Lady was rescued from a pet shop aged 8 weeks, flea ridden and alone, she was desperate for a home. I was persauded to part with the princely sum of £2.50 in 1982 for this pathetic scrap of black fluff with bright yellow eyes that were almost the size of saucers. A real stunning looking cat. No markings at all on her coat, she was completely black. In her later years the glorious coat was flecked with grey hairs, like all of us who are getting on a bit I suppose. She moved into my 3rd floor bedsit with no garden, ideal, I am sure you are thinking for a cat!. However, she adapted very well and spent time on the large balcony playing with Misty the female ginger from next door. Her exercise consisted of walks with a very flattering bright yellow collar and lead. As I mentioned earlier, she was totally flea ridden to the extent that she was bathed by my mother in the bathroom wash basin. She sat, quite content in a couple of inches of lukewarm water and was dribbled with the water which washed away 90% of the fleas. Then, wrapped in a huge warm bath towel she was roughly dried in front of the fire and finished off with a gentle blow dry from a hairdryer. She did not let anyone attempt to allow her perfect coat to be subjected to any water after that, the bath served it's purpose, she could not see the point in getting wet again. In fact, she had a complete aversion to rain and snow until her dying day. Lady was part Persian and did not live up to her name in any circumstances, this became apparent on the introduction of a part Siamese moggy who came to live with us the following year. Lady had her share of problems, a cancerous growth in her throat when she was 10 years old followed by kidney failure in later years. She did however live a full and active life until August 1999. She died peacefully aged 17 and a half.

Lady was a very proud cat and very independant. She had little time for the other cats and generally ignored them except for the odd deep throated growl when they invaded her space. However she was also quite protective of her "family". Lester had a young pal from a few doors down called Dudley who used to call round. When Dudley was about 18 months old he got cornered in the garden by a very large undoctored tabby cat, Dudley let out a terrified shrieking howl. Lady who at that moment was upstairs raced down, outside and attcked and chased off the tabby, she then turned back to Dudley, boxed him round the ear and marched back upsatirs.

She also had a very healthy appetite. Prawns were her favourite treat. At Christmas 1985 I had my in-laws to stay. I put a pound of prawns in the dining room to defrost. Ensuring I had closed the door I carried on with the cooking. A few hours later I discovered that I had actually shut Lady in the dining room with the prawns. Needless to say there wasn't a prawn in sight and we all ended up having only melon as a starter, Lady didn't eat another thing all day. My in-laws were not exactly cat lovers and were most put out. Shame!

I lost Lady on 29 August 1999. Kidney failure, a lovely old lady who willbe greatly missed.

R.I.P Lady

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