Memorials
In this section, you will find an honour roll for all of our beloved companions listed in alphabetical order by the first name. Please click on the letters to see the memorials that have already been added.
Animal friends will be remembered on our Today We Remember page on the anniversary of their death.
Animal friends that passed away within the last 3 years will also be remembered on our Facebook page. Please note that only memorials with a photo included and the date of death recorded can be shared on Facebook.
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Louis
14/03/05 - 14/11/11
To our darling Louis. You were our "Precious Little Hippy", never showed your teeth to man nor dog, all you wanted was peace and love in the world, and of course your rag toy to be thrown! You were taken from us far too early, you were only 6 years old, obviously heaven needed another special angel. We all miss you terribly, but we will never stop remembering you and loving you. Wait for us in heaven "Little Prince". Lots of love always Mummy, Daddy, Natalie, Nicole and Greg. Not forgetting your brother and sister Harvey and Saffy. X X X X X X X
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Luca
25/02/03 - 10/06/14
25th February 2003 - 10th June 2014
I first saw my Luca cat when she was a few weeks old. She stole my heart.
I collected her when she was nine weeks old and I am sure that was too young " I actually took her from her mum which always made me feel sad. She was so scared; she snuggled under my top in the car on the way home and spent her first night in the spare room on her own. Not the best start but Tarka was fairly hostile to her and I couldn’t let her be beaten up. I couldn’t find her straight away the next morning and only a floor to ceiling search found her " she had put herself to sleep in the continental pillow pillowcase. The second night she slept with me and for the next 11 years, that was the case whenever possible.
She grew out of her timidity fairly quickly and she and Tarka made friends. She always wanted to be friends with Tarka, Tarka wasn’t so sure. The last time there was any trouble, Tarka tried to bite her and one of Tarka’s milk teeth fell out " I think she decided that Luca was strangely off limits at that point and the two got on like a house on fire. They loved each other, played with each other, slept together, and washed each other. They were inseparable.
When Tarka had her back problems and I had to bath her to wash away the urine, Luca used to run up and down next to the bath, crying out for Tarka and then washing her dry afterwards. When I used to wash the floor with Milton she used to drape herself and rub herself all over it. She was a little mad!
She was also fairly mischievous as a kitten and a formidable huntress (thief). The first time we realised her kleptomaniac tendencies was when she brought home a perfectly cooked, still warm hamburger patty and proudly presented it to us. She then progressed onto chop bones, the bits of paper in meat packages, pot scourers and sponges and the piece de resistance " an old wound dressing. She also loved to catch cockroaches and crickets and on a good night, we might wake up in the morning and find 10 cockroaches and three crickets, dead - and scattered around the bedroom. She never caught many birds or mice although was quite happy to chatter at them in the garden.
In South Africa, she was very much an outdoor cat who was out most of the night and then dozed all day long. The move to the UK changed that to a large extent. At first, while in quarantine, she sulked terribly. I used to go and visit them every week while they were there and the routine was pretty much always the same…
When I got there, Tarka would start shouting LOUDLY because she could hear me and she was so excited to see me. Luca was more subdued. When I went in, Tarka would be all over me, purring and meowing and giving me kisses. Then she would get bored and would go and lie down or wash and then I would get to love Luca. Luca liked to lie on my lap and sharpen her claws on my jeans (She did that for years afterwards " I do not own a pair of jeans without pulled threads!). She would also get the devil in her and try to bite me when I gently tugged her ears " but never hard " she had a very gentle mouth. Then Luca and I would play. There wasn't much space so we could not play like we usually did, but I would do what I could and then pat her hard on her side and she purred so loudly - she was so happy.
She loved soft toys and the little mice with rattling things in their tummies. If you gave her one of those mice, the tail would last for about 10 seconds before she had eaten it. She killed and ate the soft toys. My beautiful furred gloves didn’t stand a chance. She would throw the soft toys around and then bring them to me, drop them at my feet while meowing loudly and proudly and then she would eat them. My cat also stole the local children’s soft toys! My husband saw her furtively come in one day carrying something " it was a toy Siamese cat. She also brought home a pink teddy bear saying “It’s a girl!” and a blue one saying “It’s a boy!” She also brought us a toy frog. It was really embarrassing as I had no way of knowing who they came from or what child she had stolen them from.
We got them out of quarantine after the six months were up and they were so happy to come home albeit seemed a little shell-shocked by all the space they had. Luca decided that night time was a good time to play with her mice and other toys so I would then have to get up and take them away from her and snuggle her until she went to sleep. Tarka just purred and purred. Every now and again, they would shout because they couldn’t find us - but they settled in really well. And Luca became a very loving and social cat - much more than she had been in SA. There really was a marked difference.
