Last night Socks emerged from underneath my armchair and struggled to reach his food bowl in our kitchen. He had been there for a few days and we obviously did not realise the extent of his illness and by this morning he had fallen asleep for the last time. He was Morgan's 13th birthday present and was such a sweet natured cat that he immediately became a loving member of our extended family. He never bothered our other two female cats Cilla and Smudge and was so tolerent of Cilla's hissing and other antics. Not long after reaching his birthday he came home one evening in pain and on being taken to the vet we were told that he had been in an accident and had his tail amputated. This made him look slightly odd and he waddled around the place. Soon after we forgot his predicament and his personality returned.
He didn't like crowds and on the evening of Morgan's 18th birthday party he left the house in disgust. Usually his return wasn't long, but as time went on we were more and more concerned. Finally, we feared the worst and thought that something had happened to him and we hoped that he hadn't suffered in any way.
One Sunday evening in early December 2009, Gaynor called me into the kitchen. To my suprise there eating heartily from the food bowl was Socks, his stumpy tail a clear indication of who he was. Where had he been for the intervening five years. He didn't say, but he quickly reaclimatised himself to our house and to Gaynor in particular. He was the original "prodigal cat".
Since then he has become a firm fixture in our household, often leaving for a few weeks at a time to go where? We never knew. This was just him and we would always be glad to see him pushing his face up against the conservatory doors to come in. After he ate his way through several sachets of cat food he would do his customary settling in on Gaynor's lap and loved the affection she poured on him.
When he came back from his last trip away he was visibly thinner and we had put this dramatic weight loss to his feral tendencies. He was still bouncing around on Monday evening but we now know that this covered up a more serious condition.
We can now only be asured that he is no longer in pain and at peace. We will bury him in our garden where he used to spend long sunny summers sleeping in the undergrowth, still close to our hearts.
Resquiet in pacem Socks. You were a marvelous affectionate animal who brought great joy into our lives.
