Yesterday we came back from a week's holiday to find that our neighbour, who had been looking after the cats whilst we were away, was rather upset.
It turned out that Fred had been taken very ill on Friday and was a very poorly cat indeed. His tongue was protruding and was obviously causing him discomfort, and he was struggling to drink.
We rushed him straight up to the vets, and received the news that all pet owners dread.
He had a tumour on the base of his tongue that was inoperable, the only options we had were to try and make him comfortable for a few more days or to have him put to sleep straight away.
We both gave him a big hug and kiss, and told the vet to go ahead.
He slipped quietly away as we both stroked him and told him how much we loved him.
Fred was only with us for eight years - before that he had several homes but I like to think that we gave him as good and as loving a home as he could have had in that time.
We have had many cats over the past twenty five years, but none have been as affectionate as Fred.
He used to sit at the end of the path waiting for us to come home from work every night, and loved nothing more than to sit on someones knee and purr loudly.
He had just won a battle against a skin infection on his nose, and we were hoping that he would have been with us for a good many years to come but I guess some things are just not meant to be.
Goodbye Fred. Your supervising on the allotment will have to be done from a much higher place from now on.
.JPG)
