A Sad Story

Warning this is a sad story of love and loss and for those of you who don't like sad stories don't read any further.

Part of this story you will already be familiar with but I will start from the beginning.


We had a lovely old Cat called Wispa and after the death over the years of her best friends we decided to get a kitten to join the family to be a companion to Wispa. We found a suitable litter and choose the only female a beautiful girl with a white body and tortoiseshell tail and cap. At 8 weeks we collected her and she joined the family.

Her and Wispa never did hit it off but she settled in fine with the rest of us and we had 4 great months full of fun with a kitten. Then came the signs that she she was growing up and she was on heat. We made an appointment for her to visit the vets to be neutered. In the meantime we locked her in the upstairs office where she could be with us, she had company her litter tray and food at her disposal while we curtailed her freedom. We had upvc windows and could open them a little bit so she could sit on the windowsill and breathe the fresh air but couldn't get out.

Down below in the garden was a male tom cat he had obviously picked up on her scent and was there to follow it up. He was a good looking chunky black cat with a devil may care attitude. He decided the best way to catch the imprisoned female was to sing to her. The cauterwaling started and despite much boot throwing and yelling the black male was not detered. I knew Tally was safe because the window was only open a fraction it was on the second floor and even if she got out of the office door the other doors between her and freedom were also shut.

One morning I was pottering around the garden doing some jobs when a strange odd coloured cat turned up. Rolling around on the floor miaowling and wanting attention. The coat was a murky greeny brown colour I had never seen a cat that colour before and was intrigued. The cats behaviour was reminiscent of Tallisker and as the cat drew nearer it turned and looked at me, as soon as I saw the eyes I recognised them. It was Tally and she was absolutely covered in mud your could not see the tortoise shell head and tail and certainly not her snowy white body. She was taken to the bath room and showered down it took about half an hour to get all of the mud off her. She then had to be towelled and dried off with a hairdryer meanwhile she was telling us about the wonderful adventures she had had and the wonderful male she had met. How kind he was and how he had promised her the earth and anything she ever wanted.

We worked out how she had got out. Where theres a will there is a way she had managed to push her nose into the gap of the open window until she forced the window open and then proceeded to jump from the 2nd floor into Black Toms open paws.

We had to crush her dreams and tell her that she would probably never see him again he was probably a philanderer and he had been interested in one thing only and now he had got it he would be off looking for the next female. We told her to stay away from him males like that were bad and he would break her heart.

We needed to know how far the meeting had gone and if he had had his wicked way, so off to the vets she went, it was a few weeks before it could be confirmed either way and when the news came it was to find that Black Tom had been doing more than promising her the earth.

There was no need to keep her in any longer the horse had already bolted. We let her out and off she went straight into the paws of her beloved Black Tom they became as thick a thieves. Despite our dire warnings we were proved wrong he seemed to be devoted to her. They wandered round together playing in the haystacks across in the barns. The corn barn was a favourite place, they would go hunting mice together very successfully. We would find them sunbathing together on the decking in the garden. Black Tom was wary of us and didn't come too close and though we tried not to encourage him and told each other we were not to become fond of him, but we would catch each other sneaking out and giving him cat biscuits.

The only blot on the horizon was he fought with Socks our oldest cat and we would shoo him off when we caught him doing this. Socks would chase after him and would come back with a bloody nose. Black Tom was bigger than Socks and when Socks started to avoid going out we has to get serious about chasing off of him. This didn't deter Tally she just went and met him were ever she could and we would often see them across the fields together.

Tally got fatter and fatter and started nesting, after curtailing several of her unsuitable nesting sites she opted for under the bed. She had three beautiful kittens of which she was very proud. Tally went out very little at this time but the Black Tom was always some where to be seen if only off in the distance. When the kittens were old enough Tally took them out and proudly introduced them to their father and to our amazement he seem to be quite proud of them. Until they moved on to new homes the kittens used to play and scamper around their mum and dad while they basked in the sun. Tally was whipped off to the vets to be neutered so that she wouldn't become a mum again. When she recovered from the operation she was let out again and she was off to join Black Tom. We began to see less and less of Tally and was worried that she was becoming wild like her Black Tom. Sometimes she would dissapear for a a few night and days we would only see her when she came in to sleep. The two of them were inseperable. We think she tried to smuggle him in a few times but there would be fights between Sock and Black Tom.

Then Black Tom dissapeared. We wondered if he had deserted her for another female maybe he had smelt a scent and had gone to follow it. Tally was a very unhappy cat and we worried about her. Before she had been going out for whole day with her Black Tom and now she was spending days looking for him. We didn't know what to do for her she was becoming wilder by the day. It was no good telling her "I told you so". She seemed to be desperate and began to loose weight she was not a happy cat and no matter how much we tried to comfort her she carried on her searches to no avail.

At the other end of the village lived the inlaws and it was a chance comment when visiting them that let us know what had happened to Black Tom. We had stopped giving him food and chased him off so that he didn't fight with Socks but he remained solid and chunky he was a wild cat and could fend for himself and we wondered if anyone else fed him as well. It had turned out while Tally was looking after the kittens he had taken to wandering up to the farm further up the road from us and he used one of their sheds as his home. The farmers wife used to leave food out for him because he was good at keeping the rodent population down. When tally was out and about again he spent most of his time with her but when Tally came home he would wander back to the farm. It was summer and the farmers wife liked to leave the door open to allow the summer air in but often would find Black Tom in the house ensconsed in a comfy chair. Whenever she tried to chase him out he would try and swipe her legs. This was not good because the farmer had had to have a serious operation on his legs and she didn't want Black Tom to swipe the farmers legs.

The farmers wife was in a dilemma he was a good mouser but if he swiped her husbands legs there could serious health complications for him. she knew he was a wild cat and called the Cats Protection League they had a scheme whereby they rescued wild cats neuter them and find farms where they would be welcome. The Farmers wife called them and they came along and trapped Black Tom and took him away. The intention was for him to be treated for fleas and worms, be neutered and returned to a willing farm to be a farm cat, he was a known mouser He would have yearly checkups to check he was in good health but before any of this is done the cat is taken to the vets to have a checkup blood tests are taken and their general health checked. Black Tom was in good health but his blood test was not good. Black Tom had feline Aids there was nothing that could be done and to prevent further spreading it was decided that Balck Tom would be put down.

When we found out we were devasted, as much as he was a problem for bashing Socks up we would never have wished him to be put down. How do you tell a love lorn cat that the cat she is searching for hasn't left her and probably would never have done so and no matter how much she searches she will never find him.

It took Tally a long time to settle back down. Even when we moved house 16 miles away Tally went missing for a month and we suspected she went back to the old house to look for him. It was a hard time for her and us. We tried to comfort her and tried to keep her occupied. Time is a healer and three years later she is a much happier cat and has settled down to a plump and contented life. Occasionally she seems far away and we wonder if she is thinking of her Black Tom and remembering the happy days in the sun.