The first time they went outside they raced around like lunatics and Tarka fell in the pond because it was covered in duck weed which looked like grass. Luca was convinced that she was ready for the big bad world again and after two weeks of being indoors, they were allowed out again. They loved the UK. One morning I came down to the kitchen and they had cornered a baby greenfinch but were really scared of it " so just stared and then ran to tell me all about it. They were like that " real scaredy cats. Luca used to growl when the doorbell rang. But I think that is because she was usually on my lap and knew that it meant I would be getting up to answer it.
For Luca, the primary purpose of my breasts was for kneading " she would go into a trance kneading them. She would also spend hours washing my hands for me because I was obviously very dirty. She would try and wash my husband occasionally but it was too ticklish for him. She loved to suck Tarka’s ear " when they lay together, Tarka always had a sopping wet ear that had been sucked and chewed to bits. Most nights, when I bathed, she joined me in the bathroom. I had taught her to jump onto the toilet from where I would have to cup my hands and fill them with water so that she could drink delicious bath water. She used to “prrum” at me before this and we would talk to each other a while before she jumped up.
Luca adored biltong and Parma ham and especially my husband’s raw chicken that he used to cut up for curries. She would hang around his feet and gently ask and he would give her little titbits. She and Tarka loved their special chicken cat food and used to get it every Friday. They knew it was a Friday and would hang around me until I gave in and fed them. Tarka gobbles up her food too fast and quite often throws it up. Luca would kindly clean it up for us as well.
I was really fortunate that for most of the time I have been in the UK (indeed until October last year) I worked from home and the rhythm of my days included the cats and where they were and what they were doing. I am so grateful for that time with them.
Luca would usually spend the day on my lap and was convinced that my typing was a special game that I was playing just for her. She would watch me type and very gently catch my fingers in her mouth when they came close to the edge of the keyboard. In the five years that I worked at home, two laptops needed to go to tech support because the keyboard was totally gunked up with cat fur! Their rightful place was on my lap being loved.
She loved playing. We used to play a stair game which involved me poking my hand out from between the stairs and trying to catch her tail and legs and she would try and kill it. I also used to throw her mouse up the stairs in such a way that it went through them and slid down to the bottom. She used to race up and down chasing the mouse. We could spend hours doing that " I usually tired before she did!
She loved going outside. Every morning, she would wake me up by tapping me lightly on my face. I would stroke her and snuggle her back under the duvet and she would purr and wait for another 15 minutes before trying again. Once I was up, she would race me downstairs and I would open the front door for her and she would go and do her morning rounds. Even if it was miserable and cold, she loved going out. But if it was cold, would come back in fairly soon for a cuddle.
In May 2012, she was diagnosed with arthritis. She was put on Metacam which she adored. Only once she had eaten did she get the medicine. She would pretend that she had eaten and when I had checked her breath for biscuits and told her no, she would run back and pretend to eat again " that would continue until she really had eaten. She took so much pleasure from it, and I know that it might have shortened her life but I could not live with a cat in pain, who cried every time you picked her up.
She loved watching Springwatch " that was an especially exciting show. She used to watch from my lap until it got unbearably exciting and would then jump off and go and stand up in front of the TV to see close up. Most animal shows were interesting as were cartoons.
Sadly (and it is something that I will always feel terrible about) for the last two months of her life, Luca cat was in an Elizabethan collar. She had a sore on her belly button which she just wouldn’t stop licking. I don’t know why I didn’t take her back to the vet sooner to get a cream or something because when she was at her last check up (two weeks before she got ill) they gave me a cream and it started healing. She hated the collar. But when she was on my lap in the evenings and on the weekends I would take it off and let her wash herself (covering the sore with my hand) and love her and stroke her. She was losing weight but I thought it was because of the collar, so every night I would hand feed her. She would fall asleep tightly coiled up under my jersey and I would gently cradle her. On the Thursday, when she got sick, I took the collar off and left it off " so she had three days without it before she went to the vet and I am glad of that " even if she didn’t feel all that well.
I am not going to linger on the six days that she was ill or the terrible desperate pain of putting her to sleep - she died in my arms purring to the end and we miss her desperately. We miss her - and are only now starting to put our lives back together.
Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.
I love and miss you my Luca cat. With all my heart and soul. You’ll never be forgotten.
