Moggies make movie magic!

Meet the unlikely lads

From puss-unfriendly popes to feline-friendly fiends...

AUTUMN 2009

How to cope with the loss of a loved one

PlusRyan Sidebottom,

counselling for cowardy cats &

win a perfect portrait of puss

Moggies make movie magic!

Meet the unlikely lads

From puss-punishing popes to feline-friendly fi ends...

AUTUMN 2009

How to cope with the loss of a loved one

PlusRyan Sidebottom,counselling for cowardy cats & win a perfect portrait of puss

Welcome…to the Autumn 2009 issue of The Cat

The Team

From left to right

Tom Briggs Assistant Editor

Amy Rutter Editorial Assistant

Rasoul Hudda Senior Designer

Francesca Watson Editor

Ryan O’Hara Senior Designer

ContactsFor editorial submissions to the magazineThe Editor, The Cat magazine, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Haywards Heath RH17 7TTEmail: editorial@cats.org.ukWeb: www.thecat.org.uk

We reserve the right to edit material for clarity or space. Cats Protection is not responsible for the opinions, advice and factual content of contributed items. The views expressed do not necessarily conform to those of the Trustees.

To book advertisingTerry Lock Media Sales, 3 Forest Way, Ashtead, Surrey KT21 1JNPhone: 01372 276 233Fax: 08707 051 901Email: tslock@terrylockmediasales.co.uk

Advertisements are accepted in good faith and we endeavour to check their accuracy. However, the charity gives no guarantees or endorsements of the products or services advertised. Cats Protection cannot accept responsibility for any correspondence between the parties, nor can they be expected to arbitrate should any dispute arise.

To change your details, become a Special Friend, subscribe, make a donation or become a member of Cats Protection:Supporter Services, Cats Protection, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Haywards Heath RH17 7TTEmail: supporterservices@cats.org.ukPhone: 0800 917 2287For all other enquiries:Cats Protection, National Cat Centre (NCC),Chelwood Gate, Haywards Heath RH17 7TTPhone: 08702 099 099 (Calls charged at national rate)Fax: 08707 708 265Email: cp@cats.org.ukWeb: www.cats.org.uk

Published quarterly by Cats Protection.Printed by Gemini Press Ltd.

Printed on paper sourced from carefully-managed and renewed forests.

Please recycle this magazine when you have finished with it

Reg Charity 203644 (England and Wales) and SC037711 (Scotland)

Cats Protection’s vision is a world where every cat is treated with kindness and an understanding of its needs.

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Well, what a summer it’s been! At the time of writing we’ve had temperatures

of over 32˚c – 90˚f in old money – an exciting summer of sport with Andy Murray almost making it to the Wimbledon final and the Australians battling to retain the Ashes.

In our Autumn issue we look at a variety of subjects both light-hearted and more serious. Tom Briggs marvels at the sometimes surprising list of ailurophiles and ailurophobes, Sara Rackow writes of her cat-themed travels in Buenos Aires and Jamie Andrew writes a sensitive and beneficial article on pet bereavement.

For my own part, I have travelled to the glorious Derbyshire countryside to interview one of the UK’s leading animal artists, Richard Whittlestone. Richard is offering a pet portrait worth £1,500 for one lucky reader on page 36.

We also have a new member of our team, Amy Rutter, who agreed to take up the challenge of writing a feature in only her first week. Her salute to the cats of the silver screen starts on page 26. I know she is enjoying working with Cats Protection and I look forward to more of her work in the issues to come.

Our enclosed Christmas catalogue will give you hundreds of ideas for the cat lover in your life or you could leave it open at a specific page to give your family a hint!

We hope the article in our last issue on how to take photos of cats has inspired you to take part in our annual Photo Competition. More details can be found on the application form enclosed with this magazine.

Enjoy the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!

PS Congratulations to Tom Briggs who married Kate over the summer. We wish them every happiness!

Tell us about itLetters

STAR LETTER

IT’S NICER TO NEUTERFrom: Lynn Altass, London

A stray tom was making life hell for our row of terraces and the cats who lived there. I called Cats Protection for advice on how to deal with this cat

who was spraying inside houses and ‘beating up’ resident cats. They sent me a neutering voucher and when one of my neighbours, who was catless, started feeding the cat we were eventually able to catch him and take him to the vets.

Since then, the cat has really adopted this neighbour who has named him Gus. Gus isn’t wandering anymore, he has really settled in and is getting much better since his deworming and defleaing. He is now a well-cared-for cat and is far more sociable and pleasant. This was a successful outcome that was driven by the neutering voucher!

Do you have an interesting story to tell, a point of view you want to air or something that you just have to get off your chest?Send your thoughts, views, stories, funny photos and ‘mewsings’ to The Cat magazine, National Cat Centre, Haywards Heath RH17 7TT or email us at editorial@cats.org.ukDon’t forget to tell us your return address and please remember that your letter may be edited for length.

TURKISH DELIGHTFrom: Margaret Lancaster, Steeton, West Yorkshire

My husband and I have just returned from a holiday in Turunc in Turkey; imagine my surprise on reading a piece in the Summer edition of The Cat

about Fiona McKinnon and the local pussy cats.Turunc has a very good market each morning and when we visited it we

were surprised to see a stall right at the entrance with pictures of cats and an English lady in charge.

We had quite a chat and she told me that she and her colleagues had neutered about 200 cats and that the village had been divided into sections, each with a volunteer who made sure the cats were regularly fed. We noticed that all the cats we met looked very well, clean and happy – not always the case abroad, sad to say – and we were delighted to know of this enterprise. There is also a charity shop in Turunc with all the proceeds going to the welfare of the feline population. My daughter and I greatly enjoy the magazine and it is good to know that your excellent work has reached Turkey.

THE FULL MONTYFrom: Janice McGown, Hampshire

We have three cats, two of which are dedicated family pets we have had

since they were born. The third is Monty, a stray who turned up about six years ago and decided to stay. He lives outdoors and, although willing to come in now and again, he panics if the door is shut.

In all the time he’s been with us he has allowed himself to be touched only a handful of times and then only after considerable very slow coaxing. He’s a full Persian and suffers from a thick coat that simply begs to be brushed, but he won’t allow it. He had to be sedated so that we could take him to the vet for a check up, tooth clean and de-flea, de-tick and de-everything else, a process which annoyed him greatly. He sulked for the next two days.

The photo below shows the plant stall we opened last December. From this and from sales over February to April we have raised £100 to put towards funds for the Ferndown Homing Centre.

Gus, the subdued hellraiser

Plants raise pounds

LEAPING LEOPARDSFrom: Sarah Hartwell, Chelmsford, Essex

I enjoyed your article on cat sculptures in London.

The London Leopard is a feline sculpture that isn’t very well known, due to its location away from tourist areas. ‘The Leopard’ by Jonathon Kenworthy can be seen on the corner of Cannon Street and Friday Street – Mansion House tube is nearest. According to a plaque on the nearby office building, it’s been exhibited by the Wates group of companies since 21 May 1985.

Our Star Letter wins a fantastic Willow’s Ball of Fun Scratching Post…

All other printed letters will win one of these Willow Bags of Fun sets of toys which should keep your moggy amused for hours. Our thanks to Pets at Home for kindly sponsoring these prizes; visit www.petsathome.com to see their full range of products or telephone 08701 943 600 for more information.

yourletters

DAYDREAM BELIEVERFrom: David Gordon, London

I enjoyed your interesting feature on London cats. However you missed out at least one of our feline landmarks. By the Thames Path at the

Bermondsey/Rotherhithe border is an ordinary metal seat. On it sits a sculpture of an old man watching a little girl and her cat by the river wall. Entitled Dr Salter’s Daydream, the sculpture commemorates a local philanthropist who did much to improve living conditions for the people in this – one of the poorest and unhealthiest parts – area of London at the start of the 20th Century.

Dr Salter and his wife went so far as to move to the area, the better to help his patients, with the unfortunate result that his only daughter died of scarlet fever at the age of eight. The artist has imagined the doctor in old age, dreaming of his daughter and, of course, her cat. In 1922 Dr Salter’s wife, Ada, became the first female mayor in London, and the first Labour mayor in Britain, while Dr Salter himself became MP for Bermondsey in the same year.

LOST FOR WORDSFrom: Maureen and George Osborne, Whitby, North Yorkshire

Our cat, two-year-old Esther, joined us three months ago from a local rehoming centre. It

seems she found the crossword just too hard and resorted to sleeping as usual. Thank you for a wonderful magazine, we look forward to every issue.

In loving memory

Do not disturb

HELP US TRACK DOWN PLATFORM PUSSFrom: John Saunders, Didcot, Oxfordshire

I help to run a railway and memorabilia shop at Didcot Railway Centre in Oxfordshire. We

also sell photographs and this one came my way recently. It was obviously a well-loved cat but it had no name! The memorial was photographed at Fishguard in 1961, I wonder if it is still there? The old railway companies employed cats to control vermin and were on the payroll, money allocated to providing milk and food, comforts came from the railway men.

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LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAGFrom: E Bird, via email

Just looking through the Summer edition of The Cat – as usual, full of useful and interesting items – on page 29 you have a

lovely picture of a tabby cat sitting in a paper carrier bag. Can you please remind all cat lovers to snip through the handles of any paper or carrier bags of this type, including the common supermarket bag, so that cats – and their owners – do not have to endure the stress of becoming entangled in them. I discovered this unfortunate incident at a friend’s house when she delighted in showing me her new six-month-old cat. He had disappeared into a paper carrier bag to play with his ping pong ball, but on dashing out a few seconds later got his head stuck through the handle of the bag. Becoming agitated at the thing round his neck, and the noise of the paper bag following him as he tried in vain to shift the handle, only frightened him even more and to my friend’s horror, he took flight all round the living room, up and down chairs and curtains, under the settee, behind the bookcase, across the dining table, still dragging the bag behind him. It took all our efforts to catch him and release him and several more hours for him to calm down and be his normal self. So please, do advise people to just snip through the bag handles so that their pet won’t be imprisoned like my friend’s poor moggy, and they won’t have to replace broken crockery and upturned books and magazines, or other trails of devastation like this little cat left behind.Editor’s note: This is a very valid point – thanks for bringing it to our attention. We would also like to add that standard issue plastic supermarket bags should be kept well away from cats due to the choking hazard they create.

