Felix – my big boy – a very special cat

Felix – my big boy – a very special cat

I’m writing this while Felix is still alive as I know I’ll be too upset to write anything after he goes to the lizard chasing paradise in the sky. This is the story of a very special cat.

Felix came into our life by chance – he was thrown over our garden wall in a Singapore Airlines box along with 2 brothers and a sister. They were about 8 – 10 days old & had just opened their eyes. The question was: what should we do with them? We couldn’t kill them, so we decided to rear them & then try & find homes for them. Rearing orphan baby animals is never easy – you have to feed them with a syringe every few hours & do all the things the mother would do. This includes rubbing their bums so they can pee & poo & washing them all over – I used dampened cotton wool for this – to emulate a mother’s licking. Your life tends to revolve around their needs and you bond very strongly with them.

Felix was the runt of the litter. He couldn’t quite get the hang of sucking from the syringe – a baby bottle was too large. Uli would feed the other 3, while I was still struggling to get Felix to drink his portion. Eventually he got the hang of it, but was still very slow.

We weaned them onto solids & watched them grow into playful, healthy little kittens. We decided to keep the strongest of the litter, Moses, and find homes for the rest of the gang. However Moses seemed to have formed a strong bond with his weaker brother, Felix, so we decided to keep both of them. The amazing Glyfada cat lady, Lucille, managed to place the other two in good homes & we became a household of 4 cats: Shu-shu, Cleo, Moses & Felix.

From the beginning, Moses & Felix were inseparable – they did everything together – bounded around the garden, up trees, slept curled up together (sometimes in the washbasin – they seemed to like that for some reason) & were generally the best of playmates. Moses was the strong, brave cat with an amazing joie de vivre. He caught balls in the air, played football & was always protective of his little brother. Felix was, I’m afraid to say, an absolute wuss. He was afraid of everything.

A funny episode happened with our cousin’s dog: Milou was a feisty Jack Russell, given to chasing any cat he saw up trees. We’d warned our cousins that they should watch out for him, as come to the crunch, a cat can scratch a dogs eyes if they are cornered. They didn’t believe us & laughed at the thought a cat might come out better in a fight – until one day. Felix was lounging on the lawn when Milou attacked him – naturally all Felix did was cower, but Moses had observed the fracas & leapt to Felix’s defence. When I say leapt, he leapt onto Milou’s back and rode him, claws firmly ensconced into his neck. Milou ran screaming round the lawn with Moses on top of him – I was reminded of a rodio show. Moses eventually got off, yet he had certainly taught Milou a lesson. Whenever Milou encountered any cat in the garden, he turned tail & ran away ……… and Felix was left to bask in the shadow of his brother’s bravery.

Sad to relate, we didn’t have Moses for more than 18 months as he ate some poison a neighbouring factory had put out & passed away. Felix was gutted at the loss of his brother & spent many days moping. Of course we made a big fuss of him & he became the baby of the family.

A cat of many strange whims and a gourmand on the food side – the difficulties of eating in his early life were quickly forgotten – he loved his food. As well as normal cat food, he was very fond of broccoli & courgettes, ice-cream, chocolate & cheese. One night we left a box of After Eights that our friends had given us out on the table – in the morning we found a number of empty wrappers next to the opened box. You could leave nothing out, without him tasting it. Once I left a big bowl of mixed salad on the table while I was preparing something else in the kitchen. Cats don’t eat salad, right? Mistake! When I went back into the living room, Felix was busily fishing bits of beetroot out of the salad & guzzling them happily. As for cheese….. he had a special little cry he used to make when he wanted some cheese. It was quite different to any of the other noises he made. I usually gave in & gave him a cheese treat (any cheese would do) & he’d sit there licking his chops happily.

Although I was often the one to do the ‘mummy’ things, he made it plain from early on that he wasn’t much interested in me, while he adored Uli. He’d sit on Uli’s lap, jump up on his shoulder, spend ages licking his head. Whenever Uli was away for a few days, he’d pine & no amount of treats or strokes from me would put him in a better mood. Believe me, I really wooed that cat – to no avail.

We did have some games together, however. He used to love chasing & pouncing on my shadow as I went up the stairs at night. He really attacked that shadow. It used to make me laugh, so I’d run up & down the stairs (I was more agile then) just to watch his antics.

As he loved his food so much, he became quite a big cat – 7 kilos: my big boy, in other words. In the past week, he’s lost over a kilo & it really shows. However he doesn’t seem to be in pain & purrs & purrs when we stroke & cuddle him. I was so chuffed last night that he chose my side of the bed to lie down on & that he purrs when I talk & stroke him. I hope his going is easy & that he doesn’t suffer. We will miss him a lot – he’s been our companion & baby for 17 years now. Felix – you are a very special cat.