New UK member

Hello all

I joined recently to see if any members could advise on the breeds of our two recently adopted kittens: Dennis and squish.

I'm from London. Dennis and squish are my second cats. When I moved to London 5 years ago after uni and bought a flat - a lovely old tabby called Willow came free with it!

I had never really liked cats growing up as the ones I met either scratched me or killed my goldfish out of the garden pond! However willow and I totally bonded. Obviously she had had a tough time having effectively been abandoned by her past owner and left in an empty flat for several weeks. We have a pretty secure row of gardens behind our flat and willow liked going out for a potter about but mostly she stayed inside. There was (is?) an evil black and white Tom cat I nicknamed satan who would break into our flat every night and terrorize willow. The first few months of moving in I spent hours devising new methods to try and keep him out which he always managed to scupper! Finally we got a new back door and just let willow out when we were around.

She was very very shy around others at first but once she felt safer she bonded with me and became my best bud- I loved how she would run to the top of the stairs to meet me after a long day at work. She was bright and understood a lot of commands. However she was very very old even when I got her, creaky joints and a bizarre growth on her flank which the vet told me was common for elderly cats and was the same cells as nail derive from!

We had about 3.5 years together before she got very poorly very quickly and had to be put down at the vet (brain tumour / dementia).

Anyway initially I didn't think I would want another cat as noone could live up to willow's soft and gentle nature but as time passed my boyfriend suggested we were ready for some new recruits!

In come Dennis and Squish who were supposedly ragdolls according to the lady we adopted from! Clearly they are not and we are currently thinking they may be a ragdolls Siamese cross or something along those lines! They are 6months old now and absolutely adorable!

I have attached some pictures of willow, Dennis and squish and look forward to chatting with you all and learning from your expertise!

Hi and welcome to TCS! Dennis and Squish are beautiful and adorable.

I'm sorry for your loss of Willow, but it sounds like you provided her a terrific loving home in her last years.

Thanks VBall I really hope I did make Willow's last few years the best ever- she was the sweetest, most gentle natured cat.Dennis and Squish are a handful and a half !! I've gone from one extreme to the other I think They are such fun and absolutely adorable. I'm glad they are friendly and affectionate as that was the only reason we were on the look out for a ragdoll over a moggie just because you can count on the temperament a bit more, but they are a delight so it has worked out perfectly!

Hi Willowlondon. Welcome to The Cat Site. Looking forward to seeing more of your posts.

Dennis and Squish (loving the name by the way) are definitely adorable. 6 months is such a cute age too, all full of mischief and mayhem one minute and snuggled up the next. And that picture of Willow with the paper chain could be of my last little girl Pal - honestly! She passed nearly 3 years ago now, she was nearly 22.  4 years before that I lost her sister to a brain tumour but she was lucky and there were no signs other than blindness which happened slowly and was masked as a result (along with her phobia of vets so she hardly ever got examined) so I only knew about it for her last couple of days with me when she suddenly became very week - it was almost as if someone had suddenly switched her off but she was still breathing.

And what is it with evil cats in London?    I used to live there and briefly looked after a friend's 2 cats and 4 kittens. One of the adults was an enormous ginger tom. Can't remember what his real name was but after my first hour with him I called him Muscles.  I went out to the back door after hearing a mad cat fight and found a large Siamese looking tom flat on its back, paws in the air and its collar lying on the path beside him. Muscles was standing over him with one of his front paws on the poor beast's belly, looking like a king!   No blood thankfully. Turned out Muscles ruled a reign of terror over all the streets around his house (and me, I didn't go near him for the whole 3 weeks I was there)!

Hope Muscles' and Satan's parents don't use this site.   

Hi MServant! Eek Muscles sounds terrifying! WOW Pal lived to a ripe old age bless her! I absolutely adore tabbies I think they are just beautiful. Because of the rather odd way we began living together I never knew her real age (vet just said, old...VERY OLD) but I found a photo of her down the back of the fridge in my flat which looked very dated and in it she had some adorable teeny kittens. It was a nice glimpse into her mysterious moggy past.

willowlondon said:

................Because of the rather odd way we began living together I never knew her real age (vet just said, old...VERY OLD) but I found a photo of her down the back of the fridge in my flat which looked very dated and in it she had some adorable teeny kittens. It was a nice glimpse into her mysterious moggy past.

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That is so sweet, to know she had kittens and to see her with them even though you knew nothing else about her history.  She was incredibly lucky you moved in to her life.  And Dennis and Squish are lucky to have moved in with you now.  Hope your home survives their kitten-play!  Enjoy. I'm sure we'll see lots more of them on the site!