FELINE FRIENDLY FLOWERSFrom: Clare Earthey, Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire

Huckleberry is my two-year-old Maine Coon who likes to chew vegetation. He has his own run in the garden as he loves to

play outside. I would really like to plant foliage and flowers in and around the run, but apart from the obvious catmint and lawn grass, I have no idea which plants are completely safe. Every article I have read concerning cats and vegetation list only the plants that are dangerous or toxic. A list of plants that are safe would be invaluable.Editor’s note: It’s true that there seem to be many more articles telling us which plants are toxic than are safe. I have checked with our Veterinary Department which has recommended the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) which has a list of non-toxic plants for cats as well as the vital toxic plant list: www.aspca.org

It is important to remember that plants contain resins or sap that may irritate the gastro-intestinal tract of cats and some could be more sensitive than others. It is also worth checking out the toxic plant list from the Feline Advisory Bureau: www.fab.org.uk

Cats’ talesFunny, weird, or just plain photogenic; this is the place to show off your cat for the remarkable creature he is. If you think you’ve got a cat who deserves his 15 minutes of fame then write to us, at Cats’ Tales, The Cat magazine, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Haywards Heath RH17 7TT or email editorial@cats.org.uk including a photo.

i We are Siamese, if you pleaseFrom: Adrian Vine, Whitton, RadnorshireAdrian already had three cats but as soon as he saw Dudley and Benjamin he knew they were coming home with him. They’re about one year old now and absolutely inseparable and Adrian says it’s been a great pleasure watching them grow up together. Besides being very bright, they have wonderful temperaments and, like all cats, they are both individuals. He also has two Bengals, not siblings, who get on very well together, but Adrian can tell there’s a much stronger bond between the Siamese by how they interact. Fortunately the cats have three acres of garden and live in the countryside, so there’s plenty of space for all of them.

h Befriending NemoFrom: Alex Marwood, Driffield, East YorkshireAlex’s Bombay, Nemo, survived a dreadful car crash on the day they were moving house to Driffield in East Yorkshire. Nemo, who was acquired from a cat adoption centre three years previously, was travelling in his carry-cage on the back seat and, luckily, was unhurt. He was a true companion to Alex when organising their new house and seems to know that he’s a very special member of the family, showing great concern when someone is feeling ‘off’, even 12 months after the crash. Alex didn’t know cats could be so caring, and says life would be unthinkable without Nemo.

i It’s a hard life!From: Yvonne Read, Virginia Water, SurreyOne hot sunny day, Yvonne decided to erect a tent structure with an old sheet for her young grandson to shelter under in the garden. But her ginger cat, Cookie, had other ideas!

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Don’t forget, Cats’ Tales is sponsored by Felix so, if your cat gets onto this page, you’ll receive a month’s supply of delicious Felix pouches from the As Good As It Looks range*. Your furry friend will find it irresistible at every mealtime.Felix As Good As It Looks is available in eight flavours, you will find them at your local supermarket or pet store. For more information log onto www.catslikefelix.co.uk*please note that pouches can only be delivered to a UK address.

i Mischief makersFrom: Trudy Mills, Newport, GwentRusty and Sooty were rehomed with Trudy from Cats Protection back in December 2007. They can still be nervous around people but are improving all the time. Trudy tells us that they like her to be out of bed at 5.30am to feed and cuddle them and only once this is done they go back to bed and leave Trudy wide-awake! The two boys are very much loved and keep Trudy and her partner very entertained.

readers’cats

g Peanut cracks the caseFrom: Sarah Lawrence, Ely, CambridgeshireOne-year-old Peanut made friends with Roxy, another ginger female cat from next door, but one day Roxy went missing and, despite a huge search by neighbours around the area and local animal shelters, there was no sign of her. Peanut had been unable to settle since her friend’s disappearance and miaowed constantly. Thankfully, Roxy was found three days later. She’d been stuck up a tall conifer tree at the back of the houses. Peanut was the heroine of the hour as she had led Roxy’s owners to the tree. Quite rightly, Sarah is very proud of Peanut.

j Basil’s not faultyFrom: Jenny Tyler, Lichfield, StaffordshireWhen she lost her beloved cat, Tosca, in February, Jenny missed the company so much that she decided to get another – even though she knew no other cat would replace her old fella! After searching the Cats Protection website, she came across a lovely ginger cat named Basil, who had already used up one of his nine lives. He was hit by a car, causing damage to the side of his face and losing half an ear. He also had health problems – but after seeing Basil, Jenny fell in love with him. Basil’s first night was a little unsettled but by the second night he was sleeping soundly by Jenny’s side, purring and nuzzling up to her.

You love cats. We love cats. Come to think of it, there are millions of people who love cats but by the same token there are plenty more who you would expect not to love cats when they do, in fact, love cats. Still with me? There

are several famous faces – including the odd fictional one as we’re having a bit of fun here – who have an unexpected soft side when it comes to creatures of the feline persuasion.

A disclaimer before we start: when I researched this article I couldn’t find any women who fitted in with its main thread – if you know of any bad girls who have a surprising affinity with moggies, do please write in and let us know! What can I say in the meantime other than ‘men have felines too’? Sorry, let’s get on with it…

A marriage made in hellThe phrases ‘baddies’ and ‘tough guys’ tend to conjure up images of characters found on the silver screen and this is where we find a few of our ‘unlikely lads’. The first of these is Hellboy. One of the more successful comic book-to-film characters, Hellboy is created by occult-dabbling Nazis – with the help of a reanimated, almost-immortal Grigori Rasputin, naturally – in a bid to rule the world. His appearance fits his intended vocation – he’s a blooming great demon who you wouldn’t mess with! However, as is often the way in such tales, he takes the side of the good guys and becomes a hero. Although he has a temper and his job is to investigate and destroy malignant paranormal enemies, he loves cats. Can’t get enough of them, in fact. While his home could technically be dubbed a multi-cat household – ie too many to be healthy for anyone concerned – we’ll forgive him, as by showing his love for cats, he gives hideous horned monsters a better name and, let’s be honest, they do seem to get quite a bit of bad press.

Someone who has gained good press for his representations of bad people is British actor Gary Oldman. Oldman has a cult following thanks to his portrayal of a series of brilliantly over-the-top bad guys in which he frequently steals the show from his virtuous counterparts. In Léon he portrays a murderous, two-faced cop while in The Fifth Element he takes the part of a corrupt arms-dealing businessman. If you add to this the fact that he has also played Lee Harvey Oswald and Count Dracula in his time then you have one of cinema’s most popular – if that’s the word – bad guys. Oldman has a cat called Soymilk who he affectionately refers to as ‘Mook’.

From feline-friendly fiends to puss-unfriendly popes, there are plenty of contradictions

when it comes to which side of the great divide certain

famous faces hail from. Tom Briggs investigates…

feature

Others among the ‘Oh my god I can’t believe it, I never would have thought he’s got a cat at home’ contingent are American rapper Snoop Dogg and The Wild One himself Marlon Brando. Given his name alone, Snoop Dogg doesn’t leap out as someone you would expect to be a cat lover. Snoop has, in fact, got two moggies named after Miles Davis and Frank Sinatra – again, maybe something of a surprise given his genre of music and the supposed gangster lifestyle that seems to be synonymous with it.

Marlon Brando showed his affection for cats by incorporating one in the opening scene of The Godfather. During filming, a stray cat crossed his path and, rather than shooing him away, Brando picked up the wannabe star and added him to the scene. The cat was apparently purring so loudly that some of Brando’s lines were lost and had to be dubbed back in during postproduction. Similarly, British actor

Andy Serkis included a feline element in one of his most prominent roles. As he is best known for playing everybody’s favourite paranoid schizophrenic and ‘preccccciousssss’-obsessed Middle Earth dweller, Gollum, in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, you could be forgiven for thinking that Serkis is not really a cat person, but a cat person he is and – interesting little factoid for you here – he actually based Gollum’s throaty tones on the sound his cats make when coughing up fur balls.

Mummy-mia!Time to turn this article on its head now, methinks. It’s all very well marvelling at those who you are surprised to see the soft side of, but it’s just as fun to have a laugh at the expense of those who are petrified of cats when you might wonder why. From tough guys and evil dictators to composers, playwrights and even popes, there are plenty of surprises.

Let’s follow the pattern set out above and start with a silly fictional one; The Mummy. Picture the scene: a horrifying curse is invoked meaning that a seriously annoyed – not to mention ancient and rather grubby – baddie is suddenly in pursuit of our heroes Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. Fraser suddenly thrusts a moggy in the terrifying tomb dweller’s face and he’s gone faster than you can say: “Well, Hellboy likes them.” While the ancient Egyptians perceived cats as gods, you wouldn’t really expect a psychopathic bundle of bandages to be sent packing by one.

Another tough guy whose fear of cats you’d be a little bit taken aback by is Britain’s favourite boxer, Ricky Hatton. In spite of being happy enough to make a living out of being walloped around the head, he is afraid of cats. “I’m not allergic, I’m just scared of cats,” he says, quoted by Dominic McGuinness in the book The Real Hitman. “I got scratched by one right down the face when I was about one year old. Now, when I see ‘em, I’m proper scared.”

