white cat | Dead Flies and Oose!

We lost our beautiful young man two years ago and there is hardly a day goes by that we don’t think of him. He was a strange, sad cat who started to display behavioural problems around the age of two. We loved him so much that we just accepted him as he was. I think he had the best life he possibly could have had with us.

He was eight years old when he started to lose weight. We took him straight to the Vet where we found out he had developed tumours on his kidneys. We were devastated. It was so quick… The day he was diagnosed we made the decision to have him gently put to sleep as he had also lost his sight and was becoming more disoriented by the hour.

We were so glad to have had Tonto in our lives – he came to us from a pet shop – breaking our cardinal rule of not buying animals from pet shops, thus encouraging them – and it was obvious he was from a huge kitten farm which may or may not explain his short lifespan… I always felt he was a product of inbreeding because there were so many kittens with similar markings passing through the pet shop for the next few years – who knows…

Tonto was a magnificent big boy whose stunning markings made him the handsomest cat in the household. We used to say he had teddy bear fur – so thick and plush!

He was also what they call a non-committer. He longed to be petted and would twirl and rub around the furniture near you and but if you got too close, he would stay just out of arms reach – and then shy away as if you were going to hurt him. Occasionally he would sit on my knee and we would have a love-a-thon – this was a huge treat and I savoured every moment.

He was the brightest, sweetest kitten and full of love for both of us, but as he got older we came to recognise that he had a problem and just tried to make his life as easy as possible. He loved us in his own way which was comforting and we were just grateful to have him for as long as we did…

Poor sad Tonto, we still really miss you…