Tommy

[cazzer]

sorry I missed this at time [FIL had been rushed to hospital and almost died].    So sorry to hear about Tommy he was my favourite purrs cat cos I love my handsome ginger men and I always loved your photos of him.     Sleep well handsome Tommy safe in the summerlands x

[souffle]

What a beautiful tribute 
Nothing but pure love could build such memories.
Rest well Tommy x

[Jiji]

No doubt about it Tommy was a special cat, he stole our hearts in the cats show and left us sad with his passing. 

[funkiechicken]

 

 

[CarolM (Wendolene)]

Oh what a lovely story - I'm blubbing just reading it.  I think we can all understand just how special he was to you Sylvia and how much you miss him.         He definitely had that special something because so many of us on Purrs fell in love with him just from that one photo.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Soooooooooooooooo handsome and love that winners picture, so hard to stop missing them 

[Rosella moggy]

 

So difficult losing the love of your life and having to learn to cope without them.  A truly deserving winner of last year's show 

For you Sylvia 

[Sylvia]

I'm so sorry, I should have done this months ago, but its been so very hard recently 

I first met Tommy a week before we went on holiday in September 1999.  He strolled around the end of the eleagnus hedge, across the driveway straight towards me and started to purr and do headstands on my shoes.  He was the friendliest cat I had ever met, and he blatantly told me he loved me.  When we went indoors, we said goodbye to him, and told him how nice it had been to meet him 

He looked very well cared for, so we had no doubts that he had an owner.

When we got back from holiday, he started to turn up fairly regularly, and when we got home we would find him in our house, snoozing in the cat beds, or more usually upstairs on the spare bed.

Chloe, Gizzy, Sooty and Sweepy were with us at that time, and none of them ever batted an eyelid when they saw him.  If anything, when he came in, the boys seemed a bit overawed by him as he was so much larger than them and appeared to be offering him their food, their beds, the girls – anything he liked 

After a few weeks, he turned up with a collar that had a phone number on it.  As he had been spending so much time at ours, we rang the number and spoke to a lovely person called Rebecca.  She had been wondering where he had been spending all his time.  Apparently he had already attempted to move in with several other people who lived in her road, and they would all have gladly taken him in, but Rebecca had always persuaded him to come back home.  What was making it more difficult this time was that the vet had told her that Thomas was putting on too much weight, and that he needed to be put on a diet, so that was what she was trying to do.  As he wasn’t very happy with what was being served up at home, coming through our open cat flap to find 4 bowls of wet food, 4 bowls of dry food (each a different flavour) and a wide variety of comfy places to snooze seemed like the obvious thing to do to him 

We agreed with Rebecca that we would buy a new magnetic cat flap that would only allow our kitties to come in, but after we fitted it we were still coming home to find Tommy happily snoozing on our beds.  It didn’t take it long to work out that he was tailgating our Sweepy, so a magnetic cat flap was no deterrent to him whatsoever 

To cut a long story short, after about 6 months Rebecca came to us, having made the most difficult decision.  She couldn’t persuade Tommy to go back to her, and asked if we would like to keep him, to which we said yes.  She was so upset, but her thoughts were all for Tommy, and what he wanted    We will never be able to thank her enough 

Tommy was an extremely sociable cat, and still kept up his visits to all the neighbours who had an open cat flap 

In fact, when Tommy was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2006, it was an enormous help to us that the neighbours would keep an eye on him.  Ian at No 28 even bought a small pot of honey, so that if Tommy should go hypo he would have something to treat him with, although he never had to use it.

It was at this time that Tommy perfected the art of speedily eating his meals, and escaping through the cat flap before you could catch him to do his insulin injections.  This was less important in the evenings, because you always knew that he would come back home later, and you could catch him then.  The mornings were more of a problem though, because I had to get to work, and it was about this time that I used to have to fish Tommy out of the neighbour’s hedges to get him back home for his injection.  A couple of years later Tommy got a bit pickier with his meals, and on some occasions when he didn’t want the first meal that was served up, I would have to fill a second or a third bowl, and I would have to crawl around on my hands and knees holding his bowl up at an angle, to make it easier for him to eat.  At least that way I knew he had eaten, and how much.  Jim used to think I spoilt him  , but I just wanted Tommy to be healthy and happy, and it seemed to be the best way to achieve it.

