My cat was put down a couple of weeks ago now.
Sad as I was, I am happy that he led a very full and adventurous life. He lived longer than any of my other cats who all ended up as tragic road accident victims and he enjoyed the advantage of living right next to the river with all the wildlife and fun available!
He really was a brave cat too. When we first got him as a kitten he stood up to all the adult cats in the street and soon gained his place in the hierarchy!
Soon after Jess (my daughter) got her dog we (Greg & I) decided we wanted a dog too and felt we could give a home to a rescue dog.
We called the dog home and gave our specifications ...... including the fact that we had children (teenagers), a dog already and a cat! The woman we spoke to accepted what we said but also seemed quite dismissive over the phone and just said to "come over and fill in a form". Which we did.
We arrived and saw several dogs .... some a little shy, some perhaps a little aggressive, others looking quite forlorn ..... deciding which one to choose was always going to be hard ! However, we had our criteria and thought that this would help narrow our choice. We looked at a terrier/patter-dale mix. He was lovely, very friendly and very cute. He did had several nasty scars on his face and her explanation was that possibly he had been used for badger baiting!
This should have rung alarm bells ..... but it didn't .... we assumed that the criteria we had spoken about and written on the form, would have been looked at and the dog we chose would fit that criteria.
HOW wrong could we be ........... we walked through our front door, thankfully with "Bobby" on a lead ..... he saw the cat ..... and just flew at him! The cat screeched and raced up the stairs BUT as soon as he realised the dog was on a lead he stopped at the landing, arched his back and spat back at the dog.
Hmmmm, this was not going to be an easy introduction !!! We slowly introduced "Bobby" to Billie - Jess's dog - and that was fine although I think Billie was a bit perturbed that the leader of her pack (i.e Scamp) had not been impressed. We kept the dog ONE night but in the morning .... Scamp wanted to come in for his food ..... and the dog went mental at Scamp again. Scamp jumped up on the kitchen counter and stood his ground but it obviously was not gonna work out.
We called the dog home and explained this to the lady & told her we were bringing the dog back. She was most put out and actually seemed quite cross with us - at first refusing to refund us our payment - to which we stated that we had put on the form AND told her verbally that we had to have a dog who got on with cats!
Her response ............... "get rid of the cat"
I am surprised my husband stayed as calm as he did .......... who the heck did she think she was ?????
Greg simply said - the cat was there first - we informed you of the criteria - give us our money back or we report you for fraudulently passing on an unsuitable animal (yes.... I am not sure who exactly he would report her to ... but it worked ...... or maybe it was just his menacing tone and looks!)
So Scamp remained to rule the roost ..... and perhaps the best tribute of all is that we now have a dog that purrs.......seriously ...... when you stroke Harley - and he is in a blissful mood - he ACTUALLY purrs!
RIP SCAMP x
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