and when it was time for your daily brush. You drove us mad and stole our hearts.
Sadly your Mum passed away, I wish she could have seen you again, but she had the comfort of knowing you were in a safe place. We moved house and you took it all in your stride and loving “your” new bedroom, and all those exciting explores we had around the garden and neighbourhood together, always on the look out for delicious new puddles to drink from. You still loved to play and made us laugh so much with your funny ways.
You were always energetic and cheerful and it was hard to believe that you were such an old lady and wouldn’t always be around. I hope you didn’t feel too poorly towards the end, we knew you were struggling and so we had to let you let you go. We know you’re back with your Mum and Dad now and at peace, but we miss you so much.
Thank you for coming to us and being such a special little cat. xxxxx