Goodbye Sweet Tinks

I am writing this through tears.  Our sweet black and white cat, Tinker, passed away this morning at the age of sixteen.

He was the last of our five cats.  How quiet the house is going to seem from now on with no mewing, no scratching at the patio doors to get into the lounge, no being the first in the queue at feeding time.  For the first time in all our married life we will not have a cat in the home.

The death of a much loved pet is devastating at any time but now, with my radiotherapy treatment starting next week , it has hit me so very hard.  Last year we lost our beautiful Collie, Pip.  The year before that we lost our cat Flicky.  So this is the third year in a row for us that one of our animal companions has left us.

We knew he was old but had not expected his death to come yet.  The strange thing was that he hardly ever went into the dining room.  He was more a kitchen and sunlounge cat.  However, he must have felt his end was near and went into the dining room and died just close to where we have the ashes of Pip.  Pip and he were great friends.  Tinker would rub his little head all over Pip's large one, they would curl up together.  We like to think that he was getting as close to Pip as he possibly could before his little soul left his body.

It was Mike who found him, he went in there to get something and came out with tears in his eyes, telling me he had bad news.  I guessed immediately.

Mike is digging a grave under our Plum tree where he will rest in peace. He will be close to Flicky and Jasper.

I remember so well the day we got him   We went out for a day trip to a nearby zoo which has now closed down.  There was myself, Mike and Becky.  We had a wander around looking at all the animals, then a cup of tea and a cake at the tearoom.  I wandered off again and in a corner area, saw a pen with kittens for sale.  We had no intention, at that time, of getting another cat.  I love all animals and kittens are so sweet that I stood for ages just staring at them.  Then this little one came and climbed the wire and putting his tongue through began licking my hand.  I wandered off and then returned.  He did the same thing.  He looked frantic when I walked off again.  The third time he did it, I knew he had "chosen" me.  I told Mike about him and showed him.  Mike said we did not want any more animals.  We left the zoo and drove off.  I could not stop thinking about the little bundle of black and white fur and I could not stop talking about him either.  It was inevitable that Mike turned the car around and before we knew it I had a cardboard box on my knee containing a lively kitten.  I named him Tinker on the way home.

He had been through three changes of home with us, he had seen so much, too much to relate here but - Becky married, the arrival of our Grandsons and had also seen, one by one, all his animals friends leave him.  I know he was lonely after Flicky died because, next to Pip, Flicky was his best mate and the only other cat.  He really went into a decline after Pip died.  He was never the same after that.

So, now he is gone.  Sixteen years of love, sixteen years of fun, sixteen years of memories.  He leaves behind a huge hole, a house bereft of cats.  I grew up with them. I have always had them.  From the time I was three I can remember my parents' beautiful ginger cat, Sandy. I always wanted a ginger cat but was never lucky enough to have one.  They are so hard to obtain in these parts.  So you can really say that it is the first time in sixty years I will not be "owned" by a cat.  With Tinker's passing a chapter has come to an end.

I still cannot believe it, I expect him to walk into the room at any moment, hear his familiar cry.  Instead I look out into the garden and see Mike digging a grave whilst the tears keep flowing from my eyes.

*I had to break off here.  I wanted to be there when the act took place.  He has a lovely site, under the tree as I said.  I picked some Marigold flowers and then  scattered them gently over him and said my farewells whilst shaking with tears and grief.

So, goodbye old friend and companion.  I hope you are with Pip, Flicky, Muffin, Peanut, Japser, Bonnie, Brandy and all our other beloved pets at the Rainbow Bridge.  Thank you for your love, your friendship, the happiness you brought us.  We will never forget you.  Rest in peace, Tinks, rest in peace.