Feline Love

When I was small - between the ages of about 3 and 5 - we had two Siamese cats, brother and sister, Pippi and Suzie. Suzie was my favourite. She was quite a fiery cat, but with me she became a cat ragdoll. I took her everywhere, usually dragging her by the neck. I dressed her up in dolls clothes and made her dance on her hind legs. She came to bed with me every night and would lie there, clutched to my chest, until my mum would rescue her, her fur wet with my perspiration. Mum said my interest in and love of Suzie never wained, even as the years passed. I could have been tormenting her into her autumn years had she not been hit by a car.

Pippi, her brother, lived for at least another 10 years and was quite the character too. He would jump and pat at the doorbell, thereby ringing it, when he wanted to be let in. If you have even known a Siamese, you'll know that they "talk" and he did a lot of that.

We have been waiting on a litter of Tonkinese kittens and coincidentally this week have been looking after my sister-in-law's young cat. Elly was a stray they took in, but she's very sweet and as you can see, she seems to be enduring the same loving attention from Leila that Suzie did from me.