RIP Shelley

Instead of the usual Wednesday signs meme, I'm posting a tribute to our lovely Shelley who we had to put to sleep yesterday 12th April at the age of 15 1/2 years.

Shelley :  17 September 2007 - 12 April 2022

Shelley our tortoiseshell, along with 7 other kittens came into our lives on the 17th September 2007, when "Mommy" and "Baby" gave birth to 4 kittens each, just outside my son's bedroom window. 

The mothers weren't really our cats, they had pink collars, were well fed, but used to came around to our house just after we moved in. 

I would put little notes on their collars to find out who they belonged to but nobody ever owned up to them. The house had been empty for a while, as the previous owner had died, so they couldn't have belonged to the old owner. 

They were friendly and whenever the patio door was open they would just wander indoors and sit on the sofas. Eventually they just moved in

Just a couple of weeks before they gave birth did I notice they were pregnant when I noticed they were getting a bit fat .

"Mommy" with all 8 kittens around her. 

We adopted out all but 3 of the 8 babies through an organization called "Safe - Saving animals from euthanasia" - my son Michael wanted Fluffy, and the other two girls Shelley and Twiggy sadly just didn't get adopted as they were the "ugliest" little kittens.  Mommy and Baby have sadly also passed away in March 2014 and February 2015, and Fluffy in March 2021.

Twiggy, Shelley and Fluffy

Shelley or "Fatty" as we would sometimes call her because she was quite an overweight cat, having reached 7,880 kg (17,37lb) at one stage, and was on a vet prescribed diet in 2017, with Fluffy and Twiggy as well.

In the morning, she was always the first one to wake me up if it was past the regular feeding time, putting out her nails and gently scratching my arm while meowing loudly. It never failed to make me spring out of bed!

She loved to eat, gobbling up the other's foods if they left any behind, and even became an expert at opening the automated plates and then having an extra meals !

A model cat will fit anywhere

She was always the more reserved cat, and a bit of a loner, although at one stage Twiggy and her were good friends.

Her favourite spot was by the window sill of my bedroom window.

 

Even in the last month of her life, she would sometimes go and have a snooze there.

She was very close to Jose and when he was sitting watching TV at night she would either sit on his lap or by the side of the armchair and get some cuddles. Sometimes he would drop his arm to the side and she would rub her head backwards and forwards, which was so funny. She loved being brushed and whenever Jose was in the garden she would miaw constantly and he knew she wanted to be brushed.

Getting some cuddles from Jose

Getting some brushing love the day she came from her ultrasound

Sadly in March I noticed that Shelley had suddenly lost a bit of weight. It had been hot and at first I put it down to the heat and that they weren't eating as much, but Twiggy didn't appear to have lost weight.  I took her to the vet on the 10th March and a urine and blood test just showed an infection - but not a bladder or kidney infection. She recommended I take her for an ultrasound.

The radiologist reported a very large mass surrounding her internal organs and apart from suggesting chemotherapy (which I couldn't put a cat through it), he said the prognosis wasn't good. 

She would eat very tiny meals 5 or 6 times a day, in fact whenever she came into the kitchen I would feed her. I bought animal mince, soft food in pouches, gave her chicken pieces, etc, etc, but one day she would eat something, the next day she didn't want that, and I would offer something else... 

Sometimes it felt as if she was getting better, but in fact she was losing weight. So when on Monday she just didn't want to eat at all, and then on Tuesday again, I called the vet to book our "farewell appointment".

her last photo at home 12 April 2022

At the vet in her last minutes

At the vet she was surrounded by me, Jose and our son Michael who also wanted to be present in Shelley's last minutes.