Muscovy Duck

Muscovy Duck
Roosting on the gate

2011 - My second year of blogging in Brittany

I felt I would like to share some of the photographs I have taken so far this year and some from other years. I live in a beautiful part of Brittany and just love being here. It's a lovely place to photograph and enjoy being in through all the seasons and hopefully this blog will show you where I live my life.



Wednesday, July 25, 2012

ALFIE - just the best cat - 1998-2012

For me, today is one of the saddest days.  My beautiful Alfie, the best cat in the world with such a lovely temperament, has just taken his last journey to the vet.

He joined my family in June 1998 with his brother Oscar and has been a treasure.  This is him when he was young and before he filled out to be the big cat he became.

  

In May last year I took a photograph of him on the stairs and when I loaded it onto the laptop and looked at it properly his right eye was like a solid emerald stone – his left eye was the yellowy golden colour that was his norm.  Apparently it is the lens which becomes detached and creates this effect.  



I took him to the vet in Corlay and they operated on 30 May last year to find that he had a tumour and had to remove his right eye.  They were unable to remove all of the tumour because of the restrictions of space in that area.  After a little problem with an infection everything healed up and he had just over another year of good life with us.  Here he is with the other two after his wound had healed.



Yesterday when I arrived home he was walking very slowly and I picked him up and took him to his food.  His miaow had also changed last week from a normal cry to a guttural sound – I thought he must have a bit of a cold.  In the early evening he sat on my lap for about half an hour and when I turned him round to face me I suddenly saw that his left eye had also turned to emerald stone.  I was devastated and just couldn’t stop crying.  My lovely Alfie, who has been with me for just over fourteen years was going to have to go to the vet for the last time.  

Here he is with Daisy on the left and Purrdy on the right all sleeping together on the windowsill.


Alfie has seen countless kittens and cats come and go and has never ever fought with any of them.  He had such a lovely nature, even the vet says she has never known such a placid and easy cat to treat – quite different from my other cats.  He has never been much of a hunter far too laid back for that.  He just liked lying in the sun and then the shade, being combed, stroked and loved and getting close to the woodburner in the winter months.  
Thank you for bringing such joy into my life, Alfie, it will be the poorer now you are no longer here with me.

8 comments:

  1. Losing a member of our beloved animal families is the WORST. We can keep them with us always in memories and photos.
    Sending as much sympathy as the cyber waves can carry...

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  2. Sandra, I'm sorry to hear about Alfie; it's always a sad day when you lose a beloved pet. But it sounds (and looks) as though he had a very good life. I loved seeing him cuddled up with Daisy and Purrdy. -Jean

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  3. Thanks all of you for your support. I feel better today, but it is so difficult to accept that a loved animal who has been with you for fourteen years isn't going to be on the settee when you come down in the morning, or come through the cat door when it clicks open. He was a lovely cat and you do have to know and accept when to say goodbye if you have pets don't you? Sandra x

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  4. I am so sorry Sandra. My cat has a tumour on his spine so I know that day will come eventually, but it doesn't make it any easier. :-(

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  5. Thanks, Mandy. That's bad news about your cat, it's very difficult isn't it? I still expect to see Alfie around because he has been around for so long. Harry, my new cat is very loving to me and even sits on me outside which none of the others do. My two girls though do not like him at all, so there's a lot of confrontational miaowing.

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  6. Hi Sandra, I was very sorry to hear about your lovely cat. I hope you feel better soon.

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  7. so sad, I´m very sorry for that..i also love cats. And I know how is to loose one of them, specialy one that you had had for so much time. may you find joy in the other cats you have...

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