Growing up with cats

I’ve always loved cats. My parents had cats before I was born and I grew up with them. We lived in the country too, next door to a farm, so we also fed and entertained the feral cats that lived in the barn in the field next door – and all their kittens!

Nelson was my first cat. She’d already been around a while when I was born. A girl, but apparently named after Admiral Lord Nelson because she had a black patch over her eye. She lived until she was 18, but I was fairly young when she left us.

James, a big fluffy tabby was next. My Mum always says he was her favourite! He sadly passed away when I was on a school residential and I was devastated when I got home to find out he’d gone. It was the first time I’d really experienced grief as a child.

Katie and Chester were next. They were sisters and from the farm next door. Katie was a petite ginger and Chester a tortoiseshell and white who got her name because she liked sitting in the top drawer of our ‘chester drawers’ (yes, I know it’s chest of drawers!)

Katie was my brother’s favourite, and although we lived on a very quiet country road, she was sadly knocked down by a florist’s van and died shortly afterwards. It was the first time I’d seen my big brother cry.

Finally in my list of childhood cats, there was Busby. He was a ginger and white fluffball named after the character in the British Telecom ads! (We had very dubious cat naming conventions when I was growing up!).

Both Chester and Busby lived long and happy lives and I had long left home before they passed away.

However knowing how devastated both myself and my brother were when we lost our cats during childhood just proves to me how important cats are in our lives and what an integral part of our families they become.

So I understand how important caring for your cats is while you’re away, and I realise how much of a responsibility it is. You don’t just need someone to feed them, you want someone to care for them like they are their own, and that’s what I will do.