Today at 12.37pm Tiger Leader of team Stripe, Leader of the Clan Cats indoor/Outdoor mob and second in command to Sweetie died in my arms at the vet.
He was our very first introduction to feral cats, the late Toerag bought him home for something to eat and Sweetie let him in and so started our love affair with unhandlable feral cats.
He worshiped Toerag and they made quite a pair of stunning boys both weighing in at 20lbs of black and Tabby cat respectively, Toerag taught him an awful lot but was tragically killed 18 months after Tiger joined our family. The following year Tiger went walkabout for 2 weeks at the same time his big bro was killed and I found him in a neighbours garden he had been hot by a car and was in a bad way but our then wonderful vets rebuilt our boy and although he lost his tail except for a 1 inch stump he made a remarkable recovery and 4 weeks later was back out patrolling his territory and so we then adopted his stalkers another pair of tabby ferals Lima and Clio aged 11 months and no human contact, Tiger took them on as his own and taught them over the years that humans are nice and can be trusted!
He had a remarkable bond with Robin his Dad and they watched many football, rugby and cricket matches together and Tiger also was one of the cats we introduced to the newbies and fosters he took it all in his stride and usually demolished their food to!
He moved house with us 2 years ago and led the breakout and escape party by way of a breaking the window and then turned up 3 hours later wondering what all the fuss was about and that he had just taken them on a trip some took 6 months to trap but Tiger didn't see the issue!
He was diagnosed as diabetic 15 months ago and was the vets star performer everything was text book no ups or downs and even today his bloods were perfect its just he tumours on his liver and heart became to much and despite the vets best efforts our boy died on his own with no necessary intervention at his own pace at the vet.
The Vet was in tears - he has shared our losses this year with Gracie and Gem and can't understand how we can cope with the loss, not sure I know how we cope but we do and I will miss this big Tabby former feral more than words can say as will his Daddy and Sweetie and the rest of the Clan Cats and dogs
This photo was taken 2 weeks ago and his body guard Lima is there watching out for him.
So godspeed Tiger our rumpy stumpy boy, one of the founding members of the Clan Cats, reunited with his big brother Toerag, and the others Haggis, Moose, Hissy Holly, His doggy Brother Breeze, Miss Gracie, darling Gem and the stones - Star, Cairo and Shanghai
Forever our tabby boy and the best advert for a feral cat that we know of always a pawprint in our hearts and only in the next room waiting for us but causing havoc at the bridge
