Thomas goes to the Seaside

Little did I know that when I purchased a copy of The Telegraph on a Saturday morning shortly before Christmas, the “knock on” effect that would have. On the second page of the paper in Celia Hammond’s pet column under “Rescue Me” was a picture of a cat called Thomas. Thomas is old and, due to a road accident, has an uncontrollable bowel problem i.e. he gets no warning and is always “caught short”. Thomas had been with Derby Cats Protection League for almost two years and they were looking for someone within a 200 mile radius who would understand his problem and give him a loving home. I knew that I, and my partner, Philip, could do this but we do live in Bournemouth which is probably more than 200 miles from Derby. I must say that when I telephoned the CPL I did not think I would end up being the chosen new family for Thomas as I naively imagined that once an animal appeared in the national press they would be inundated with calls of suitable homes.

Thomas has met a few challenges in the last month: the first being his unexpected trip to Bournemouth! He arrived in a surprisingly calm frame of mind and was soon purring, eskimo kissing with his wet nose and making his way towards his food bowl whenever we headed towards the packets of Turkey and Chicken Gourmet. He has now shown the full range of crossed paw positions and has an elegant way of resting his head on an outstretched back leg.

Another challenge has been a black cat with white socks, who could have been his twin, that appeared whenever he passed the full-length hall mirror. After a number of Mexican Standoffs and, one final fracas that involved leaping into the air, swiping the other’s nose and turning 180 °, Thomas has clearly decided that he has shown his superiority and now totally ignores the other cat’s presence.

You may not know about Thomas’s interest in literature. With Philip being an English teacher, he scrutinises some of the students’ essays – but only some of them because, like any self-respecting feline, he would not dream of troubling with them all. He has even given one essay, which he obviously thought showed a perceptive understanding of authorial purpose, the rare, paw-mark of approval. It is unfortunate that he appears to be rather deaf: knowing of his cultural leanings, we attribute this to him having listening to too much music loud music in his youth but, like Beethoven, he picks up vibrations!

The lack of bowel and urinary control is causing us no difficulties - although we were rather worried about him when, after three days, he had neither used nor accidentally not-used his cat tray. I rushed him to the vet, whereupon everthing happened in the car – all at once and in vast quantities! Since then, he has generally been regular but there are occasions when he still stores everything up for us! We always have kichen rolls and wet wipes close at hand - and the laminate flooring is heaven-sent!