redmone
Well-Known Member
Well it's been a week and I'm finally ready to post this.
Toppy was my black and white scuffy, skinny cat. She would have been 16 last Sunday, but didn't make it. She was put to sleep last Tuesday night, 14th December.
She was born under my bed when I was 15. Her mum didn't like her and wouldn't feed her, so I weaned her onto cheesy wotsits very quickly!!! In her life she would go on to eat absolutely everything! Her favourite was cakes. I'd come home to packets of buns burst open with nothing but icing left!
I kept the whole litter of kittens, 4 of them. And over the years the other 3 left me for various reasons (one left home when daughter was born as he didn't like her, one disappeared and another died). Toppy stayed with me.
She was a hunter. A really really good hunter!!! We used to keep a tally of what she caught. The most memorable was a bat (!), a magpie, lots of dragonflies and a cooked joint of roast beef!!!! We think she stole the beef from a neighbour's conservatory - it was still warm!!! We thought about cutting the edges off and keeping it!!! And as for the bat, she really didn't know what to do with that - it was still alive so we let it go outside. The magpie was as big as she was, and she sat waiting for it in the tree outside. She used to drop silently out of the tree next to us when we got home - really used to make me jump!
She wasn't a friendly cat to start with, and definately not a pretty one! But over the years she mellowed and eventually she'd cuddle up with you, still digging her claws in though. A few weeks ago she actually got in bed, under the sheets between me and husband! I think she liked the electric blanket.
She loved the sun and used to bake in the garden on her little bench. I knew she wouldn't see this winter out.
She used to sit on the bannister at the top of the stairs and swipe out at you if you ran past from the bathroom naked!!! Not fun!!!
Recently she was getting poorly. Having occasional accidents, and living totally in the bath, for god knows what reason. Her eyesight was failing and her hearing was going. She had no teeth left!!! The week before she died I had a bit of a cry because I wasn't ready to let her go yet. But I swore I wouldn't hang on to her for my own sake.
As a teenager, I had a few problems - some my doing, some not. I left home and had my own flat from just before my 16th birthday. Toppy was the only constant in my life. She's been with me all these years. She's been my best friend. She was like me, or perhaps I was like her. Sometimes angry, not much to look at but a softy once she let you in.
And then last Tuesday happened. I got home, and a neighbour asked if I had a black and white cat. Never good that. He said he'd seen her hobbling round, and thought she'd been hit by a car.
I rushed into the house and there she was sat on the dining chair, waiting for me. For a minute I thought it wasn't her that had been hit, but the blood convinced me.
She'd broken her front paw at the joint, and also done a lot of chest damage. Yet she'd gotten in from the road, up the step, through the catflap and onto my dining chair. She was so tough. Not a squeak out of her, just those big eyes I knew so well.
We took her to the vets and the lovely vet went through the motions of checking her over and seeing what could be done. But I knew. And I let her go then. I was with her when she was born, and there when she died.
I loved that cat so much. I've lost pets and people in my life, but it's never done this to me before. I see her everywhere, in everything in my house.
I paid a small fortune to have her cremated alone (she wasn't a sociable cat!) and I picked her ashes up yesterday. NO idea what to do with them now, but I just knew I had to have her back for Christmas.
I swore I wouldn't replace her, and that I didn't want anymore cats. But less than a week later and I'm thinking about it (someone talk me out of it!!!!). I can't replace Toppy but I could give something else a chance. I've been looking on cat rescue websites. Someone stop me!!!
Sorry about this long thread. It's more for me that for you.
Toppy stood for Top Cat. Says it all really.
Thanks for reading. I got to here without too many tears, couldn't have done that last week.
Toppy was my black and white scuffy, skinny cat. She would have been 16 last Sunday, but didn't make it. She was put to sleep last Tuesday night, 14th December.
She was born under my bed when I was 15. Her mum didn't like her and wouldn't feed her, so I weaned her onto cheesy wotsits very quickly!!! In her life she would go on to eat absolutely everything! Her favourite was cakes. I'd come home to packets of buns burst open with nothing but icing left!
I kept the whole litter of kittens, 4 of them. And over the years the other 3 left me for various reasons (one left home when daughter was born as he didn't like her, one disappeared and another died). Toppy stayed with me.
She was a hunter. A really really good hunter!!! We used to keep a tally of what she caught. The most memorable was a bat (!), a magpie, lots of dragonflies and a cooked joint of roast beef!!!! We think she stole the beef from a neighbour's conservatory - it was still warm!!! We thought about cutting the edges off and keeping it!!! And as for the bat, she really didn't know what to do with that - it was still alive so we let it go outside. The magpie was as big as she was, and she sat waiting for it in the tree outside. She used to drop silently out of the tree next to us when we got home - really used to make me jump!
She wasn't a friendly cat to start with, and definately not a pretty one! But over the years she mellowed and eventually she'd cuddle up with you, still digging her claws in though. A few weeks ago she actually got in bed, under the sheets between me and husband! I think she liked the electric blanket.
She loved the sun and used to bake in the garden on her little bench. I knew she wouldn't see this winter out.
She used to sit on the bannister at the top of the stairs and swipe out at you if you ran past from the bathroom naked!!! Not fun!!!
Recently she was getting poorly. Having occasional accidents, and living totally in the bath, for god knows what reason. Her eyesight was failing and her hearing was going. She had no teeth left!!! The week before she died I had a bit of a cry because I wasn't ready to let her go yet. But I swore I wouldn't hang on to her for my own sake.
As a teenager, I had a few problems - some my doing, some not. I left home and had my own flat from just before my 16th birthday. Toppy was the only constant in my life. She's been with me all these years. She's been my best friend. She was like me, or perhaps I was like her. Sometimes angry, not much to look at but a softy once she let you in.
And then last Tuesday happened. I got home, and a neighbour asked if I had a black and white cat. Never good that. He said he'd seen her hobbling round, and thought she'd been hit by a car.
I rushed into the house and there she was sat on the dining chair, waiting for me. For a minute I thought it wasn't her that had been hit, but the blood convinced me.
She'd broken her front paw at the joint, and also done a lot of chest damage. Yet she'd gotten in from the road, up the step, through the catflap and onto my dining chair. She was so tough. Not a squeak out of her, just those big eyes I knew so well.
We took her to the vets and the lovely vet went through the motions of checking her over and seeing what could be done. But I knew. And I let her go then. I was with her when she was born, and there when she died.
I loved that cat so much. I've lost pets and people in my life, but it's never done this to me before. I see her everywhere, in everything in my house.
I paid a small fortune to have her cremated alone (she wasn't a sociable cat!) and I picked her ashes up yesterday. NO idea what to do with them now, but I just knew I had to have her back for Christmas.
I swore I wouldn't replace her, and that I didn't want anymore cats. But less than a week later and I'm thinking about it (someone talk me out of it!!!!). I can't replace Toppy but I could give something else a chance. I've been looking on cat rescue websites. Someone stop me!!!
Sorry about this long thread. It's more for me that for you.
Toppy stood for Top Cat. Says it all really.
Thanks for reading. I got to here without too many tears, couldn't have done that last week.
