I stroke his long, smooth, ginger back.
“Ah! How he purrs! What a beautiful puss you are.”
Felix is the friendliest cat I have ever known. He has four white feet, a white bib and a stripy ginger white tail which he carries with dignity. His green eyes follow you round the room and he enjoys sharing our space. His squeak of a meow rather lets him down but at least he will not be littering the neighbourhood with his offspring. But there is a story attached to him. This cat has a history and I would like to share it with you.
We were given two beautiful ginger cats, brothers, called Leo and Felix. Leo was the great hunter and spent a lot of time outdoors. Felix was the timid one and he ruled indoors. On their arrival, we locked the cat flap so that we could keep them indoors and get them used to us and their new surroundings. What we did not know was that Felix was an escape artist.
The first night all was well and in the morning, we still had two cats. However, Felix had not been idle and all night had examined the cat flap thoroughly and had tried to make his bid for freedom. The next evening, he succeeded. Fortunately my husband came into the kitchen just in time to catch sight of Felix’s ginger tail slipping through the cat flap. Quick as a flash, my husband rushed out and lunged for the escaping puss but he was away, over the fence and gone. We spent days trying to find him. Armed with a tin bowl, spoon and cat treats, we went out at ‘cat time’. We have it on good authority that this is usually around 9pm in the summer. So, banging the tin bowl and feeling rather foolish, we stalked the back gardens and vegetable patches nearby and called in hushed voices,
“Felix” and “Here puss, puss.” Alas, nothing. He really had scarpered.
After a few more days we had to admit defeat and that was that. It was about this time I had a dream. I was convinced that Felix would come back to us. In my dream, I stood at the front door and saw Felix at the top of the drive. He desperately wanted to come home but was prevented by a large, friendly dog. Nobody believed my dream but I felt it was a positive sign. I was convinced that he was living somewhere in the village and felt quietly confident that one day, he would return. So time went on and a year passed.
We decided to get another cat and Meg arrived on the scene. Now we were back to two cats. Meg is a tabby fluffball and goes by many names, Megapuss, Powderpuff, Meg when she’s in a good mood and Smeg when she is all teeth and claws and growls when she is picked up.
One miserable, wet, dark, winter evening, we lost Leo. He simply disappeared. He was there for breakfast as usual and then never showed for tea. He simply vanished into thin air, never to be seen again. It is always tragic when the family pet goes missing and you have no idea what has happened to them. Imagination can play dreadful tricks as you play out horrendous scenarios in your head. A faithful companion has gone and there is a vacuum left. Every time you hear the rattle of the cat flap, you rush into the kitchen with expectation only to find it is the other cat. As the days go by, hope diminishes and resignation sets in. So sad. It was not the same with Felix. We were barely past the formal introductions in his case.
It was not very long after this that we got a phone call from the vets.
“We’ve got a cat here that’s registered to you. Are you prepared to pay the bill?”
“Oh, is that Leo?”
“No, it’s Felix.”
“Are you sure? We’ve lost Leo.”
“Yes quite sure.”
So feeling a bit puzzled, we agreed to pay the bill and talk to the people who had brought him in. What had happened is this. Felix had been living at the top end of the village with an old man in one of the bungalows. When the old man had needed to go into a care home, Felix was left to fend for himself. He had lived rough for a few months and some people across the road had been feeding him. They had given him the name ‘Paddy Paws’ because he was so friendly and when he was picked up, would kneed your chest enthusiastically. Then he had got himself into a scrap and needed a vet job. He was automatically scanned and they found that Felix had been chipped. His rescuers did not want to keep him because they already had three cats and a dog. What was our delight when we went up to see him and to discover,
‘Yes. It was definitely Felix!’ We scooped him up, took him away and shut him in the lounge. He calmly looked at us and within the hour, he just sat down and purred. He was finally home.
We were so scared of losing him again that we did not let him out for a few days and yes, we did barricade the cat flap. However, we need not have worried. The first day we let him out, he would not go! He was terrified! I tried to encourage him to go out and explore the great outdoors, so picked him up and made for the door. He was having none of it! He squirmed and wriggled in my arms and as soon as his feet touched the ground, he ran straight back in. Eventually it was Meg who enticed him to go out. He followed her out one day and all was well.
He is now very settled and the only clue to his life on the streets and his seedy past was when I went upstairs one day and caught him trying to drink from the toilet! Such is life!
Like all cats, he has quite a personality and one little incident that I would like to share with you concerns hot stuff. He apparently has a taste for curry. One day our freezer had decided to pack up. We managed to salvage most of the contents and left on the table was a packet of incredibly hot chilli sausages. We had only left the room for a moment when, coming back in, we were greeted with the sight of Felix helping himself to one of the sausages! The next day when Felix came back in, my husband, who had been robbed of his spicy feast, remarked sadistically, “Did it burn at both ends my puss?”
And you may wonder what the twist is to this tale. Well, believe it or not, it is all completely true. Sometimes it is the true stories that are the most remarkable.
This true story is taken from Animal Tales and Funny Stories.
Felix is the cat featured on the cover of the book and still lives with us.
