Sunny

My dear sweet Sunny, a cat. Not just any cat, as a cat owner - or a person who is owned by a cat - will tell you.

Sunny arrived with me in 1995. He was born in April - he was an Aries.

As you may have guessed he is now no longer with us.

As a small kitten he was an absolute delight - but he did not meouw or let alone squeek. He would just sit and look at me in the hope that I would tune into his brainwaves. He had ESP or thought he had.

He had a long coat, not 'Persian' long but long. When he had his first trip to the vet all we heard from the nurses was "Oooh he is so fluffy!" Yes, he was fluffy and his belly fur was as curly as a poodles. He had a black and tabby back (with a little hint of red!), white legs and belly and the most glorious white 'ruff' around his neck and throat. His front legs boasted a stripe across the front - just above the paws (this is what made him different from his siblings as they had no stripes on their front legs!).

His paws boasted a huge amount of hair. When he padded across the floor you could not hear him at all, not like Smudge our other cat, he would 'click click' across the floor and if Sunny was chasing a ball then he took off as though he was on ice skates. He could not get a grip with the hair between his pads.

I always thought that he was something special. Hairy paws, no speech (at all!) and such a glorious coat. His beautiful amber (sometimes) green eyes were so knowing. He would look and absorb all around. He also had the knack of being able to get his toys out of two boxes. The toys would be put in a 'ferrero rocher' plastic box which was placed in a shoe box. He would nudge the shoe box across the floor to a 'wall' and then using his nose open the lid of the box then with his paw manage to open the plastic box and retreive his toy. He was amazing!.

I did not know his name until he was with us about 2 weeks. I tried all names for him and none of them got a response until one day I said, (in exasperation) "Sunny!!" and he immediately turned and came to me... I had found his name.

It wasn't until he was around 18 months old that I heard his voice...... It was like the tiniest of kittens....

I later saw reference to the Norwegian Forest Cat and also the American Maine Coon Cat. Yes he fitted their description; markings, colouring, size, paws, intelligence, the tufts of hair from his ears, curly belly hair, hairy paws and, of course, the lack of voice.... He was not a pedigree but he had all the attributes of these two beautiful breeds.

Today we took him to the vets, he had been poorly for 3 days. I had been away staying with a friend and was shocked when I saw him yesterday. Our dear vet kept him in the surgery for blood tests and he was also severely dehydrated. The news came this evening - he had a large inoperable tumor on his lungs.... My dear sweet cat is no more. He had to be euthenaised. There was no hope for him at all.... I will miss him so much. XX