When I first met you I hated you. Actually I heard you rather than saw you, because you were fighting with Wellington and Bonaparte, which resulted in a visit to the vet for them. After that, I chased you out of my fields whenever I saw you running along the hedgerow. And then one day in August, while I was working in the top field, you approached and sat down near me. I was astonished, and we had our first conversation. That resulted in me discovering you had an injured paw, probably from being caught in a trap, and you allowed me to take you in and get treatment for fractures and a nasty abscess. I cannot thank you enough for having such wonderful confidence in me.
While you were recovering in a large cage, I discovered that you were a huge ginger softy, who loved human company and I decided that I had to find you a home. Integration with my others failed - you and the others had too much of a pattern of territorial fighting. But who wants a large ginger male cat, however loving? The foster kittens came and went all last summer and autumn, and you found a new vocation in caring for them. They adored you in turn, and I always knew I would find you curled up with one or two kittens, grooming and cuddling. But no-one came for you. And then little Nutkin arrived, sadly only to be with us for five weeks until he succumbed to FIP, and you nursed him like you had the others. What we did not know then was that probably he was the source of the deadly infection that eventually took you too away from us.
At Christmas, you and I shared the best present ever, when my brother and his partner fell in love with you and decided they would adopt you and take you back to England. We rushed to complete the formalities and vaccinations so you could be theirs as soon as possible. But it was not to be. Only a week or so after their visit, you began to show the symptoms of the dreadful virus. Three weeks later, despite all that I or the vet could do, you were suffering so much we decided you would be happier at the Rainbow Bridge.
Today your friends Pam, Geoff and Lyn were with me when we buried you under the hedge where you used to run. Harry, you are home at last.
While you were recovering in a large cage, I discovered that you were a huge ginger softy, who loved human company and I decided that I had to find you a home. Integration with my others failed - you and the others had too much of a pattern of territorial fighting. But who wants a large ginger male cat, however loving? The foster kittens came and went all last summer and autumn, and you found a new vocation in caring for them. They adored you in turn, and I always knew I would find you curled up with one or two kittens, grooming and cuddling. But no-one came for you. And then little Nutkin arrived, sadly only to be with us for five weeks until he succumbed to FIP, and you nursed him like you had the others. What we did not know then was that probably he was the source of the deadly infection that eventually took you too away from us.
At Christmas, you and I shared the best present ever, when my brother and his partner fell in love with you and decided they would adopt you and take you back to England. We rushed to complete the formalities and vaccinations so you could be theirs as soon as possible. But it was not to be. Only a week or so after their visit, you began to show the symptoms of the dreadful virus. Three weeks later, despite all that I or the vet could do, you were suffering so much we decided you would be happier at the Rainbow Bridge.
Today your friends Pam, Geoff and Lyn were with me when we buried you under the hedge where you used to run. Harry, you are home at last.
