Wednesday 26 October 2011

Basil's Visit to the Vet




A few months ago our elderly cat, Ginger, went out one night and didn't come back. We put the usual notice up and asked neighbours to keep a look out for him. After a week we decided he wasn't going to ever scramble in through the cat flap again. So we went on the internet and looked for a new cat. The first one we made enquires about had just gone to a new home. The next phone number on the list of cats seeking a good home turned out to be an answering machine that didn't do what the voice said it would do, i.e. ring back. So we tried the next number and we got this handsome cat. He was called Ginger, for obvious reasons, but we decided to rename him as we had just lost a cat called Ginger. Basil was decided on because he has a permanently bushy tail. Just like the fox of the same name.
Anyway today I took him to the vet for his inoculation. The vet took one look at him and declared that he was a Maine Coon cat. I'd never heard of the breed so when I got home I had a look on the www. He may not be a pure Maine Coon cat but a lot of his ancestry is. So it looks like we have an American living with us.
A couple of days after we got Basil, a neighbour a few doors down knocked on the door. Between our back gardens and the cliff face there is a 15 foot wide stretch of wild ground. He’d been looking over his garden wall and noticed a ginger cat lying in the weeds. At first he thought it was asleep but some realised he wasn’t. He came round and told us so we were able collect Ginger and bury him in his favourite corner of the garden.

3 comments:

Barry said...

At least you got to bury him and say goodbye. I have never had a cat but I think it must be hard if they do disapear and you don't know what has happened to them.

retired driver Peter said...

I sympathise with your loss, but it will be comforting to know his whereabouts and final resting place.
Over the years I have lived with many cats (including Snowy who lived with us for 22 years)and realise how they become part of -and indeed rulers - of the household.
I hope your new compaqnion soon settles in and trains you in his ways.

David said...

Thanks for the kind works Pete & Barry. We have had quite a few cats over the years, some have just vanished which is distressing. At least I know what happened to poor Ginger.
The new cat has already started to show us he is the boss.