“Ah! How he purrs! What a beautiful puss you are.”
Felix is the friendliest cat I have ever known. He has four white feet, a white bib and a stripy ginger white tail which he carries with dignity. His green eyes follow you round the room and he enjoys sharing our space. His squeak of a meow rather lets him down but at least he will not be littering the neighbourhood with his offspring. But there is a story attached to him. This cat has a history and I would like to share it with you.
We were given two beautiful ginger cats, brothers, called Leo and Felix. Leo was the great hunter and spent a lot of time outdoors. Felix was the timid one and he ruled indoors. On their arrival, we locked the cat flap so that we could keep them indoors and get them used to us and their new surroundings. What we did not know was that Felix was an escape artist.
The first night all was well and in the morning, we still had two cats. However, Felix had not been idle and all night had examined the cat flap thoroughly and had tried to make his bid for freedom. The next evening, he succeeded. Fortunately my husband came into the kitchen just in time to catch sight of Felix’s ginger tail slipping through the cat flap. Quick as a flash, my husband rushed out and lunged for the escaping puss but he was away, over the fence and gone. We spent days trying to find him. Armed with a tin bowl, spoon and cat treats, we went out at ‘cat time’. We have it on good authority that this is usually around 9pm in the summer. So, banging the tin bowl and feeling rather foolish, we stalked the back gardens and vegetable patches nearby and called in hushed voices,
“Felix” and “Here puss, puss.” Alas, nothing. He really had scarpered.
After a few more days we had to admit defeat and that was that. It was about this time I had a dream. I was convinced that Felix would come back to us. In my dream, I stood at the front door and saw Felix at the top of the drive. He desperately wanted to come home but was prevented by a large, friendly dog. Nobody believed my dream but I felt it was a positive sign. I was convinced that he was living somewhere in the village and felt quietly confident that one day, he would return. So time went on and a year passed.
We decided to get another cat and Meg arrived on the scene. Now we were back to two cats. Meg is a tabby fluffball and goes by many names, Megapuss, Powderpuff, Meg when she’s in a good mood and Smeg when she is all teeth and claws and growls when she is picked up.
One miserable, wet, dark, winter evening, we lost Leo. He simply disappeared. He was there for breakfast as usual and then never showed for tea. He simply vanished into thin air, never to be seen again. It is always tragic when the family pet goes missing and you have no idea what has happened to them. Imagination can play dreadful tricks as you play out horrendous scenarios in your head. A faithful companion has gone and there is a vacuum left. Every time you hear the rattle of the cat flap, you rush into the kitchen with expectation only to find it is the other cat. As the days go by, hope diminishes and resignation sets in. So sad. It was not the same with Felix. We were barely past the formal introductions in his case.
It was not very long after this that we got a phone call from the vets.
“We’ve got a cat here that’s registered to you. Are you prepared to pay the bill?”
“Oh, is that Leo?”
“No, it’s Felix.”
“Are you sure? We’ve lost Leo.”
“Yes quite sure.”
So feeling a bit puzzled, we agreed to pay the bill and talk to the people who had brought him in. What had happened is this. Felix had been living at the top end of the village with an old man in one of the bungalows. When the old man had needed to go into a care home, Felix was left to fend for himself. He had lived rough for a few months and some people across the road had been feeding him. They had given him the name ‘Paddy Paws’ because he was so friendly and when he was picked up, would kneed your chest enthusiastically. Then he had got himself into a scrap and needed a vet job. He was automatically scanned and they found that Felix had been chipped. His rescuers did not want to keep him because they already had three cats and a dog. What was our delight when we went up to see him and to discover,
‘Yes. It was definitely Felix!’ We scooped him up, took him away and shut him in the lounge. He calmly looked at us and within the hour, he just sat down and purred. He was finally home.
We were so scared of losing him again that we did not let him out for a few days and yes, we did barricade the cat flap. However, we need not have worried. The first day we let him out, he would not go! He was terrified! I tried to encourage him to go out and explore the great outdoors, so picked him up and made for the door. He was having none of it! He squirmed and wriggled in my arms and as soon as his feet touched the ground, he ran straight back in. Eventually it was Meg who enticed him to go out. He followed her out one day and all was well.
He is now very settled and the only clue to his life on the streets and his seedy past was when I went upstairs one day and caught him trying to drink from the toilet! Such is life!
Like all cats, he has quite a personality and one little incident that I would like to share with you concerns hot stuff. He apparently has a taste for curry. One day our freezer had decided to pack up. We managed to salvage most of the contents and left on the table was a packet of incredibly hot chilli sausages. We had only left the room for a moment when, coming back in, we were greeted with the sight of Felix helping himself to one of the sausages! The next day when Felix came back in, my husband, who had been robbed of his spicy feast, remarked sadistically, “Did it burn at both ends my puss?”
And you may wonder what the twist is to this tale. Well, believe it or not, it is all completely true. Sometimes it is the true stories that are the most remarkable.
This true story is taken from Animal Tales and Funny Stories.
Felix is the cat featured on the cover of the book and still lives with us.