This blog by Grace51 was first published on Square Pegs (http://squarepeg.overspillers.net)

I put this up in saga a couple of years ago.. 🙂

She was only a cat…how many times have I heard that in the last few days..either spoken or implied. I got her from the Cats Protection League when she was eight weeks old, a tiny ball of fluff that I could hold in the palm of my hand. I called her Fluffy..a silly frivolous name. She deserved better. No pedigree cat was she, though. A hotchpotch of four different colours, black, fawn, and white with a little rust thrown in for good measure. Her paws were one of each colour.
For the past five years she has been my friend, my companion, someone to talk to when I got home from work. As soon as I opened my front door, I would hear, without fail, her little chirrup of welcome. She slept on my bed at my feet, and although my alarm is always set for 5.30, she would wake me at around five every morning by putting one paw on each shoulder with her nose almost touching mine, or sometimes she would nibble my chin or rub her face against mine.
I, like most people, have had unhappy times in my life. Somehow, Fluffy always knew. There she would be, next to me, no matter where I was. She’d sit by me in the garden, or wherever I happened to be. I do think that animals can sense if you are feeling sad.
I went out a few days ago leaving her happily snoozing under her favourite apple tree in the garden. I came home a few hours later to find her little lifeless body, mouth agape, as though in a silent scream. I gathered her up and drove to the vet. He thought she had been poisoned. I’ve no idea how this could have happened, but the thought of her dying such a dreadful death while I wasnt there will always haunt me. Any animal lover will know how I feel. The next day, I buried her under the apple tree. Her tree.
I miss her so..I’ve had to put all her things away where I cant see them, but I keep finding things like little strands of her fur, her squeaky mouse, and my old sweater that she loved to sleep on sometimes.
Only a cat? Ahh no..so much more than that.