Over the last year or so Tommy’s arthritis got worse, and he used to stay in more than he used to.  Jim put in extra steps for him to reach the cat flap in the back door and he built some steps at the end of our bed when he started to struggle to jump from the floor.  Everything in our house still has a halfway stage to get up onto the furniture.

Everyone who met Tommy loved him, and he loved them.  We were so lucky that he always chose to come back home to us.  He was so special 

I loved him from the moment I saw him, even though I knew I shouldn’t, because he wasn’t mine.  I love him and miss him so very, very much, and I always will 

Here are a few pictures of my gorgeous baby:

Tommy in his younger days






Tommy always loved his basket


... and the garden












I was always so proud of Tommy, but this was amazing

[Tigerlily (Allison)]

RIP Tommy 

Sylvia 

[funkiechicken]

Big hugs to you   

Goodnight, Godbless Tommy xx 

[snarf]

 

[Sylvia]

Thank you everyone 

[Stuart]

 

[sheilarose]

Oh poor Tommy. I remember his lovely face.

Safe and sound at the Bridge by now, goodbye little man.

 

[bunglycat]

So sorry to hear about Tommy

[Tiggy's Mum]

Very sorry to hear this 

RIP Tommy, safe and sound at the Bridge by now cc

The Greatest Gift

I always knew this time would come,
From the very instant our eyes first met.
How I loved you then! How I love you now!
I made a promise then, and I will keep that promise now...
You will not suffer from a pain that will not heal;
You will not know the loss of a life remembered, now gone.

It is for me alone to make this decision,
The price for the bright joy and pure laughter
You brought me during the time we shared.
I am the only one who can decide when it is time.
When my hope dies, and my fear rides high,
Just when I need you most, I must let you go.

It is for you alone to tell me when you are ready
For without your guidance, I will not know
When to lay my grief, my guilt, my anger
My sorrow and my selfish heart aside
And give you this last gift, this greatest gift.
Your eyes will speak to mine, and I will know.

The pain of this moment is excruciating.
Tears stream down my face in a river of sorrow.
And my heart drowns in a pool of grief.
For you have spoken and I have listened,
And unlike other decisions I have made
This one brings no relief...no comfort...no peace.

For if there´s one thing you´ve taught me,
If there´s only one thing I´ve learned...
Unconditional love has a condition after all,
I must be willing to let you go, when you speak to me
I must be willing to help you go, if you cannot go alone.
And I must accept my pain so you can be free of yours.

Go easily now, go quickly now,
Do not linger here, it is time for you to leave.
Go find your strength, go find your youth.
Go find the ones who've gone before you.
You are free to leave me now, free to let your spirit soar
Rest easy now, your pain will soon be gone.

I pray I will find comfort in my memories...
In the dark and lonely days ahead.
I cannot say I will not miss you, I cannot say I will not cry.
For only my tears can heal my broken heart.
But, I promise you this; as long as I live,
You will live, alive in my mind, forever in my heart.

So I give you this last gift, all I have left to give,
And this will be my greatest gift...sending you away.
It is the measure of my unconditional love...
For only the greatest love can say,
"Good-bye, go find the bridge, we'll meet again,
Loving you has been the greatest gift of all."

Forever and Always... Until Rainbow bridge....

[CarolM (Wendolene)]

I think a lot of us here on Purrs will shed a tear for the passing of the lovely Tommy who captured our hearts in the Photo competition. 

I'm glad you were able to share Christmas together before he had to go.      

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

I am so sorry to hear this sad news Sylvia 

RIP Tommy, play hard on the Bridge

[Liz]

So sorry for the loss of the gorgeous Tommy 

[Rosella moggy]

So very sorry for your loss Sylvia   

RIP Tommy sweetheart 

[Superkitty]

So sorry RIP Tommy

[Janeyk]

Aww I'm so sorry Sylvia 

RIP Tommy, god bless xx

[Sylvia]

Our lovely boy Tommy has joined his friends at Rainbow Bridge 

He had been ill for months and back in October the vet did not think he would make it to the end of the year, but he lasted out and had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year with us.

The last few days however he rapidly deteriorated and sadly we took him to the vets yesterday for his last visit.

We miss him so much 

When I can think straight I will do a proper memorial for him - I just need to be able to see without the tears getting in the way