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Lucky
31/10/97 - 08/01/13
Sadly we had to have our gorgeous boy Lucky PTS on 08/01/13-he was almost 16. He had battled CRF for 3 years,but on the morning of Tuesday 8th January 2013-he had a seizure which caused him to lose control of his bowels and we knew he wanted to say goodbye. At 08:50 that morning, he slipped away to the Rainbrow bridge-Farewell my Bonnie Lad xxx
Lament To Lucky
The sky was filled with sunshine the day you came to us
We thought you were just visiting and we made such a fuss
For weeks you kept coming and never really going away
You were trying to tell us that you really wanted to stay
For the last six years we shared each others' lives
Many days filled with joy and only one that made us cry
You battled through your illness up to the bitter end
There was nothing could be done to get you on the mend
Our parting gift to you dear Lucky, was just simply this
We bent forward and gave you one last loving kiss
We held your paws while you slipped away and saw you breathe your last
Nothing more could be done for you as the final die was cast
We shed many tears and bade you farewell
Inside we were hurting, as everyone could tell
Farewell our darling Lucky, our gorgeous lovely lad
Across the Rainbow bridge you'll play with new friends to make you glad
We'll miss you so much with each and every passing day
Taking comfort from the fact that you are never far away
Even though the Bridge has taken you we'll never be far apart
As with every passing second you'll remain forever in our hearts
Love Mummy,Daddy and Gypsy
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Lucky
16/06/98 - 27/09/12
Lucky, I cared for your mum when she was carrying you, giving her belly rubs and then when you, your brothers and sister were born I chose you - the fluffy black one of the litter. I named you Lucky because you were my little black cat and because I was lucky to have you. You saved my life in ways you will never know and in ways no one will ever understand. You were my angel. In 2005 we lost Jasmine to cancer and then in September 2011 we lost your mum to kidney failure. A year on cancer stole you from me and the worst moment for me was watching life slip from you and holding you in my arms, knowing it was the last time. The daily heartache I feel is a reminder of the strength of the love I have for you, a love that will remain with me forver. I know you are with Jasmine, your mum and Tiger and you're all being looked after by Grandad, Auntie Jean and all of the others I have loved and lost. I know many more will likely join you before I do, but when I leave this world behind I know happiness waits for me and that my heart will soar as I hold you all again. I love you my sweet angel xxxx
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Lucky
Unknown - 13/07/15
Lucky you were a wonderful little soul, a treasured companion, who is missed dearly. Forever in our hearts. ❤️''-
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Lucky
Unknown - 19/01/13
lucky your always in my thoughts, a day dont go by tht i dont think of you.silly things remind of you miss u dearly my lovely boy
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Lucky
15/12/95 - 22/10/12
My gorgeous little girl went to Rainbow Bridge on 22 Ocober 2012 and I miss you so much. I love you so much. You were my best friend, a companion and always there with your unconditional love. God bless my beautiful baby. x
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Lucky
Unknown - 11/01/23
My gorgeous girl, it has taken me a year to write this and I still don't know what to say. No words will ever really capture what you mean to me. We had 14 years together - that was over a third of my life with you by my side. I still can't really fathom that you're not physically here anymore. But our bond will never break baby girl. I miss everything about you, from your kisses and your soft crinkly ears, to your funny flouncing and your big doggy grin. Despite the arthritis that plagued you for so long, I desperately hope you still enjoyed a wonderful quality of life baby girl. You seemed to love the sniffari's, physio and mooches in the Lucky truck, almost as much as you used to love long walks and chasing the ball. There is so much more I could say darling girl but for now, please just know how loved and missed you are. Everyone who met you loved you, but none more than us. Life isn't the same without you and Hugo here but we both carry the two of you with us and hope that you two found each other, and that you're warm and cosy and feel safe. Have good snuggles and sleep tight my beautiful girl. I desperately hope that I see you on the other side. I love you my sweet girl and I always will xxxx
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Lucky
Unknown - 05/08/13
My darling angel Lucky, died of kidney failure, we had to put her down due to her seizures, she was in so much pain. It was a hard decision, but seeing her fall to sleep and the pain etch away and be replaced with a peaceful contentment, was better than seeing her suffer. She spent 16 years with me, and I am eternally grateful to Lucky, sister of Timmy who died peacefully on the porch last year, she was the best cat to me, more like a sister. My heart feels empty along with my home, but I know no other cat can replace my angels. R.I.P now in the garden next to your brother, and remember what I told you, I love you Lucky. It hurts to breathe, it hurts to live, it hurts to be without you, although I know I must continue without your companionship, you were there for me when others weren't, I will never forget you angel xxxxx
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Lucy
01/12/86 - 19/10/99
to our wonderful Lucy-loo
always in our hearts, love and miss you so much.
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