“My my, at Waterloo Napoleon did surrender,” belted out ABBA in 1974 and while the Swedish songsters were using his famous defeat as a slightly odd metaphor for someone falling in love, they may have touched a posthumous nerve when it came to cats. His military prowess which saw his armies conquer most of Europe, coupled with the way his actions shaped the political world of his time, made him one of the world’s most feared leaders, but if you put a cat in front of him Napoleon would apparently get a bad case of the shivers.

“Hellboy gives hideous horned monsters a better name and, let’s be honest, they do seem to get quite a bit of bad press”

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Some historians have disputed this by saying there is no surviving documentary evidence, but if you take a look at a list of other empirical sorts of whom records do exist there is probably something in it. Maybe it’s because cats do whatever they like and seem immune to taking orders, or possibly because they pick up on the negative vibes empirical sorts emit. Whatever the explanation, there must be something about the awkward relationship between moggies and dictators as Napoleon was not on his own in having a fear of them. Other scaredy-cat autocrats include beardy despot Genghis Khan, the now-questionably-named Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar – et tu, Felix? – and, according to some, fascist leaders Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler.

The rage of enlightenmentHow about someone more enlightened? Creative sorts are sure to like cats, right? Well not necessarily. German composer Johannes Brahms was widely embraced as one of the leading composers and pianists of the romantic period; he has been described as innovative and inspirational and his works still make regular appearances in classical music concerts – but if you listen to popular legend, he had it in for cats. The story goes that Brahms took delight in firing arrows at the neighbourhood moggies so that he could listen to their cries of pain in order to incorporate the sounds into his music. In 2001, Brahms was exonerated by historian, Calum MacDonald, after two years’ research into the allegations. MacDonald claimed that, in all probability, the rumours were started by

Brahms’ fellow composer Richard Wagner, who was jealous of him. Either way, classical musicians don’t seem to come out of this particular issue smelling of roses!

Speaking of roses, William Shakespeare told us in Romeo and Juliet that “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” well, what if said ‘other name’ was ‘cat’? Over the years a number of authors have speculated that the Bard hated cats as none of his 40 plus references to them are flattering. The most obvious of these – and the funniest in my opinion – comes from All’s Well that Ends Well in which Bertram says: “I could endure anything before but a cat, and now he’s a cat to me... A pox upon him.”

It seems that no particular part of society is sacred – even the religious world. No fewer than three Popes – Gregory IX, Innocent VII and Innocent VIII, for the record – were known cat haters. Gregory initiated the five-century-long feline holocaust by damning black cats as diabolical. Innocents VII and VIII failed to live up to their adopted monikers by perpetuating this treatment; the latter of whom decreed that cats should be burned alongside women accused of being witches.

So what have we learned? It seems there are some interesting comparisons to be made. We have a demon who loves cats and a hat-trick of popes who wanted them dead. If it were possible to put Snoop Dogg and Johannes Brahms next to each other and ask a passer by to show us the cat lover they would probably pick the wrong one. It just goes to show that we shouldn’t always trust first appearances – cats are complex creatures and so, it would appear, are we.

‘It seems that no particular part of society is sacred – even the religious world’

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We’re going shoppingNow you can help cats when you hit the shops, thanks to the new Cats Protection Credit Card from MBNA. You’ll receive a competitive rate on purchases and you can even manage your account online. Even better, once your card has been approved and used, Cats Protection will receive a contribution of £20 from the issuer, MBNA Europe Bank Limited, and the cats in our care will continue to benefit as 0.25% is contributed from every retail purchase thereafter at no extra cost to you.

For more information and full details please visit:

Get online… for our great new credit card!

0% p.a.on balance transfers (3% handling fee) for 12 months and on card purchases for 3 months from the date your account is opened*

15.9% APR typical rate (variable)

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If you do not pay your balance in full we will use your payments to lower rate balances before higher rate balances. If promotional rate balances are the same we will repay them in the following order: first, the one with the earliest expiry date; if the expiry dates are the same then the one which started first; if the expiry dates, and start dates are the same then the one with the lowest standard rate.

The Cats Protection Credit Card is issued by MBNA Europe Bank Limited, Registered office: Stansfield House, Chester Business Park, Chester CH4 9QQ. Registered in England number 2783251. Credit is available, subject to status, only to UK residents aged 18 or over. You cannot transfer balances from another MBNA account. We will monitor or record some phone calls. MBNA is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

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On a recent trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina, I was struck by the number of cats in unusual places and behaving in unexpected ways. Wandering around the city, I did

not see any cats sleeping on windowsills and doorsteps or any of the other, usual places that they might appear. In Buenos Aires, cats appear to be at home with a very public presence in strange and unlikely places.

My first strange encounter of the feline kind was in the cemetery in Recoleta. Recoleta is the most beautiful and glorious of cemeteries with narrow streets, monuments the size of small churches and marble mausoleums decorated with statues. It is more like a stately village built to accommodate the deceased rich and famous of Buenos Aires. Eva Peron is buried there, as well as a president, famous scientists and several wealthy landowners.

The layout was designed by a French engineer called Prospero Catalin – a prophetic name given the mixture of inhabitants the cemetery now accommodates. It was remodelled in 1881 by an Italian architect with wide thoroughfares and narrow alleyways running through the tombs. It is laid out in sections like city blocks and has a stately entrance through neo-classical gates with tall Greek-style columns. The tombs themselves reflect a strange mix of architectural styles and conditions. Some are immaculately maintained, but others have fallen into disrepair. One or two are even used as janitorial supply cupboards.

However, this is still a cemetery and not the ideal homely place for a cat to live. There they all are though among the tombs and memorials, resting, eating or just posing in front of the splendid entrances to mausoleums. Some tourists find this to be an eerie environment, but to me it was like an enchanted city from the past. A dream-like place built back in a time forgotten. The cats just add to this magical quality. Like Egyptian cats around the pyramids, they are still revered in a place of the dead. The strange mix of architectural styles reflects the individuality and independence of the cats – and cats are considered lucky here. As long as the cats remain in the cemetery, it is believed by the locals that good luck will befall Buenos Aires. Therefore at 10am and 4pm every day, some of the local neighbourhood women come to feed and take care of the 75 cats that live happily among the dead.

‘Like Egyptian cats around the pyramids,

they are still revered in a place of the dead’

A very public affair

Following a visit to Buenos Aires, Sara Rackow reflects on the very public lives the cats of Argentina’s capital seem to enjoy

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Feline designMy next feline encounter was while shopping in the region of the Buenos Aires Design Centre. Among the colonnades and walkways of reflective glass were palm trees and shops selling exclusive goods. One of these was a designer furniture shop where a cat was sprawled out on the dining table behaving as if he were part of the display. I am sure that he would not have been tolerated in Homebase or B&Q, let alone in a designer shop in the UK. The number of domestic pets, especially cats, has been growing over the past 10 years in Buenos Aires and you can now buy anything in the city to pamper cats with.

By this time, I was beginning to suspect an overall affinity and tolerance to cats in general in Buenos Aires. This suspicion was again proved right at the Carlos Thays Botanical Gardens in Palermo. This is a park where people from all over the world are struck, not only by the amazing plant species and sculptures, but also by the number of cats – indeed, tourists call it ’Tabatha Park.’ It is a place which, for me, embraced a unique combination of beauty.

Elsewhere in Buenos Aires, dog walkers are a more common sight but the Botanical Gardens is strictly for cats. There is a firm ‘no dogs’ regulation within the boundary of the park. However, it is still situated right in the middle of a very busy road junction with copious amounts of traffic, but despite this you can see a number of cats looking completely and utterly unperturbed just inside the fence. On the outside of the fence hangs a notice, warning people not to abandon their pets.

Carlos Thays, a French architect and landscape gardener, lived in a mansion in the garden while he was director of parks and walks in the city between 1892 and 1898. The garden now has more than 5,000 species of shrubs, trees and plants as well as several monuments, five winter houses and, of course, cats! Neighbours leave food out for the cats and a community of volunteers, headed by a lady called Beatrice Bottone, ensure that cats are able to live their lives with free veterinary care. Beatrice leads a non-profit organisation known as ‘Cats of the Bottanica’. There are five different colonies of cats to feed and several feeding places. The local people feeding them can be heard calling “Manchie, manchie” to let the cats know that their food is ready.

Park lifeIt is obviously helpful that the climate in Buenos Aires is mild and that there is the aforementioned ‘no dogs’ regulation in the park, but it seemed a wonderful idea for stray cats to live in safety and freedom and be able to wander about such a beautiful place. There are more than 69,000 square metres of botanical garden for the cats to enjoy. The fact that they do not appear to be bothered by the busy traffic which circulates around the park may also be something to do with the cats themselves. Scientists have discovered that the cats of Buenos Aires have their own distinct gene type, descended and evolved from Spanish cats. On my return to England, I wondered about the merits of making Battersea Park, Highgate Cemetery or Kew Gardens stray cat friendly. Sadly, not only would people object but it is doubtful that the cats would be safe.

My trip to Buenos Aires had been anticipated with a few illogical fears, including the dread of seeing unwanted kittens streaming with cat flu and pathetic, skinny feline shapes

glimpsed fleetingly as they escape from reach. How wrong those perceptions were. Many cats can be seen while out and about in the streets of Buenos Aires but not in any expected or preconceived way. It may be a result of the unique mix of the temperament of the people and that of the cats which have both grown and spread from various immigrant populations over the last two centuries. It is striking not only how tolerant and humane the people of the city appear to be towards their cat population, but also how placid the cats seem to be in the thick of the passing traffic and how at home they are living right in the public eye.

