We moved to New Zealand, leaving our two cats behind and thought we would not get any more cats, but did.
We rented a place on a quiet street, when one day, I looked out of our window to a house behind us. There were a couple of cats greeting their owners as they came into their home. I remember thinking, ‘I would like those cats, and I would like to live in that house.’
A couple of weeks went by, and my wish came true. Their house went on the market, and the owner could not take her three cats with her, so we would inherit them when we moved there.
Two months later, we shared the house with Bailey, an old semi-haired ginger cat (he was very gentle), Smokey, a semi-longhaired grey cat and Henny, a small but cuddly black shorthaired cat. They were lovely. Henny would join in and play football with the boys and was probably the cuddliest of the cats.
Bailey, my favourite, snored when he slept. I remember his original owners came back to stay down the road with their mother, and Bailey discovered this. He stood outside the mother’s house for weeks after they left, hoping to see his old owners again. Sad, I think he missed them.
Smokey liked to share a bed with us at night to keep warm. He usually slept in my youngest sons’ bed at night.
When we moved to Christchurch, we left the cats behind in Christchurch, finding owners for them, but Smokey went missing. I’m not sure where he went.
After a few years in Christchurch, our sons had left home, so we decided to get a kitten. We contacted the animal rescue who directed us to this house where there were kittens. We liked two of them and decided we would get both so they would be good company for each other. The kittens were called Bean and Lucy, and sure enough, they did keep each other company.
One day, Lucy died to my dismay, so we got another kitten, a male tabby called Timmy. He was very affectionate, and I bonded well with him. Bean, a semi-longhaired white and black cat, was more of my husband’s cat, and she would sit on him while Timmy would sit on me. Timmy and Bean did not get on quite as well as Bean and Lucy had, but you occasionally saw them lying down together.
We moved to Australia, so again we had to leave our cats behind. We found the right home for them together with a family who loved them.
Once we got to Australia, after a year, we got another cat. This cat is called Jasmine, and we still have her. She is a white and black shorthaired cat and is friendly but not very cuddly. I wonder if that aspect is to do with the weather here; it is sweltering, you would want to cool down if you were hot already. In the summer, I see her lying on the floor where it is cool. I took her to the vets the other day, and they said she has this autoimmune disease where her teeth become ingested by her body. As a result, she had surgery, and she will need annual check-ups and probably more operations like this to prevent her from having pain from the condition.
I don’t plan on getting any more cats any time soon and I hope to give Jasmine a happy cat life.
