My lovely boy ‘Sooty’, where do I start!
Sooty used to live with my sister and her husband, that was many many years ago. They got him when he was 6 weeks old (Feb 1987), from day one he was treated like a king, so spoilt by everyone. He has such a unique character, always on the go up to this and that and into everything. When Sooty got neutered, I went to pick him up at the vet with my brother in law. The vet said ‘he will feel unwell for a few days and will be resting most of the time’ We got him home and he ran about silly, ran up the curtains, doing his usual mad stuff, his operation certainly didn’t get him down!
My sister and her husband where off to Australia for a while. Sooty was 18 months old by then. The place for Sooty to then come to stay was with myself, my husband and my 2 year old son.
He knew us well as we seen him daily.
It was lovely to welcome him into our home. He was all ours; no need to go to my sisters and pretend to want to see them when it was Sooty I wanted to see! He settled into his new routine straight away; he was one of the family. My son loved having him in his house. He and Sooty played together. Warren, my son, would always feed him his lunch. Sooty knew he was certain to get some chicken at tea time from Warren and would always be at his feet!
Cat food was never a strong point of Sooty’s; he would only ever eat the jelly from the top of the food and leave the rest. He would eat little dry food. Me being the softie that I am always gave into him and fed him a lush diet of ham, chicken, prawns, beef and all things really that I guess he shouldn’t have been getting, but what do you do eh. He loved the nicer things in life like the rest of us. His health was always top class, in 16 years he had a few teeth out and two urine infections, so the ‘bad for him diet’ really wasn’t so bad; he lived a long time.
Over the years it got to the point of us doing a ‘Sooty shop’ for deli meats and treats for him; he got used to getting up in the morning with us and heading to the fridge door waiting on his treat. The same things when we got home from work, Sooty would head to the fridge door; it was his routine. He knew what he wanted and he knew
he would always get it.
He ate like a king!
Sooty has a really funny habit at bed time. We would go to bed then 5 minutes later there he was on the bed and lying on Simon’s chest (my husband; e would purr for 10 minutes with his face right into Simon’s then after that he would turn his whole body round and have his tail in Simon’s face for the same amount of time; then he would go to the bottom of the bed and get comfy for a while. This always made us laugh; he was so funny when we where in our bed, he be on the pillows, up and down from the bottom of the bed to the top. He ruled the roost; he got his way. Simon and I got little bed space most nights; he was a huge pussy cat. He was over a stone in weight, a heavy lump!
Sooty was a ‘man’s’ cat, he adored Simon so much; he lived for Simon. The love he had for him shone through. Sooty’s face in the morning was a picture when Simon went to work, his wee face always fell; he would then spend most of the day at the window waiting on him coming home. When he saw the car pull up he would run to the door, his face changed; it lit up and he was happy. Simon would always treat him to something nice from the fridge! Sooty loved me too. I treated him like a baby, always kissing him and hugging him all the time. I knew he wasn’t up for this but he put up with all my affections for him. I couldn’t resist kissing him on the nose, paws, cheeks, body, anyplace on him as long as I got a snog I was happy. I would more often than not be given a little scratch, his way of saying ‘come on mum give me a break!’ However he changed his ways when it was tea time and boy did he know me well. He would sit at my feet as soon as I had my plate on my knee. I’ll tell you he always had more then me from my plate; once tea time was over, he would walk away with a lovely little look on his face as if to say
‘you always give in eh!’
Sooty was a house cat; we have always had a garden but he wasn’t interested in wondering far. He would get out for a little bit of fresh air while I was at home watching him. He used to lap up the sun as he watched the birds flying by. He would often go for the birds and one day he got one; it wasn’t too nice but he was well proud of his catch; it was so strange to see him with a bird in his month, my Sooty I thought, it was the first time I thought ‘he is an animal and not a human!’
The years have passed by and here we are now after loosing a very trusting wonderful friend. We have gone through a really bad few weeks; our Sooty getting ill was sudden and really it has knocked us for six. We have had a great deal of support from family and friends; all the people who knew Sooty loved him. They will miss him, too; they have all said he had a wonderful life and a family who loved his so much. Writing this letter has helped me a little. Telling his story to all of you out there reading this right now, I know you’re reading this for a reason, your a ‘cat person’ just like me, and in this life ‘cat people’ are so unique.
Thanks for reading my letter, I dedicate this to Sooty………
Love you forever,
| Karen |