A day in the life of a cat behaviour counsellor

Early experiencesI get many calls from concerned owners who seek help for their nervous cats. Despite their best efforts, they report that their cats disappear under the bed or behind the sofa in response to anything that remotely deviates from the normal day-to-day routines. This can be extremely frustrating as many people, understandably, cannot see why an animal so loved and nurtured can remain frightened of almost everything.

A cat’s behaviour is shaped by a complex mix of influences relating to the species, the individual’s genetics and his experiences as a kitten. These elements create the cat’s unique personality: bold, confident, reactive, timid or sociable for example. Most adult cats, with the appropriate domestic upbringing, are confident enough to face what life throws at them. However, if a cat isn’t exposed to a full range of normal domestic happenings at an early age, he will potentially flee from the most innocuous occurrences. The cat’s highly developed survival instinct enables him to assess danger quickly and act accordingly. The response to that perceived danger is often to escape rather than stand and fight.

These nervous cats are easy to spot by their patterns of behaviour; for example, they will startle easily, run and hide at the sound of a doorbell and even flinch when you reach out to or walk past them. Day-to-day life can consist of a series of melodramatic exits in response to visitors, the postman or new furniture.

Nervous behaviourLet’s take Charlie the Siamese, for example. When I met Charlie he was four years old. His owner, Pat, had purchased him as a kitten but, since his arrival, had only touched him twice! He had spent his life hiding away and eating, drinking and performing all the necessary bodily functions at night.

He hadn’t ever been taken to the vet and was therefore without vaccinations or any other form of health care. Something had to change and I was grateful that Pat hadn’t waited another four years before seeking help.

Discussing Charlie’s background, it was clear that he had not received the important early experiences to prepare him for domestic life. Pat had seen Charlie’s mother when she visited the breeder’s home and she remembered that she,

too, was “skittish and flighty”. They had been kept in a conservatory at the back of the house with a large cage where they were confined for most of the time. Poor Pat thought that Charlie would relax once he came to a loving home but unfortunately by that time, the damage was done.

All was not lost, as I explained to Pat. She would never turn Charlie into a relaxed and laid-back Siamese but, with a little help from me, she could understand his expectations of life and adjust her behaviour accordingly. I therefore made the following recommendations to stop certain patterns of behaviour and start some new ones.

Stop ’pussyfooting‘ around! Pat spent her time indoors on tip toes using a hushed voice to avoid scaring Charlie. This just reinforced the air of tension in the home. It was important that she should act normally and, as a result, feel more relaxed.

Stop staring at Charlie and attempting to extract him from his hiding place using encouraging words. Cats don’t understand English but they can be susceptible to the emotions behind the language. However, in this case Pat looked fairly threatening – approaching Charlie in his safe sanctuary – merely reinforcing his desire to remain there.

Stop getting tense when Charlie enters the room. On the odd occasion that Charlie ventured out from hiding in the evening, Pat would stiffen and stop what she was doing to watch Charlie’s every move. This looked highly suspicious and back Charlie would go to one of his many hiding places.

Start ignoring Charlie. I wanted Pat to give Charlie the ‘cloak of invisibility’ that timid cats crave. She had to pretend she didn’t have a cat; that way she wouldn’t stare at him, speak to him or acknowledge his presence. Charlie’s innate desire for camouflage at all times would therefore be met and he would be less likely to run away.

Start to offer food treats. Charlie was extremely partial to chicken and Pat could certainly use that to good effect. By offering small amounts of chicken in bowls Charlie could be enticed to explore the various rooms in the house, particularly when Pat was there.

Start to use play to create positive interaction. Most cats cannot resist a good game and Pat had noticed that Charlie was a real nocturnal hunter of ping pong balls and toy mice. I suggested she used a toy attached to a string and a long rod to lure

Living with a scaredy cat? Vicky Halls investigates…

healthcheck

Charlie into the enjoyment of a game without realising that Pat was at the other end. Eventually she should be able to entice Charlie nearer until he was playing around her legs.

Pat didn’t have many visitors as she was worried they would distress Charlie. As her confidence increased during the course of the therapy she started to invite family and friends around for dinner, with strict instructions to all that Charlie should be ignored. Charlie, in the meantime, was enjoying cohabiting with the ‘new Pat’ and spent more and more time out of hiding. At the end of the course we were both convinced that Charlie would continue to go from strength to strength. He would never be perfectly accepting of all life’s challenges but it was a real improvement.

Autumnal tipsIf Charlie sounds like your cat, Autumn may be a worrying time for you as it brings with it a seasonal nightmare: fireworks. Here are some tips that may help you cope:

The firework season extends from October through to November these days so don’t be lured into the false idea that it’s only 5 November!Ensure your cat gets into the routine of coming in before it gets dark. This will enable you to lock your cat flap – if you have one – and secure windows and doorsMake sure your cat has access to his special hiding place and don’t feel tempted to check on him or coax him outIf you don’t think your cat has a special place, prepare a ‘den’ in a quiet, dark place under a bed, for example, or inside a cupboard with the doors left ajar, where he can hide when the fireworks startDon’t reassure or punish your cat if he shows fear as this will reinforce the emotion

Draw the curtains when it gets dark and have some music playing or the TV or radio on to mask the sounds of any fireworksWhen the fireworks start, try to keep calm and act normally, your cat will pick up on any anxiety or unusual behaviour you are showingEnsure your cat is provided with an indoor litter tray on any night when he’s shut in to avoid any toilet accidents*Feliway® Spray can be applied to your pet’s bedding on the night of the event to give him additional support, or a Feliway® Diffuser can be used and situated near his ‘den’ for an added sense of security. Feliway® emits a synthetic version of a feline pheromone that has a calming effect. If your cat gets particularly agitated, your vet may also recommend other treatment regimes.

*Cats Protection recommends that, for the sake of their pets’ safety, owners keep their cats in at night.

Vicky Halls is a registered Veterinary Nurse, a member of the FAB’s Feline Behaviour Expert Panel and author of several best-selling cat counselling books. For further information regarding these and to subscribe to Vicky’s free monthly e-newsletter featuring cat behavioural articles, cats in the news, tips for cat owners and competitions, please visit her website at www.vickyhalls.net

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Every issue, CP’s team of veterinary experts will be tackling your feline-related questions…

Ask the vets…Quite recently a nine-year-old cat called Jessie has taken up residence. She belongs to a nearby neighbour and probably left there as she had to put

up with three small children, another cat and a puppy.My problem is that she has one bad mannerism. For

99 per cent of the time she seems very friendly towards everyone and not too bad with our long-time resident cat. Occasionally, for absolutely no reason, when she is being stroked or picked up she lashes out with her paw, though not always with her claws showing. It’s more like a smack. Could you please give me any hints on how to stop this behaviour or reasons for it?Howard Wilkinson, Earls Barton, Northamptonshire

If a cat has suddenly become aggressive and has never shown this behaviour before, it may be that he or she is in pain or feeling unwell. Therefore, a visit

to the vet is in order.One of the most common aggression problems is known

as ‘petting and biting syndrome’ – when you start to stroke your cat, he or she turns around and bites or scratches you. To be stroked by a human is not a natural behaviour for a cat to accept and some cats are more naturally reactive than others. Some only attack in this way if their tummy is being tickled, others only need to be stroked on the head before they retaliate. Some will relax as they are being stroked and then suddenly feel vulnerable, reacting with aggression. These cats usually seem to enjoy attention but have a threshold for the amount they will tolerate.

You need to try and help Jessie to feel more secure with physical attention. Sit quietly with her when you won’t be interrupted and keep very calm. Keep interactions very short and stop before she reacts. Some cats don’t appreciate long cuddles and lots of stroking and would prefer to spend time playing, so games may be a better way of spending time with them. Try not to provoke a reaction – stop stroking when you notice twitching or backwards-facing ears, dilated pupils or sudden tensing. Reward Jessie with a tiny titbit and praise for behaving in a relaxed way and then leave her alone. Repeat a few times a day until you can gradually increase the stroking time. Never punish her – this will only reinforce the idea that you are a threatening person.

Very occasionally cats might actively attack their owners out of the blue. Quite often the problems occur in indoor cats and may be a form of redirected aggression. Cats watch birds or other cats through the window and become excited. However, they have no way of getting rid of the pent up energy or frustration so they will take it out on their owner. If the owner happens to be walking past, the movement triggers them into the hunting mode and they attack.

If this is the case, you need to help Jessie use up some of her energy and allow her to fulfil her hunting instinct. Try providing new toys and objects to climb in and play on and play hunting games with toys on the end of string.

Any exercise is a great stress reliever for a cat so try to play short games of five to 10 minutes, several times a day to encourage her to let off steam and de-stress.

Before taking any action, it may be worth having a word with your neighbour to determine whether they are happy for you to try and curb Jessie’s naughty habits, as it is not clear whether Jessie is now in your ownership or still remains the legal property of your neighbour.

I do hope that this information is useful and helps Jessie to enjoy her cuddles. BS

My lovely six-year-old British shorthair, Theo, had a heart murmur diagnosed at his recent annual check up. We were asked to take him for a heart scan with

a specialist but were reassured that heart murmurs were normally no problem for cats. Last week, I took him for a heart scan with a specialist and they also took bloods and gave him a chest x-ray.

It seems that he has heart disease, cardiomyopathy. The heart wall is thickened and one side of the heart is enlarged. The specialist told me that Theo would not live to be 20, but he would not be surprised if he survived “for a few years yet”. As he is only six and seems in great health, what advice can you give me about this condition? He has been given beta blockers and I suspect this will continue for the rest of his life.Isabel Menon, via email

I am so sorry to hear that Theo has been diagnosed with heart disease. Unfortunately, we are unable to comment on his specific case, but I hope you find the

following information helpful.Cardiomyopathy literally means disease of the heart

muscle. The most commonly diagnosed heart disease in cats is Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. The walls of the heart become thicker and stiffer than normal. This results in a smaller chamber to hold the blood, which then diminishes the amount of blood pumped out with each beat.

