It feels odd being in the house without Kathy, I know I spend a lot of time during the day by myself normally but its in the evenings that I really miss her. It seems odd cooking just for me and the evenings drag on and when it comes to bed time it really does hit home.

But I’m not the only one missing her. Most of the cats, like Chester and Munchkin, don’t really seem to be bothered, and Chester only really gets bothered when we’ve got the suitcases out and mum and dad turn up because he knows something is going on. But Bandit really is missing her.

Bandit was a cat we didn’t plan on having. When we went to get Pixie, who is a black cat, Bandit was the only kitten left from the litter who hadn’t been adopted and he was the runt of the litter and so we took him home along with Pixie.

Here is a photo of him taken as soon as we got him home back in August 2006 (the fuzzy black in the background is Pixie) :

Bandit, along with Pixie, is a quite photogenic and when he was settling in here he just gave us a lot of photo opportunities:

Those being just two from a large collection of “cute” photos.

As Bandit grew (and boy did he grow) he really bonded with Kathy and sometimes he seems to behave more like a dog in that he followed Kathy round the house and he loved carrying things round in his mouth too. In the evenings after supper he often hopped up into Kathy’s lap to get some attention and he “patty paws” her. Bandit is really Kathy’s cat and he never grew out of the habits he showed as a kitten.

He’s now three and is a big solid cat as can be seen from this recent picture where he is relaxing on the doormats we brought back from the boat for cleaning (the ears in the foreground are Pixie’s)

He might be a big solid cat but he’s really missing Kathy and when I go to bed at night he hops up on top of me and miaows and demands lots of attention. If I ignore him then he headbutts my hand or my arm until I give him tickles. If I put my arms under the covers then he lies on me and stretches out his left paw and pats me on the chin, and if I ignore that then he resorts to licking the end of my nose. Then when he’s had enough tickles he goes to the bottom of the bed and goes to sleep down there. When Kathy is home he tends to sleep on her side of the bed.

Now I know that you’ll probably just say that its a cat and he doesn’t care where he gets his tickles from but its only in the early evening that his behaviour changes. During the day he’s doing just what he does most days, sleeping on our bed or out in the utility room on the boat mats. Its when it gets to about 6:30 which is when Kathy usually home that he starts prowling round the house more and he miaows a lot more too.

Both Kathy and I know what he’ll be like when she gets home, she wont be able to go anywhere in the house for days without him sticking to her like glue and any time she sits down he’ll be there in her lap demanding attention.

Smokey, one of our two Manx cats, died today. She had developed kidney disease and she was off her food and was very subdued so we took her back to the vets on Saturday. Despite trying “poor man’s dialysis” where they put the cat on a saline drip to help flush the kidneys through the creatinine levels didn’t drop and the vet said that it was pretty much the end for her.

So Kathy and I left work early and Kathy went in to be with Smokey as she was put to sleep. Kathy gave her lots of tickles from me and talked to her, Smokey purred and Kathy continued to talk to her and tickle and stroke her as the vet injected her. She passed away very quickly, and although we know that she wouldn’t understand a word Kathy was saying the fact that there was a voice, a touch, a smell and a person she recognised and indeed would have been the last thing she “remembered” as she went under is some small comfort.

The following photos of Smokey are ones I took when I lived in my flat on Gloucester Road, when she and Sooty ruled the roost and the sofa was, as you can see, Smokey’s domain

Smokey was much more than just a pet. Manx cats seem to favour a single person and she decided that the person she was going to favour was me. When I was sitting in my chair watching TV she’d climb up and onto the back and snuggle down against my neck, sometimes she’d even lick it for me

At night she would often climb onto the bed and it was always my side that she climbed up onto and where she stayed, usually right at the top by my chest. I’d lie there listening her purring and I lost count of the number of times I woke up to find her with her head lying on the pillow.

The house seems strangely empty without her. Her “meeping” at us for food or attention, having to move her so I can get in and out of bed.

Smokey, family cat and companion, you will be sorely missed by us all.

Well if all goes to plan we are off to the boat on Thursday night for a few “relaxing” days away from work. I say relaxing because we haven’t quite decided how much to push. If the weather is lousy too hot me might not go far, if the weather conditions are just right then we’ll push on a bit.

Smokey is coming with us as are Bandit and Pixie because we can’t leave Smokey at home by herself due to her diet and Bandit and Pixie would just reduce the house to a complete wreck if we left them for 4 days.

Here’s a picture of Bandit and Pixie looking innocent: