Bennie's 80th Birthday

It was Bennie our cat's Birthday this week. He is 16yrs old which in cat years is 80yrs. I have had him since he was ten weeks old, when we first went to see him and his brother Scooby Doo, at our local animal shelter. They were both so small and shy when we first saw them and I fell in love with them instantly. I was only about thirteen or fourteen, my childhood cat Jack had died a few months before and I wanted another cat, not to replace him, a cat like Jack could never be replaced! I used to dress him up and push him around in my dolly pram, then the next minute he would be outside having a barney with one of the other cats in the street, or wandering over to another street to see what was going on. He knew how to look after himself. He had been a stray for a while so being able to look after himself was a necessity. He was a black and white long haired ball of fluff and he was big!

We had him for about seven years before he got ill, we never knew how old he really was. He died the night before we were going to take him to be put to sleep, he had deteriorated throughout the day and he needed to be let go. It was a great comfort to me that he had past away in his own home, in his box beside me. We buried him in his favourite spot in the garden. After a few months I decided it was time, I wanted another cat, I wanted a kitten!

My mum said that if I was going to have a kitten I should have two to keep each other company. So the search began! I wanted either all black or black and white kittens. Not ginger or tabby, all white or tortoiseshell. And I wanted boys, which put having tortoiseshells out the window anyway as they are almost always girls. After much searching and quite a few phone calls our local animal shelter said they had three black and white kittens, all siblings one girl and two boys. I couldn't get there quick enough. They were so nervous when they were brought in to us and I couldn't believe that they were actually going home with me. They were equally as nervous when we got them home, Bennie hid under a cushion the moment he was taken out of the carrier. I think they had been kept in a pen for the first ten weeks of their lives so suddenly finding themselves in someone's living room was probably quite daunting.

Scooby Doo

They grew so fast, soon they were adolescents and beating each other to a pulp at every opportunity. Although they would always be found soon afterwards curled up together asleep, all was forgotten. Bennie could jump up on top of doors or he would have mad moments where he would be running and jumping around with Scooby Doo looking on as if he thought he was completely nuts only to be so overcome by Bennie's energy that he couldn't help but join in!

People who don't know cats don't realise that every single cat that has ever lived has a had a personality all of its own. Bennie and Scooby were like chalk and cheese. Scooby was the shy silent type and he was extremely intelligent. He could open doors and food packets and seemed to be able to understand everything you said. Bennie was not very bright, he couldn't talk and was quite bossy, he had to eat first and Scooby would hang back and wait until Bennie had started to eat before he would start himself. Scooby liked being cuddled but Bennie would panic in your arms if you tried to cuddle him. The only thing they seemed to have in common character wise was that they both loved tummy tickles and kisses. They loved affection and gave it back in bucket loads!

As they got older they became more sleepy and enjoyed just relaxing and grooming. I also got older, I met my husband Matt and when we wanted to move in together I decided that I didn't want Bennie and Scooby to be moved from a home they had known all their lives, where they were settled and comfortable. They both loved Matt, they were just too old to move. I saw them everyday, one of the conditions of moving in with Matt was that we had to live close by. For days cried every time I looked at one of them in the lead up to my leaving, I didn't want to leave them. But they were happy.

They were older, but it still came as a shock when little under a month after Matt and I got married, my mum call and asked me to come over. Scooby was ill, he seemed to be in pain. When I got there he was unable to walk and he was crying out, we had to take him straight to the vet. They kept him in as soon as they saw him. It turned out that he had a heart condition which had caused his blood to thicken. A clot had got lodge in one of the arteries in his back end which is why he couldn't walk, it was too painful. They put him on medication and we were able to take him home, it was a Sunday. He was different, his eyes had changed and he just seemed overwhelmingly sad. He seemed glad to be home though, so we continued with the medication they had given us to give him. By Tuesday he seemed to have improved, he seemed happier. But on the Thursday afternoon there was something wrong, his head seemed to be leaning to one side and he didn't seem to be able to see out of one of his eyes. He was bumping in to things and as a result didn't want to move. That evening he started to become sleepy. I held him and he became lifeless. We decided it was best to take him back to the vet the next day.

Bennie (Loving his blanket)

Before I left that night I held him for one last time and I said goodbye just incase, I told him how much I loved him and how he had made me so happy to have had such a lovely and intelligent friend. He ate all his dinner that night, the first time he had eaten that much in a whole week. He died that night in one of his favourite sleeping places, behind the television. Again like Jack he died at home and of his own free will. Bennie and Scooby were house cats and never went out so it seemed wrong to put Scooby in the garden so we had him cremated and his ashes were put in a wooden box carved in the shape of a cat in the same position he liked to sleep in.

So Bennie was left all on his own. He has changed a lot since Scooby died, for a start he doesn't stop talking. It's as if every time you go out he thinks your not coming back, so when you do he is so pleased to see you he can't contain his relief at seeing you again. Perhaps its just me, but I think he misses is brother. He has his own health problems now, he has got renal failure so he has to eat a special diet, which he hates! He has lost weight and seems to be a little senile but he is always up for a tummy tickle and now even a cuddle! He loves just sitting there on your lap, just being close to you.

My little old man.