Consequently, the heart has to accelerate and use more energy to accomplish its original task. As the disease progresses, the heart can become so thickened that it cannot pump the blood forward at an adequate rate, which can ultimately lead to fluid accumulation in or around the lungs. The cause in most cases is unknown, but genetics are thought to play a role in at least some cat breeds. Treatment depends on the symptoms and the severity of disease. Where a

healthcheck

Have you got a question?Send your questions to ‘Ask The Vets’, The Cat magazine, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Haywards Heath, RH17 7TT or email: editorial@cats.org.uk The experts

primary cause of thickening – such as hyperthyroidism or high blood pressure – is known, this can be treated first and the heart disease may resolve. When no underlying cause is found, other treatments such as beta blockers may be recommended, dependent on the symptoms and clinical signs.

Obese cats may benefit from a weight loss programme. Salty food, such as some cat treats, should be avoided as this can increase fluid retention and sometimes a low-salt diet may be recommended. Important things to monitor include an affected cat’s appetite, breathing – watch out for increased effort or breathlessness – and lethargy and regular check ups with the vet are likely to be recommended.

The outlook for cats is highly variable and depends on the type and severity of the disease, whether or not congestive heart failure develops and whether the heart disease is a primary problem, or if it is secondary to another manageable disease process. Some cases may be at low risk of heart failure and will remain stable for years. I hope this helps a little and that Theo continues to do well. BS

Could you tell me why different cat food is now sold for senior cats over 10 years old? Would it harm an older cat to feed on ordinary cat food?

Miss E Warren, Folkestone, Kent

Many pet food companies have formulated what are known as life-stage diets, which offer a range of foods for different stages of cats’ lives such as kitten, adult and senior

diets. The actual ages chosen for these different stages vary between pet foods. Pet food should adhere to strict guidelines of nutritional content to ensure that the cat receives all the necessary nutrients for health, however, pet food companies often take into account the natural changes in cats over their life span and incorporate this information in their diets, adjusting levels of nutrients within the guidelines.

Life-stage diets are often designed to take into account changes in things like activity levels, immune system, coat condition, biscuit size if dry; for example kitten food generally has a higher fat content than adult food to aid kittens during growth and their increased activity levels. Senior food, however, is often slightly lower in fat because older cats tend to be less active. Other benefits may also be added into the diets, such as things to help boost the immune system or assist with healthy skin and coat.

Certainly if your senior cat is healthy, then an adult diet would give all the necessary nutrients to maintain health. However, as discussed there may be additional benefits to your cat if he is fed a diet designed for his age. If you are unsure or would like specific advice for your particular cat we would urge you to speak with your veterinary surgeon or the pet food company. We would also like to point out that it is important to ensure your cat has access to fresh drinking water at all times. VH

Maggie Roberts BVM&S MRCVS After qualifying at Edinburgh University in 1986, Maggie went on to work primarily in private practice with some time spent abroad. Maggie first worked for Cats Protection as Veterinary Officer from 1997-99; her interest in feline medicine brought her back to the charity as Head of Veterinary Services in 2006. She has three cats, Trevor, Frankie and Ronnie.

Beth Skillings BVSc MRCVS Beth qualified at the University of Liverpool in 1998 and then went on to work in general veterinary practice until 2005 when she joined Cats Protection as Head of Veterinary Services. After proposing and developing a significant growth to the veterinary department, Beth moved into a new role as Clinical Veterinary Officer in November 2006. Beth has two CP cats, Starsky and Vincent.

Vanessa Howie BVetMed MRCVS Vanessa graduated from the Royal Veterinary College, London in 2000 and spent six years working in general practice before joining Cats Protection as Field Veterinary Officer. Her interests include feline medicine and surgery and overseas charity work. Vanessa has two cats, Tilly and Mabel, adopted from our own Bridgend Adoption Centre.

Veterinary surgeons have provided the advice on these pages, but for specific cases and health concerns, it is important that you consult your own vet who will be able to look at your cat’s history and do a clinical examination.

Earlier this year, I lost my beloved family pet, a lilac Burmese called Smeagol. Although Smeagol was over 20 years old and had deteriorated steadily over the past

year, the decision to have him put to sleep was a difficult one, as it always is.

Since he passed, returning to the house in which we grew up together – he as a kitten and I as a boy – feels strange. There are many places that are still haunted by his outline, places where I expect to see him slinking around, sunning himself in a sliver of sunlight, or looking up at me with his expectant little face – usually with the assumption that I’ll top up his dish with more food.

Perhaps a part of me will never stop expecting to see him in that house; will never lose that sweeping sensation of loss that accompanies each visit. The fact is, there is no right or wrong way to grieve; no right or wrong way to feel. Each person’s grief is as individual to them as their relationship with their cat and each person deals with and reacts to it in a different way.

The science of sadnessWhether you lose your loved one through illness, age or accident, it’s hard to cope with the hole it can leave in your life. General attitudes to grief in Western society and our British stiff upper lip can compound the feelings of sadness, especially when we’re confronted with those who don’t understand what it feels like to own, or lose, a pet.

People who have never shared a home with cats, or simply dislike being around animals, often trivialise the impact the death of a pet can have upon its owner. They believe that an animal’s life, when measured against a human being’s, isn’t as valuable or significant.

In the past this sentiment has been echoed by psychiatrists. Dr E K Rynearson, writing in the British Journal of Psychiatry (1978) about the bond between humans and pets, claimed that: “…under abnormal circumstances of developmental frustration a human may displace an over determined need for attachment to the pet. The attachment relationship is pathological because of its defensive purpose, and its interruption can create enduring psychiatric reactions”.

Dr Rynearson is postulating, essentially, that the love you feel for your cat is nothing more than a mental delusion; the filling of a hole which should be plugged by human companionship. I would passionately counter this clinical,

antiseptic assertion by doing a little postulating of my own: that Dr Rynearson has never kept a cat.

Thankfully psychiatry has moved on from this flawed, curmudgeonly and over-analytical point of view; though, unfortunately, some laypeople out there haven’t. Most psychiatrists would now concede that the human-pet relationship is one of healthy symbiosis. The results of some experiments have even suggested that the time we spend with our pets not only enriches our lives, but also extends them. We may not have doctorates in matters of the mind, but we cat owners have known this all along.

One would hope that if Dr Rynearson were writing today, he would simply say: “…sometimes we love our pets so much, that when we lose them it can affect us profoundly and for a long time”.

Indeed, losing your cat can be like losing a family member. The grieving patterns and processes are the same. You can suffer from depression, anxiety, loss of appetite, withdrawal from other people, shock, insomnia and illness. You can also be affected by a wide range of emotions from guilt to anger to sadness. Although there is no solution to grief, human or animal, there are always ways to help alleviate or control your anguish. Sometimes knowing your options and understanding the processes can help ease the burden.

Jamie Andrew reflects on the loss of a beloved pet and investigates the options available to help the recently bereaved

Never easy to saygoodbye

‘Hopefully, in time the sadness will dissipate, and you will be left with the fond memories you were privileged to share with an intuitive, fascinating little creature’

EuthanasiaIn her book, Cat Confidential, Vicky Halls tells us that “…one of the most difficult decisions a pet owner will ever make is when the time is right for euthanasia”. I know that my parents agonised on the last day of Smeagol’s life. Following a major and debilitating stroke, they frantically tested and retested his reactions and behaviour, desperately hoping to see some flicker of vitality or resilience that would justify a prolonged life. By this stage, however, Smeagol could barely move from his basket. When I held him and stroked his fur, he no longer sensed that I was there, or purred to broadcast his contentment.

David Barfoot, a vet from Brentwood, Essex, sees euthanasia in these circumstances: “[euthanasia is] the last act of kindness you can bestow” where the alternative “will be continued suffering”. David’s 30 years as a practitioner have convinced him that “delay can be a selfish act on the owner’s part,” albeit an understandable one. “It is often a profound relief,” he says, “when the euthanasia has been performed and the pet is at peace.”

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The procedureThe act of euthanasia itself is quick and painless. It involves injecting the cat with a concentrated solution of anaesthetic overdose. This is usually administered through a vein in the foreleg, but the heart or kidney may be injected in the case of older cats with poor circulation. The solution immediately sends the cat to sleep, after which breathing ceases and the heart stops beating. Death will be pronounced by the vet.

Most people prefer to be with their cats at this time, but it is not insisted upon. Although the process is professional, efficient and dignified, it may be too traumatic to witness for some. A veterinary nurse will always be present to help you through these difficult moments, or be there on your behalf at the end.

Veterinary practices often have arrangements with a local crematorium and can organise cremation for your cat. This can be carried out either communally or individually depending upon your wishes.

The personal touchThose of us who cherish our cats as family members may well wish to celebrate their lives in the manner we would a human friend or relative: with a bespoke coffin; a headstone engraved with a personal message; an urn or memorial garden.

Nigel and Sandra Walton are the founders of Poffins, an organisation where pet owners can go for advice on and practical, bespoke solutions to how best to commemorate the lives of their loved ones. Poffins was created in response to Nigel’s experience with the death of his pet dog, Simba, who was euthanised at a veterinary surgery. The surgery dealt with the aftercare of Simba’s body after gaining approval from a shell-shocked Nigel. Although Nigel holds fast to the philosophy that in grief different people need different things – and acknowledging that the vet’s services may be a perfectly valid option for many people – he left the surgery feeling like he could have done more; wishing that he’d had more options. He felt like he’d let Simba down.

