My Cat

It was a very sad day, last week, when I had to take my cat, Tiger to the vet for the last time. He was 17 years old, and had had a very active life. sadly, he had lost all control of his bowels, and nothing could be done to help him.

We aquired Tiger from the Wood Green Animal Shelter in 1998. He was a birthday present for my wife. He was 5 years old when we got him, his previous family had emigrated to Canada, and decided not to take him with them. He spent his first few days, hiding under a cupboard in our bedroom. He was terrified of our Greyhound, and we wondered if we would have to return him to the shelter.However, eventually he plucked up the courage to investigate his new surroundings.

He was soon bringing us little presents into the house! A steady stream of birds and mice came in, and I guess he was settled!

Not long after this, we took in a stray cat, and named him Basil. Tiger was not at all happy about this, and proceeded to bully Basil until last week. Even when Basil was run over and lost a leg, Tiger always had time to attack Basil at every opportunity. In 2002, we moved house. Shortly after this, our Greyhound became ill, and she had to be put to sleep.

Tiger went into some kind of weird state. He spent his days, just staring at the wall, and if he ate anything, he threw it up again within minutes. He lost a lot of weight, and he had many trips to the vets, but they found nothing wrong with him at all. I think he was depressed at the loss of the dog. A few weeks later, he was at deaths door. A bag of bones, and lethargic, we had already decided to have another rescue greyhound. We got Alex in  October 2002. He is a very large greyhound, and we wondered how he would react to the cats. We need not have worried. He was a bit scared of the cats, and Tiger started eating normally again from that day! Animals CAN become depressed!

So, everything was back to normal. However, a couple of years ago, every now and then, Tiger would have a bad stomach. The bubblling noises would followed by a very upset stomach. After a day, he would be ok. Gradually, these episodes became more frequent, until they were happening about once a month. Things came to a head last week, when he became unable to function at all. To be honest, it was a relief to be able to have him put to sleep, so that he could have some dignity.

So here’s to you, Tiger. Rest in Peace.