While I was so sick and fighting fever demons in my bed that week of the raging temperature, someone else was sick and I had no idea. Tom has had a kidney infection before after a tick and it would appear that he was brewing another bout. By the time I was strong enough to stand and get around the house I noticed that he wasn’t himself and tick checked him and tried to ascertain what was wrong. No tick symptoms but he was definitely in pain so I resolved that when Ged got home (he had been up the coast doing a course for a long weekend) we would get him to a vet. I suppose I was so concerned with my own symptoms that I didn’t realise how ill Tom was or Tom, being Tom, just soldiered on, looking pretty normal, if a little subdued. When Ged came home we both examined him and resolved to take him to the vet the following day. I brought him in that night and put him in Phee’s basket by the fire to make sure he was warm (the nights are still cold) and he stretched out and looked quite all right. I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the loo and checked on him but he was long gone. My poor boy. He was the most amazing cat right from the word go when Phee adopted him at Tamworth. Phee was determined to have his little friend even though I was completely resistant. Tom won my heart though with his love for Phee and he let Phee drag him around by the head and play with him ad nauseam. They were true brothers. And for Tom, we were his family. Phee and I were his. Wherever we went he wanted to come too. He has come on countless runs with us – even as far as Flat Rock and back and it was always lovely to come home and know he was there. Wherever we had been, he was the heart and the hearthfire of our home. He used to lick those he loved (which could be a painful experience with that raspy tongue) and he was incredibly beautiful. True green eyes and the bushiest tail anyone has ever espied on a cat (maybe he was part possum). He was the hairiest cat I have ever seen. He had the softest, most beautiful nose and delicate little paws and he was a great ‘watcher’ from wherever he had picked for his day’s rest. He was an excellent mouser and it is true that he loved to kill birds but he knew he wasn’t allowed and used to try and restrain himself accordingly. Both times we moved he was just loose in the car with Phee and would get out and have a wee with Phee when we stopped and then pile back in the car for the rest of the way. He always came when he was called, wherever we were, because he knew he belonged with us. It took him a long time to settle in at Avalon. All those men and disruption and none of his furniture to claim and rest on. But he had finally settled in, had decided to love Ged and there seemed to be no good reason for him to leave us.

He has left a huge whole for such a little man. It’s horrible coming home to an empty house. Phee is lost without his best friend to rouse when he wants to play or chat, and when we come home there’s no-one to tell all about his adventures. He was such a joy – a low maintenance constant on my bed, in our lives, moulting all over the furniture. And he and Phee would curl up together wherever, they just loved each other so much. I can’t really believe he’s gone. It was so totally unexpected. He was only 3. Just a baby. I feel so guilty that I din’t get him to a vet earlier, but guilt is a useless emotion and will not bring him back. Ged dug a huge hole by the house and I put him in there with part of the wool rug he loved so much. I have planted a baby bottlebrush over him to attract the birds which he would like.

I am so tempted to try and replace him but I honestly think he is irreplaceable. The bond he had with Phee couldn’t be recreated. It was a truly unique relationship and no-one who ever saw them playing together will forget the miracle that they presented and the laughter they engendered with their bizarre antics. Plus a cat in the country like this is a bad idea for the birds. So we will have to save up for a girlfriend for Phee and we will have to learn to live without him. He was a loyal, loving and true friend and we are so sad that he is gone.

I wish him happy hunting grounds and friends as dear to him as we were. He was very special and totally unique. He won over even the most hardened cat haters. I hope he can forgive me for not taking care of him better and that he rests in peace and joy.

THE VERY BEAUTIFUL AND SPECIAL TOM CAT.  MAY HE REST  IN PEACE.