“There’s a formality you go through following the death of a human family member,” he says, “and at the end of it you feel like you did something; there’s closure. Some people can walk out of the vets, stand in the middle of the street and think, ‘Is that it?’ Your life’s changed forever and you think, ‘What am I supposed to do now?’”

As well as helping you create the most fitting tribute for your cat with patience and understanding, Nigel and his team have a close relationship with the Blue Cross’s Pet Bereavement Support Service and can put you in touch with them if you feel you need to talk things through with a qualified counsellor.

Home burialHome burial is an option if you wish to lay your old friend to rest in the place in which you were happiest together. There is no legislation which prohibits or restricts home burial for your cat, although for obvious sanitation reasons the site of burial should be three metres or more away from any water courses. The majority of literature on the subject also counsels that graves should be at least three feet deep. This is purely to prevent ground scavengers like foxes from destroying fresh graves. Your health or age may limit how strenuously you are able to dig – and obviously some people will find the act as arduous emotionally as physically, which is perfectly understandable – but bear in mind that a shallow grave can be protected by placing a flagstone over the earth. This can then be inscribed with a personal message or tribute to your friend.

ChildrenThe fear of burdening young minds with knowledge and mental images you consider too harrowing can often give way to euphemisms which, while well-intentioned, can cause even more confusion and upset. ‘Put to sleep’ may seem a reassuringly gentle turn of phrase, but runs the risk of creating false hope that their cat will one day ‘wake up’.

Children are especially vulnerable at these times for a number of reasons. They often form deeper emotional bonds with their pets and many grow up from birth knowing no other family dynamic than the one which includes their cat. It’s also common for the passing of a cat to be a child’s first direct engagement with notions of loss, death and mortality. A grief or bereavement counsellor may be able to offer assistance if you feel unsure how to tackle the issue.

Looking forwardDealing with grief does not mean exorcising all trace of your beloved cat. On the contrary. Talking helps. As does writing things down. Just remember: everyone deals with it differently. Hopefully, in time – your own time – the sadness will dissipate, and you will be left with the fond memories and affection you were privileged to share with an intuitive, fascinating creature. Something for which I am profoundly grateful when I think of Smeagol. And something that Dr Rynearson can only dream of.

Gone but not forgotten; Jamie’s cat Smeagol

Children are especially vunerable at the loss of a pet

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Fifi was rescued from a filthy rabbit hutch wedged up against her four sisters. There was no food, water or any way out and the litter had to be rushed to the vets suffering from malnutrition, dehydration and severe digestive bugs. Thanks to round-the-clock care by branch volunteers, Fifi and three of her litter made a full recovery and have since been found a new home.

Skip, another kitten, narrowly escaped being crushed to death in a recycling plant after one of the workers detected a faint miaow coming from a pile of cardboard. At two-and-a-half weeks old, he appeared to have been abandoned and again it was only thanks to the dedication of a Cats Protection volunteer, who stayed up for several nights to bottle-feed him every couple of hours, that he survived.

Sadly, thousands of kittens will be abandoned by people who don’t want them this summer. In order to give them the second chance in life that they deserve, we need your help. Please give what you can today; even the smallest donation contributes to a big difference.

Please help us to make the difference between life and death...

Frightened, filthy and trappedAbandoned

To make a donation please phone 0800 917 2287

(Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm) or visit www.cats.org.uk/kittenaid

Reg Charity 203644 (England and Wales) and SC037711 (Scotland)

In the verdant hills of Derbyshire, settled just above Bakewell on the magnificent Chatsworth Estate, is the studio of one of the UK’s leading wildlife artists, Richard

Whittlestone. His work is popular across the UK, America and Canada and hangs in the stately homes of Castle Howard, Woburn Abbey and Chatsworth itself.

Richard’s location allows him immediate access to a wealth of wildlife painting opportunities but his work is also influenced by the exotic. His subject matter can extend from a quintessentially English robin perched on a fencepost with Chatsworth in the distance to the dark and threatening presence of a black panther prowling through a sultry night.

Richard moved to Derbyshire over 20 years ago from just over the border in Yorkshire. The move was primarily a practical one as this was where his client base was; Richard’s admiration for his adopted home is apparent. “It is a lovely place to live and work and when I met my wife, a local girl, I knew I was never going to leave,” he smiles.

Richard holds regular art exhibitions and his studio is most definitely a working one. It is open seven days a week throughout the year and, with Richard painting in his mezzanine loft, he is usually at hand to welcome visitors.

“People are often in the gallery and can interrupt my work,” Richard admits, “but I never mind that as I enjoy meeting them. I know other artists that can be a little grumpy, but it’s nice to share what you do and I think it’s wonderful that people are interested.”

His work may hang in some very grand homes but Richard is self-effacing, “I feel very humbled that people come to me for a piece of work to hang in their home. Whether it’s a stately home or not I still get excited whenever I get a commission.”

Talent and passionRichard has always had a talent and passion for art. “Though I’ve drawn since a young child I did not enjoy art at school; I couldn’t wait for the bell to ring so I could get home to my own art. I was never able to liken what I did at school to that I did at home, they were always totally separate. The art teachers would try to change how I did things, how to hold a pencil, apply brush strokes and so on. Thankfully I had an incredibly supportive mother who would not allow anyone to harm my natural ability or dull my passion for art.”

It shows a great deal of confidence and intrinsic enjoyment of art to be self-taught rather than going down the usual route of art college. Richard developed his technical skills by visiting art galleries and museums and studying old master paintings. “I sometimes think that, had I gone to art college, I could have learnt something in six weeks that has taken me six years to learn,” he muses. “But I have no regrets. I preferred to look at other paintings and artists and strip them back, seeing how they worked out the proportions, the layers. I worked out how they had done it and then applied the same methods myself. I’m now 46 and I still feel that I’m developing; there are still techniques to be tried and it’s exciting to see where it can take me. It keeps me going. It would be awful if I got to a point where I didn’t think I could get any better, what a joyless time that would be!”

Before relying on art as a living Richard had studied taxidermy and had developed it from a teenage Saturday job into a successful business by his twenties. “Many people think you’re a bit odd if you do taxidermy, but I had been obsessed with it since I was a child.’ Richard is quick to assure ‘I am a total, utter animal lover and I certainly didn’t kill any animals for my taxidermy purposes, but I found the process a wonderful basis for my art. It taught me anatomy; how the bone and muscle structure lies under the skin, so when I paint I know exactly how it should be.”

Bakewell art Francesca Watson finds out how Richard Whittlestone

became one of the UK’s leading wildlife artists

Richard, about to get back to work on his latest artwork while some of his former subjects look on.

The artistic processThe time taken for a painting can range from a few hours for a small one, while an average sized one could take up to 10 days. “I used to focus on one painting at a time but I’ve found that I get the most out of my time and creativity by working on several. If I’ve been away for a while, I will do a small painting just to get my eye back in. It focuses me and by taking a break from a certain subject I find I am fresher upon return.”

Richard primarily works in acrylic paint as it dries quickly and also allows a greater option when mounting and exhibiting, but he does use watercolour when completing his submissions for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. His images adorn many of its Christmas cards and calendars.

Richard’s technique has gone from extreme detail to a freer approach. “I used to sketch in great detail, spending days working out the light and shadows, but now I just launch right into it. I sketch only when I am showing a client what I will do, but otherwise it holds you back because a painting can change so much. And with the acrylic paint I’m able to stop and rethink.

“I am working on a tiger at the moment and I’m not entirely happy, so maybe I’ll change his ear or lower his eye. I also find that the excitement goes by the time the sketching is done and I start to paint. Over the years I’ve learnt to trust my own ability more and the paintings generally turn out okay!”

On each of Richard’s paintings is his trademark image of a fly, something that started off 25 years ago as a method of balancing pictures of small birds. “It allowed me to get movement in the picture, the bird would be going towards the fly,” Richard explains. “People began to notice when the fly wasn’t in a picture, I even had people bring in older pictures so I could paint one in! When asked to point them out I can’t always spot them, I’ve hidden them too well but I’m glad to say my wife knows where every single one is. I can paint it without even looking now!”

The eyes have itAsked which animal is his favourite subject matter, a slow smile spreads across Richard’s face. “Cats, all cats; it’s their eyes,” he says. “One of my own cats has the greenest eyes. You look right into them and keep going and going. I just love trying to paint that. Also the fur, especially the patterns on a tiger. If I have a picture of a tiger in the gallery, it’s guaranteed to attract the largest crowd. Across the board they are a superb subject. I love their independence and aloofness, yet they can be so friendly. They are fabulous creatures.”

There are several cat portraits in the gallery and one in particular, a ginger cat, almost appears to be looking in at you through a window making you feel that at any time it could just wander off leaving the frame empty.

Richard’s artistic ability is apparent for all to see and he has a modesty and easy-going charm that makes his art all the more approachable and accessible. He is a happy and contented man who has followed his own path. “Life is basically finding out what you can do and trying to make the most of it and enjoying it,” he says. Words we can all strive to live by.

Richard’s studio is at Broome’s Barns, Pilsley, Derbyshire DE45 1PF. Further details can be found on his website www.richardwhittlestone.com

Win a Richard Whittlestone portrait of your cat!Richard will paint a picture worth £1,500 for the lucky winner of this competition. To be in with a chance of winning, all you have to do is answer this question:

What animal is Richard working on at present: a lion, tiger or bear?Mark your answers by 5 October as Whittlestone and send to competitions@cats.org.uk or our usual postal address. Richard is also offering 15 per cent discount to anyone ordering a portrait AND 20 per cent off all purchases from his commercial website www.animalartprints.com until the end of April 2010. It’s a great opportunity to get those exclusive Christmas presents!

