A VERY HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

It is one year today since we ventured to the Animal Protection Society to seek out a cat I had seen on their Facebook page.   I loved the look of this cat and, strangely enough, I then found a comment left by my daughter saying that if she didn't already have two cats this is the cat she would choose. This was the picture on their Facebook page and her name was Candy:

We had the previous month bade a tearful goodbye to our beautiful Precious who had been with us for nearly 13 years.  We missed her so much and our daughter said "you really must get another cat".  We thought about it and after seeing the above picture we decided we'd go and meet Candy and perhaps a few other cats and see how we felt about bringing one home with us.

Meet Candy we did and fell instantly in love with her and she with us.  We stayed at APS for an hour or more and, apart from the time when we visited the kitten house, she stayed near us and more or less took possession of us telling other cats, in a kindly sort of way, to keep their distance.  She sat in front of us and sort of glared at them as if to say "these people are mine!!"  Our decision had been made for us.   Candy had been microchipped, sterilised and vaccinated so I just had to pay the fee, pop her in a cat carrier and go home.

We were told to keep Candy indoors for the first four weeks, which we did, and she behaved very well and was a very clean cat.  Once she was allowed out one of the first things we had to was introduce her to the cat door which we'd had installed years ago for Henry and Precious.  She wasn't keen at first but by gently pushing her against it and then showing her how to open it to get back in, within two days she had it mastered.  She will, however, if we are close by ask us to do the butler's bit and open the fly screen for her.  We naturally always oblige for after all she is a cat and what a cat says always goes.

We of course had to buy her own cat tower and she very quickly found out how to sharpen her claws, sit on top of the tower and play with the rat/mouse that was suspended from it.  She still gives that rat/mouse what oh! and occasionally forgets the little creature and begins to chase her tail instead.  How she keeps her balance doing all that is hard to understand but then she IS a cat.   One thing about these cat towers is how do cats know they are one piece of furniture that is theirs and theirs alone.  I have never yet heard of a cat that doesn't immediately take possession of a tower no matter what size or shape it is.

The tower came in a large box and before the tower was assembled Candy had to take possession of the box as all cats will do, no matter what the size of the box.  We left it for a few weeks as she enjoyed playing it but then tired of it so out went the box and I must admit it does look tidier without it.

 Another thing we learned was that Candy prefers to drink from a running tap or a glass.  We have to make sure we don't leave glasses of water anywhere she can reach or she will help herself.  She seldom drinks from the bowl next to her dinner plate and I recently read somewhere that cats often won't do that as in the wild water near their 'kill' can be poisoned so they will drink elsewhere.  If this is a fact or not I don't know but in Candy's case she will only drink from that bowl if no other water is available.   I found a small class bowl which I fill with water and placed desk to the tap on the kitchen sink and she will drink from that when we are not there to turn the tap on.

A few months ago Candy got into a scrap with another cat and we were concerned about wounds on her front legs.   Decided we'd best take her to our vet to be checked out.  They shaved the wounds and treated them, gave her a couple of injections and sent her home with a collar to wear about which she was none too pleased.  She had some pain meds but after a couple of days she was eating and drinking OK so we stopped using them.  She found the collar awkward especially going through doorways etc., so we took it off on the third day which made us all much happier.

She loves us to go outside and will come in and ask us to go out into the back garden with her.  Unfortunately I need to used my walker and she will insist in walking between the front wheels which makes it rather awkward and dangerous for her.   After a while I give up and sit on one of the garden chairs for a while.   She enjoys the winter sunshine so here she is spread out between our side gate and the wheels of my walker.

Even when she goes outside on her own she comes back quite often and finds us as though to make sure we are still here.   Sometimes she will leap on to my desk and tell me that she is moimportant than the computer and I should make a fuss of her which, naturally I do, as how could anyone resist such appealing look?

All in all, there is nothing more to say, on this the first anniversary of inviting Candy into our lives, than we are so glad we went to meet her and that she liked us.  She has given us so much friendship and filled our lives with such happiness.   We still miss Precious and always will but Candy is a much different type of cat so has not taken the place of Precious but found her own very important place in our home and our hearts.  Thank you Precious for being with us such a long time and thank you Candy just for being such a delightful companion.

RIP both Henry and Precious: (they were friends together for 8 years)

We still often think and speak of your both as we do out other feline friends who have brought happiness into our lives over the past 48 years.  Charlie Brown, Itsy, Bitsy, Tiki, Pumpkin, Whitey, Koko, Kandi, Pip, and Soot.