We were having tea in the garden one afternoon at the end of June. Suddenly a cat appears. It is a Siamese. He looks famelish – and yet the house is in the middle of the village, and there are lots of cats around… We don’t have cat food! We give him a piece of goat’s cheese that’s left in the fridge, hard as wood. He devours it. Then a piece of bread, which suffers the same fate. He will sleep in the house and the next morning a very fragrant poop will have been deposited in a corner of the living room… No litter box, therefore,,, He was a lovely cat. In a few days he was a very good friend of Jump’s, the colley-dog, whom we had with us at that time. Minou, that’s what we called him. He would go out in the morning and ccome home in the evening. When we left for a few days, it was obvious that he was waiting for us to come back because he came immediately showing pleasure rather than reproach. Once we went to Cassis for running. At our return we found him prostrate on the couch, bleeding, the result of a fight. He was waiting for us to treat him. Another time he didn’t come home. We looked for him and, happy outcome, we found him two days later in our cellar where he had slipped in without my knowledge when I went there! But the outcomes are not always happy. On one rainy night he was not in the house when we returned late. We searched everywhere. I put up posters with his picture on all the letterboxes in the neighbourhood. Finally, the owner of a house 30 metres from ours said, “I know where your cat is”. He took me to his litter box and took out a plastic bag and inside… Minou.
We decided that never again would we experience such a moment. So when Frimousse came to settle with us, and Tigri the following year, we lived by them. It is according to Frimousse that we chose our new house. And very quickly we almost adopted Rouxy, the kitten of our new neighbours. When we went somewhere we locked the three cats in the house with food and drink. Obviously our absences could only be two or three days long! We never left home to go shopping, or running without making sure the three cats were safe in the house – despite the Petsafe system. When I was no longer able to run – half a prosthesis on my right knee – and I retired, taking care of the cats became my job, with cooking.
You understand why we don’t take a new cat! The prospect of living again only according to him, and for about fifteen years, has put us off. And will I still be alive and able to look after a cat in five, ten or fifteen years?
Why this photo? We have so many good running memories! Last Saturday was this year’s Saintélyon. An excellent memory for me. See the blog Running.
I too have reached the point where I can no longer assume responsibility for any more animals. My old beagle had to be put down two weeks ago -congestive heart failure finally caught up with her, and she was 14 more or less. My oldest cat is 9 or 10 and is in kidney failure. My youngest cat is 6, and I wonder who will outlive who. So I stay home with them, and we are at a happy balance together. As we get older, that may be the best we can hope for. Purrs.
As I wrote to a French visitor there are certainly «old cats waiting for people to give them a home for their old days. If I were alone I would let myself be tempted. But no question for the Mistress of Frimousse. We have lived in recent years with Tigri who needed care for his kidney failure for almost three years before dying. For Rouxy and Frimousse old age was shorter but intense. So no! Long life, in good health, for you and both your cats – even if I know the the health of your older cat is a real problem, same as Tigri.
Thank you so much !
Sorry to hear you don’t think you will have a good Christmas!
We won’t have a white Christmas that is there won’t be any snow.
But I think we’ll have a good Christmas with my son, my daughter-in-law and her parents, my two grand-sons! Good food and presents.
Have a very good Christmas !
Ditto! Have a good Christmas!
Thanks!
Snow’s falling at the moment. but very wet. It won’t stay, pity!
We wish you a wonderful Christmas and you can visit our blogs to see cats if you like. I also worry as I have a 5 year old cat and want to be here for him as long as needed. The next is 9 and the rest over 12. Buddy is turning 20 so that is the reward of keeping an inside cat.
Thanks for sharing the good and the sad
We hope that you and I will have more good and less sad to share!
There won’t be snow for Christmas. Today it’s sort of springtime! 12°C at 7 in the morning! I went for a walk near the Lake, it was quite… hot. 25°C in the car when I got in!