‘One of my own cats has the greenest eyes. You look right into them and keep going and going. I just love trying to paint that’

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Please purr!Alison Prince’s feline friends have started to find their voices…

Paddy and Fingal have never been much good at purring. It’s not that they are grumpy cats – they seem very cheerful on the whole, but they just don’t make much noise about it.

Fingal in particular only seems capable of a noiseless purr. You can feel it rattling away in his throat, but he’s better at silent happiness. When particularly pleased, he does a kind of barrel roll, as RAF pilots used to call it, dipping a shoulder and then following it with the rest of him to turn upside down, paws in the air. It’s very engaging, so of course it leads to lots of stroking and admiration, though sometimes a stern warning is needed, too.

Like most cats, he can go over the top when ecstatic, clamping himself round the stroking hand with teeth and claws, so I taught him early on to recognise the word ‘Gently!’ while shaking him softly by the scruff of the neck. There’s no need to shake him now, the word works on its own.

Paddy is neither a hunter nor an exhibitionist, he is a sober cat with a respect for conventions, but he will sprawl luxuriously in a patch of sunshine and raise a large paw, inviting a sharing of this warm pleasure. And he is cuddly. He arrives on my lap almost unnoticeably, except for the odd occasion when he will do a bit of claw-sharpening on the arm of the sofa first, to my exasperation. He doesn’t mind having a book or a crossword rested on him, either. The great thing about cats, as all owners know, is that they are exactly the right size. They fit on your lap perfectly, and they are the proper shape and weight for a cosy armful. And most of them purr. Mine don’t.

We had a bit of a breakthrough the other night, though. When Paddy arrived for the usual cuddle session, I started running a comb through his fur, just in case it was time for another anti-flea move. Paddy loves combing. He turned his head from side to side obligingly with his eyes closed – and suddenly uttered such a loud purr that he was quite shocked. It caused him to cough and splutter and look embarrassed and Fingal jumped up to find out what was the matter.

Paddy went on purring. He was a bit startled by this new ability and kept stopping to gulp, but he now seems rather pleased with his discovered talent. Any new caress starts him off again. When I had an inventive moment and put his two front paws together as if he was praying, he liked it so much that he had another purry outburst and nearly choked himself. Fingal stared at him in some concern. He himself hasn’t produced an audible purr yet, but maybe it’s an attribute of maturity, rather like the pipe and slippers for humans. Youngsters like Fingal don’t appreciate these things. But you never know. He may come to it yet.

Feline finein the

As we head into autumn, our

green-fingered garden guru

Graham Clarke goes in search of

‘berried’ treasures!

I actually adore autumn. Why? Well, there’s a certain kind of warmth and ‘cosiness’ to it. Apart from the fact that autumn

has better TV programmes, there are other seasonal assets as well, such as wood smoke in the air, a crispness to the mornings, the aroma of the apple shed – and, of course, kids playing conkers!

This last item gently brings me to the gardening feature in this issue of The Cat. For, you see, conkers are the ‘fruits’ of the horse chestnut tree, and right now in our gardens the trees and shrubs are producing their own fruits. Actually, you shouldn’t plant a horse chestnut if you’re a cat lover, as this plant – Aesculus hippocastanum –

is known to be toxic to our feline friends. However,

the autumn-fruiting plants listed in this

article are not thought to be dangerous in this way.

To most gardeners, autumn means the changing leaf tints on trees and shrubs, but there are also those trees and shrubs grown for their autumn berries – the jewels of the garden that are at their best at this time of year. I’m not talking about apples and pears here – although these are, of course, fruits – I’m really thinking about those fruiting plants that we grow because of their highly decorative, ornamental autumnal fruits and berries.

So which plants are the best and which do we believe to be as safe as possible for our cats? My top 10 are as follows.

1. Rosa rugosa is probably the easiest rose to grow. A large, suckering shrubby rose – and makes a good hedging plant – it requires no pruning, apart from an occasional tidy up in spring. It flowers from early summer to late autumn and produces big tomato-like fruits – known as ‘hips’ – which last well into winter.

Rosa rugosa ‘Alba’ has fragrant, silky white flowers and fantastic hips, while ‘Rubra’ has wine-crimson flowers and large, showy hips. If you want the hips, do not deadhead these roses – unlike most other roses, where deadheading encourages more flowers.

2. The firethorns – forms of Pyracantha – are members of the rose family and produce a mass of hawthorn-like flowers in spring, to be followed by colourful berries in autumn. Most commonly grown as wall shrubs, many firethorns make excellent freestanding shrubs of loose, spreading habit. They’re also evergreen and seem to thrive on almost any soil.

Look for the varieties ‘Orange Glow’, with berries of bright orange-red; ‘Teton’, orange-yellow; and ‘Cadrou’, sometimes seen as ‘Saphyr Rouge’, with red berries.

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3. Clerodendrum trichotomum var. fargesii – that’s a mouthful of Latin for a plant with no common name! It’s a deciduous shrub that can grow to 3m (10ft) or more – but can be clipped back smaller than that. Summer flowers are followed by autumn berries and leaf tints that make this a very worthy garden inhabitant. The intense turquoise-blue berries, each set in a crimson star-shaped calyx, are by far the main attraction. It will thrive in any cultivated garden soil.

4. Another great shrub grown for blue berries is Viburnum davidii; it’s a low-growing evergreen – at just 1m (3ft) or so high – with clusters of small oval-shaped berries of deep metallic blue. It is suitable when grown for ground-cover – that is, as a weed-suppressant – good for covering a bank or other area that is otherwise difficult to cultivate.

5. Viburnum opulus is the Guelder rose: the leaves resemble a maple, while the pretty white flowers in spring look like a lacecap hydrangea. In autumn the leaves turn rich and dark plum-purple and scarlet, while the berries are ripening. Bunches of them form as translucent and bright red, like the most luscious of red currants. But they’re not edible. They last long into winter, when they are seen hanging on otherwise bare stems.

6. If it’s purple you’re after, you could do no better than to go for Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii ‘Profusion’ – it’s a super shrub that loves the limelight and in ideal conditions it produces a bonanza of funky lilac-purple berries that last well after the last leaf drops. It is so rarely planted, however. This is probably due to the effects a harsh winter has upon it. But give it a sheltered spot in reasonable soil and it should delight you for years.

7. A tremendous range of colour and form is offered by the barberry (Berberis) family of shrubs. There are well over 100 named forms in cultivation today. All are armed with sharp thorns and this is useful where intruders are concerned; cats in my experience tend to avoid them for this reason. Open, sunny sites suit barberries well and any well-drained soil will do. There are two I would recommend for their autumn berries: the first is Berberis x ‘Buccaneer’, a wonderful shrub with soft-green leaves in spring and summer, which transform themselves at this time of year to a brilliant flame colour. Just as spectacular are the clusters of large, crimson berries which last well into winter.

The second barberry is B. thunbergii, which grows to about 1.5m (5ft) across and wide. Pale yellow flowers light up the shrub in spring. In autumn the fresh green foliage turns to bright red, accompanied by small vivid berries.

8. Skimmia japonica is hugely popular in landscaping and gardens. But these plants are often grown in full sun, where the leaves become olive-yellow, making the plant look unhealthy. In semi-shade, however, the leaves remain rich green, and if the soil is moist and acidic, so much the better. Skimmias generally produce small, insignificant flowers,

so apart from the evergreen foliage it is the berries for which these plants are grown mainly. Both male and female plants will need to be grown in close proximity in order to get the bright orange-red berries. With the cultivar ‘Wakehurst White’ we have white berries and ‘Nymans’ has bright red berries.

The last two are garden trees:

9. The mountain ash or rowan must be included if you have the space. Sorbus aucuparia var. edulis is a fabulous British native mountain ash or rowan. Big bunches of edible red berries – good for making jelly – are the main feature from the end of August onwards. It survives in cold, exposed sites. S. cashmiriana is decked with countless clusters of gorgeous glossy white fruits with a pink blush, hanging on dark, pink-tinged stems; and S. ‘Joseph Rock’ looks superb with its mass of pretty pale primrose fruits.

10. Finally, I would have to have one of the varieties of Malus – this is the apple genus, but here I’m just thinking of the ornamental crab apples. These all have lovely typical apple blossom in spring, and many have showy fruits – mini apples in fact – that persist into winter. Look for ‘John Downie’ – bright orange and red fruits which make good crab apple jelly – ‘Red Sentinel’ – often regarded as the best of all, with clusters of shiny, deep red fruits – and ‘Golden Hornet’ – which produces a large crop of rich, golden yellow fruits. Mature trees grow to 10-15ft (3-4.5m).

The poet Cats – I mean Keates – wrote about autumn as being the “season of mists and mellow fruitfulness”, but he obviously wasn’t growing any of the above plants, as they are more vibrant than mellow… still, you can’t hold that against him.

All p

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raham

Clarke

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Many children regard their cat as their best friend and it is through this friendship that important lessons are learned; trust, empathy, care and love.

Recent studies have shown that owning a cat can do wonders for a child’s self esteem, social skills and sense of responsibility to others. Cats are great for playing and cuddles too!

At any one time, we have 7,000 cats and kittens in our care. Sadly, for every cat we help there are many more that we cannot. Please help us create another happy ending by giving a good home to one of our cats.

For details of cats in your area needing loving homes, please phone 08702 099 099 (Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm) or visit www.cats.org.uk

Reg Charity 203644 (England and Wales) and SC037711 (Scotland)

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Babette Cursons-Prior remembers Sebastian, a truly ‘magnificat’

Having just been made the first female manager of my building society, I moved to a cottage-like garden flat and everything looked set to a fair future... but

something was missing. My visiting cousin remarked: “What you need is a cat. A cat makes a home! We’ll get a kitten this afternoon.”

