30/03/2024
Many of you probably don’t realise that we have cats, we had 3 cats; Willow, Arthur and Mabel. Very sadly very late this evening our beloved first adopted cat, our majestic beauty Willow left for the Rainbow Forest (he’d want a forest being a Norwegian Forest Cat), and he left on his own terms. He was around 18yr old and had up until the last couple of years been such an athletic cat who simply loved life, and climbing head face up and down a tree (one of the few breeds of cat that can walk head first down a tree!). He was the whole reason I fell in love with cats. I was always a dog lover but when I saw him advertised at the Cat and Dog Shelter there was something that called out to me. Carol always allowed me my dogs so maybe she could be allowed her cats for once! I had visited the shelter earlier that day to meet Willow but before approving an adoption the whole family had to visit and meet the adoption team. Collecting the boys from school and Carol from work we headed to the Cat and Dog Shelter to sign the paperwork. I’ll never forget patiently waiting in the reception and chatting to the lady in front of me who mentioned she was hoping to adopt a lovely Norwegian Forest Cat called Willow. Oh no....she was going to get in first. However she said she would keep him inside as a house cat and the team said they would not rehome him to her on that basis as he was a cat that would need the outside world to explore.....and boy did he love his time outside once he arrived home with us. It was only recently that he slowed and stopped venturing out, however tonight after his tea Carol said he insisted on going out....maybe he knew it was time and he wanted to pass peacefully away from his family (as cats tend to do in the wild) so not to upset us. Well of course we’re utterly heartbroken and its certainly not going to be my first weekend break of 2024 that I’ve been looking forward too, all plans have changed now. We’ll miss you so much Willow but THANK YOU for allowing us to care for you and to love you. You meant the world to us you big pawed Ginger beauty.....you go climbing those big trees in Rainbow Forest over that Rainbow Bridge 🌈. Till we meet again.