Saturday, 15 October 2011

A Little One with a lot of love


This is my little cat 'The little One' her name was also Bella, but no-one ever called her Bella.
She came to us two years ago, along with her little sister, her sister had to be put down immiediately as she had cancer. They had come from a farm nearby, they had been put there by the cats protection league and had had their ears clipped. The CPL normally only put wild cats on farms, cats that cannot be homed, however there was nothing wild about the little one. she lived in the bathroom for a while and was mean't to go to another home, but she soon found her way into the house and our hearts, specifically my heart, she never left my side, if i was in the house she was with me, watching the t.v, trying to do artwork, on the computer and as for bed time, well she'd often be in bed too. Basically she was a person, a person cat.
She was exceedinly lovable, always headbutting a greeting and purring away her little tail would go up when i came in from work and she would run over for a cuddle, looking for the nearest opportunity to clamber onto me in some way. She was jet black, with some white hairs-the vet thought she was 7 or 8 years old. She loved scratching wooden things and never stopped trying to be best friends with all of our other cats, including all the visiting ones from the other houses nearby-except tigger, as tigger is pure evil. (and lives next door). She was my wee sweatheart.
I was on holiday in Aberdeen in August and my mother called to tell me the little one had been in the vet for the last two days in an oxegen tent. She was very ill and maybe if i wanted to see her i should come home right away. So we left for Swansea. I got home a day later, she was out sitting in the garden, in the sun, we'd had some lovely weather. She gave me three very weak meows as a greeting, and a small headbutt, but did not get up or come for a cuddle, I was devastated. I carried her inside and looked after her as best as i could for the next three weeks. She went back and forth to the vets, they tried to put her down twice, but she had bright eyes and lot's of cheekyness and fight left in her so i wouldn't let them. They thought she may have Pneumonia and there was a chance that she may get better so we clung on to that chance, my mum left to go away for 2 weeks, it was awful, i thought i may have to take her to the vets for the last time alone.
But the little one was a fighter, it rained for two weeks while mum was away and she couldn't really go out, luckily i was still on holiday, as i work in education, i was off for the whole summer, this mean't i was able to stay with her most of the time, but it was heartbreaking, she seemed a little brighter for a lot of those two weeks, but during the last two days before mum got back she stopped eating anything at all, we had struggled to get her to eat, but she was taking small amounts until then. Mum arrived home, but still she did not eat, we had her for a further three days and then made the awful decision to take her to the vet.
My little one had cancer, they x-rayed her and her throat had tumours as well as her lungs, which is why she wasn't eating. That day I had to go to work-my first day/evening back, but i did spend some time with her through the day, that horrible day. We will never forget her, she was a sweetheart.
I tucked her up for the last time in her wooden box and we burried her under the palm tree, a favourite spot for climbing!
This was the last photograph i ever took of her.