Your Cat — November 2017

I

adopted Basil from a local rescue

centre when he was about six months

old. Why Basil? Well, when I was

looking for a cat, one of the rescue

centres had a Basil Fawlty answering

machine message, and I thought it was an

excellent name for a cat.

At first, Basil was very shy but gentle,

and he gradually grew in confidence.

I regularly found him sitting at the back

door of the local fish and chip shop.

Eventually, I moved to a house on the

outskirts of town, and he developed

a penchant for rabbits, which he chased

in the fields. Much to my angst, Basil

began to refuse to come in at night and

disappeared for days on end.

He once disappeared for three weeks.

I put up missing posters all over town and

received regular sightings of black and

white cats, none of which turned out to

be him. He casually strolled in one night,

in pristine condition, with not a hair out

of place. I never found out where he’d

been, although I did hear a rumour that

he had been lodging at a house around

the corner.

Eventually, as the years passed, Basil

developed arthritis in his back legs, which

curtailed his jaunts. He has developed

a preference for a warm bed and having

his meals prepared for him. He still enjoys

haddock from the fish and chip shop,

a whole portion if he can.

He is quite deaf now, so his wandering

days are over. I have secured the garden

so that he can still go out and sunbathe,

and check out the neighbourhood cats.

Basil will be 22 this year. What a cat;

we love him.

Reader Sarah Jones has owned golden oldie

Basil for more than two decades.

Golden

oldie

Golden

old

ie

of th

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of th

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OUR

G

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GALLERY

I have two older cats.

Mozz, the one with

the white ’tache,

turned 16 in

March. He is still

half the size

of a regular cat,

and a bit of

a mummy’s boy.

The big, fluffy black one, Rupert, is

about 20. I got him 19 years ago.

I saw an advert in Woolworths,

saying that a female cat needed

a new home — £10 later, I owned

a grumpy fluff-ball.

He mellowed into

a total sweetie,

after I gave him

a name more

fitting for

his gender.

Jennifer Knight,

London.

Tabitha turns 18

this year. She first

came to me, with

her brother Henry,

from a cat rescue

in 2000. Tabitha has

always been tiny and

a little bit aloof, whereas Henry was

very sociable.

Sadly, I had to have Henry put to

sleep in May last year. After she got

over the initial stage of looking for

him, Tabitha seemed to find a new

lease of life. She now has the run of

the house and has discovered that

the most comfortable place to sleep

is on my knee. She is such wonderful

company — she certainly doesn’t act

her age, but then neither do I!

Susan Lyden, via email.

HAVE YOU GOT A SENIOR CAT AT HOME?

If you own a golden oldie (over 12 years) and you’d love to see them in the

magazine, email your cat’s story (around 200 words) and clear images (over

1MB in size) to [email protected] with ‘Golden Oldie’ in the subject line.

Squeak came to me at six weeks old.

I wanted company

after becoming

single and moving

home. Squeak

is a tough one.

She’s 13 and

has a fantastic

appetite. Despite

the odd health scare,

she is still going strong.

Samantha Gray, via email.

T

t

h

f

in

Tabitha. alway

Basil on his

21st birthday.

http://www.yourcat.co.uk 81

Basil with his

friend, Pepsi,

in the garden.

Basil.

cats.

th

Mozz.

all.

o

ny

g

care,

Rupert.

Squeak.

81 golden oldie CS CC(SW).indd 81 29/09/2017 09:25