A tale I should have told of Millie….
I was busying myself about the flat early one morning when the phone rang . The cool voice of a receptionist asked, “Mr Adams when was the last time you saw Millie”. It was the vets, with a simple query but it was one of those calls when the your heart does a flip, was she OK, had she been runover, injured, who knows what had happened. I had last seen her about 30 minutes ago when I gave her her breakfast, I was still in my PJ’s. They said not to worry, someone had brought her into the surgery as she was a stray, would I be able to pick her up.
It turned out she had been taken to the vets by someone for a check up prior to giving her to their mother. They claimed the cat had been hanging around their barbecue for days, and was obviously under fed, and uncared for so they were going to give he to their mother, who needed a pet for company. But the first thing the vet did was to scan her for a chip, and up sprang my name, so they called me. Well obviously I would come and pick her up, could they just give me time to shower and get dressed. 50 minutes later I was calling into my local vets.
Err, no, they don’t have Millie. When the caller had said the vets I assumed it was the local one where Millie was registered. But no, it is somewhere else, where I do not know. Fortunately the call came in on my mobile phone. On retracing the number and calling it I discovered the vets is some miles away. So I have to call a cab.
On picking her up I worked out that people over the back of my garden, a few doors down, had noticed her hanging around when they had a barbecue. Funny that, domesticated cat turning up where people have food, giving it large with the appealing eyes. She was such a nice, good natured cat they felt she would make a good gift to their mother, too bloody true.
No harm done in the long run, although Millie seemed to have given their garden a wide berth in the following months. I never did identify who it was, but it left me with an abiding, unreasonable grudge against all the residents of that road.
Yesterday we took Millie to the vet for the last time . She has had cancer for some time now , a sarcoma in the jaw behind her eye . It had been growing , but she was coping with it , and despite going blind was still getting about in and out of the garden , out the window onto the little balcony , food bowl , litter tray , laps , all being managed well . But in the last few days she was declining sharply , and we had to bow to the inevitable .
She will be much missed , she was rescued from an industrial estate that she was trying to make a home in . Arriving here , not long after we had moved in and I was recovering from cancer . She was much loved and returned that affection , as long as her bowl was filled , and her ears tickled .
A prolific destroyer of wild life , mainly mice and spiders , but unfortunately the occasional bird . Her greatest achievement was bringing home a young rat . The undamaged creature escaped behind the fridge , then disappeared under the floorboards . the young rat developed into a large rat , sustaining itself on the cats food . this Millie found upsetting , but refused to challenge the rat , she was only a small cat , it it had become a large rat . we would find piles of dried cat food squirrelled away at the back of cupboards . But Millie ignored it , her sense of survival kicking in , and we were daft enough to tolerate the situation .
We were not tolerating the situation , but it was a very smart rat . Eventually we ushered the , reluctant , rat from the first floor flat into the garden , never to be seen again . Millie relaxed .
In the damp atmosphere following the torrential rain last night , her smell rose into the air , it provoked a tear . Good bye Millie , good times , good memories .
She will be much missed , she was rescued from an industrial estate that she was trying to make a home in . Arriving here , not long after we had moved in and I was recovering from cancer . She was much loved and returned that affection , as long as her bowl was filled , and her ears tickled .
A prolific destroyer of wild life , mainly mice and spiders , but unfortunately the occasional bird . Her greatest achievement was bringing home a young rat . The undamaged creature escaped behind the fridge , then disappeared under the floorboards . the young rat developed into a large rat , sustaining itself on the cats food . this Millie found upsetting , but refused to challenge the rat , she was only a small cat , it it had become a large rat . we would find piles of dried cat food squirrelled away at the back of cupboards . But Millie ignored it , her sense of survival kicking in , and we were daft enough to tolerate the situation .
We were not tolerating the situation , but it was a very smart rat . Eventually we ushered the , reluctant , rat from the first floor flat into the garden , never to be seen again . Millie relaxed .
In the damp atmosphere following the torrential rain last night , her smell rose into the air , it provoked a tear . Good bye Millie , good times , good memories .