Sally’s word was law and we were soon driving through leafy country lanes to a spacious sanctuary where, after much heart-wrenching, I selected the smallest, quietest, fluffiest ginger-and-white kitten from among a crowd of happy, extroverted blacks and tabbies. It took five people to catch him, which is when they told me his mother had been feral and that he’d be a ‘challenge’.

Back home, after days of patience, whispered words of love, fingers dipped in warm milk and pushed under the kitchen cabinet to where he had retreated and where he only ate when I was asleep, the trembling baby emerged and gave me the once-over. Hearing an unusual sound I looked around and saw golden eyes pin-pointing me: the ‘buzzing’ was his first shot at purring. I had passed muster – now there was no holding Sebastian back! He ventured straight into the garden where the wind blew him off his tiny pink pads but he bravely picked himself up, crouched under a shrub and attacked a cocky red tulip which had the audacity to confront him. He always loved flowers and would distribute lavender all over my bed in order to make me play with him.

He was quite nervy, cowering at loud noises yet, perversely, he revelled in a good, loud thunderstorm. He ate well; his confidence growing daily as he became more swashbuckling. I was devoted to him and all the joy and laughter he brought me, humanising me and even when he was bossy – and sometimes spiteful – I thanked God for his sweet cat soul.

As I only had 15 minutes at home during my lunch hour, I told friends I feared he was lonely and, on a beautiful blossomy spring day a wee black kitten with wide, innocent baby eyes arrived, whom a friend had found abandoned on an aerodrome. Sebastian pounced onto the kit, scooped him up in his mouth as if it were his felt-toy dog and paraded him proudly around my sitting room, initially worrying me but very soon Sebastian was treating the kitten, Jet, as if he were his own beloved baby, washing him vigorously, both cats displaying affection.

Next day returning from work I found them asleep in a pool of sunshine on top of my desk in the window, arms twined round each. There was never any jealousy between them; Sebastian even ‘talked’ down a frightened Jetty from a tall tree one day where he’d climbed too far after a magpie had taunted him higher and higher.

They both liked me to mow the lawn, Sebastian sprawling right in front of the machine and Jet riding very safely atop the grass cutting box so I’d have to stop pushing and continue when they were engaged on other important business – such as Sebastian scrambling down the cliff face to go fish-watching from the beach, Jet anxiously watching from above.

When I was being wooed, Charles wasn’t keen on cats. One day I said: “Tell Seb you love him, otherwise I’ll never marry you.” It showed the depths of his feelings when he did as I asked and sold his bungalow in order to buy a house with a large garden so the cats had trees to climb.

I am now too old and infirm to take on more furry delights and hope I see out my current three ‘magnificats’. I tremendously look forward to meeting Sebastian and all my beloved adoptees one day in the great hereafter…

This section offers readers the chance to pay tribute to a beloved cat by helping others. Donations go towards pens

for our branches, which help house cats and kittens while they wait for new homes. Please send your donations to:

Remembering Cats, The Cat magazine, National Cat Centre, Chelwood Gate, Haywards Heath RH17 7TT.

Tributes will be printed in the next available issue. Please print your tribute clearly to avoid errors (no more than

20 words). Thanks to readers of The Cat, 310 pens have now been bought.

Remembering catsthrough helping others

BUD, FOSTER, VALI, FOGGY, CANDY, BEE BEE, CLIO – Love and miss you all, ‘til we meet again. We will never forget you, Mummy, Dan, Oscar and Troy.

PHOEBE – PTS 08.12.07 aged 16 and FANNY PTS 29.12.08 aged 17. My two Persian sisters who lived long, happy lives. RIP, David.

TULLY – 1997-2009. I miss you and I love you, my brave, beautiful, black and white baby. Devastated – heartbroken at your loss. Love Julie x

FIFI age 21 – 07.10.87-16.11.08. We will never forget our beautiful, dear, much loved cat. Missing you so much. Love Julie and Mike x

GARFIELD – 29.07.92-06.03.09. Beautiful boy. Wonderful friend for 17 years. We love and miss you very much. See you at Rainbow Bridge, love Mummy, Dan, Oscar and Troy.

In loving memory of TIMMY – also remembering POPPY, BLACKIE and FUDGE. Love always, Mam and Dad.

SAM, darling tabby boy PTS 04.06.09 aged 14. Loved and missed forever. Until Rainbow Bridge. Love Maz & Jaz x

WEENS 21.10.93 aged 19!. Sweet Weens, the best little cat. Love you always. Also ROSIE and DINAH 08.61. Teresa.

MITZI – PTS 12.08.03 aged 18!. Our beautiful special tabby girl, much loved and sadly missed furry friend. C & L.

TIM (TIMBO) who I love and loved so much, and all my other cats – I miss you always, from Joy.

FERGUS – PTS 18.02.09. Goodbye, my dear gentle little friend. Be happy in Heaven – Joan.

Known to God and remembered every day – SOOTY, TOBY, SALLY, ROLLY, FLUFFY, JAMIE, KISMOS, MARBLE, FLOYD. Love from Carol and Doreen.

In loving memory of SIMBA – 03.09.01. Our special boy – missed so much. Always in our thoughts and hearts. Love Mummy, Daddy, Perry, Leo.

BOBBY 01.04.76-16.01.95 and SMUDGE 10.11.08. Still missing you so much. Take care of your little sister PERI as she’s now with you. I love you all. Mummy Carole xxx

BLUE, SMOKEY, WILLIAM, SOOTY, TABITHA, SWEEP, WIGGY. All loved forever. Look after each other and OLLYDOG. The Finbows xxx

PERIDOT (PERI) 23.05.95-30.04.09. Night night, sweet pea, big sleeps now. Love you forever my beautiful little girl. Thank you, love Mummy Carole xxx

JASPER – born 20.05.93 died 07.05.08 – a special boy, loving to the end. Now with CLEO, (big sister) and TOBI, (best friend). Gill and cats.

WIGGY – Our best friend, 1982-2000. We will miss and love you forever. You’re always in our hearts. The Finbows xxx

Always remembered over the years – SIMON, TRIXIE, THOMAS, CAESAR, FELIX. Sadly missed but never forgotten, Tony.

PIP – March 1994-22.05.09. Died of cancer. Such a handsome long hair ginger and white boy. I will never forget you – when you left, part of me went with you. Much love, Jay.

ZENA. The golden sweet cat who never grew fat. Lived many years, her colours such a fine mix. A wonderful pick x

Dear TOM, you were taken from us too soon. We will love you forever, from Amy and Frank xxx

MAGS PTS 07.07.08. Our beautiful little girl. You have left a hole in our lives and we miss you dearly.

CHICKEN – a cat who knew everything. Much missed friend and companion. Heather and Stephen.

PYEWACKET and NAPOLEON – two very fine gentlemen indeed. Gone a while but never forgotten. The Edwards family.

Looking for a great book about cats? Check out our reviews before you buy...

Book reviewsHannah and the WildcatsBy Sue Doran

This is a delightful tale of a young girl who embarks on a new life with her family in the

countryside. Hannah’s life becomes inextricably tangled with Blue, the leader of a feral

cat colony as she strives to protect them when their home is under threat. Told from

the point of view of both Hannah and the cats, it is a great adventure for all ages.

Francesca Watson

Hannah and the Wildcats� ($15.00 – about £9.20 at the time of writing) is published by

Publishing Works (www.publishingworks.com). It can also be ordered at

www.amazon.co.uk

A cat called NortonBy Peter Gethers

Following the author’s popular Norton trilogy, this is a fun and light-hearted book

tracking the many journeys of Peter and his Scottish Fold, Norton. A self-confessed cat

hater, Peter relives the moment he was given this tiny, grey ball of fur as a gift. Without

explanation, it was love at first sight. Peter and Norton soon became inseparable and

each chapter reveals a new mini adventure they embark upon together. The stories are

charming, honest and witty and readers will be able to identify with the unbreakable

relationship Peter has with his charismatic cat. Amy Rutter

A cat called Norton (£6.99) is published by Ebury Press, a division of the Random

House Group Ltd (www.rbooks.co.uk Tel: 020 7840 8400)

The Kitten PackBy Claire Arrowsmith

If you welcomed a wide-eyed, furry hurricane of activity to your family during this year’s

kitten season, this offering from pet behaviour counsellor Claire Arrowsmith may well

be of interest to you. Consisting of two books, namely The Kitten Handbook and The

Owner’s� Handbook, the pack deals with all of the information you will need from day

one. As well as important information on subjects such as grooming, behaviour and diet

there are sections you can fill in to help chart your kitten’s first year. While The Kitten

Pack leans towards the purchase of pets – at Cats Protection we obviously prefer that

cats and kittens are adopted from us – there is plenty of useful advice in the two books,

making it a worthwhile purchase for first-time owners. Tom Briggs

The Kitten Pack (£9.99) is published by Interpet Publishing

(www.interpet.co.uk/publishing Tel: 01306 873 814)

I Like CatsBy Anushka Ravishankar and various artists

This book combines the author’s simple but acclaimed comic verse with the paintings

of some of India’s finest tribal and folk artists. Its universal nature makes it ideal for

younger readers, cat lovers, art lovers and – as the press release that came with the book

succinctly puts it – artsy cat lovers. Definitely one for the coffee table, this hand-bound

book – which also includes a print you can frame and display should you wish – will not

fail to inspire smiles from all who pick it up. Tom Briggs

I Like Cats� (£12.99) is distributed in the UK by Frances Lincoln Ltd

(www.franceslincoln.co.uk Tel: 01235 400 400)