Buried Cat #3 this morning. Tigger was our crazy cat who lived on the fence after an altercation with what we can only assume was a cerval some years back, which made her psychology unbalanced and physically as well, as she fell off the fence regularly. She deteriorated over time through epileptic fits and her beautiful ginger chinchilla-like fur became matted like a Rasta's dreadlocks. We tried to stroke her and pay attention but although she would purr like a diesel engine and, on the odd occasion, come inside and sit on my lap for a short while, something in her brain would trigger a convulsion which caused her to sink her teeth into my hand. The bite was intensely painful and necessitated a tetanus shot from time to time as the blood would flow freely and looked like a snake bite for a few days. So we became too nervous to touch her much.
We made her a little hut on the fence and sometimes she would sleep inside, but otherwise she was impervious to winter's gales and slashing rain, proof that animals are made to survive all weathers despite our concerns for them. She had lately taken to sleeping on the top step at the front door, with a 3 metre drop to the bricks below, and we would often hear her roll down the stairs in the middle of the night.
When I went outside early this morning to do the perimeter fence recce for the porcupine, before letting the dogs out, I found Tiggy on the bricks below the top step and could see straight away that she wasn't just lying there. Her eyes were half closed and she was in a little damp patch. I felt her and she was still warm, but had definitely passed on. Rather than wake the children, I got the spade and dug a deep hole under the lemon tree, next to Fluffy and Mittens, who have been resting there for a few months now. I found a bright orange cloth, in recognition of her nickname 'Orange', and folded her tail neatly under her before closing it up and lowering her into her last resting place. I washed the bricks so no scent remained to be sniffed by the dogs and to wipe away the traces of her fall.
And so the end of another era in our cat history. RIP Tigger.
O Pam this is so sad - yet your obvious love for her allowed her to live a reasonable quality of life until her time came. May your heart be warmed by the knowledge that you did what most animal lovers do and that was to go the extra mile for the furry friends we love... and who love us. RIP Tigger.
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