Well our little cat Mr Soots passed away here today. He had to be put to sleep because he had kidney failure. We are sad. We were treated with compassion as was he. The vet was a lovely lady. We were offered to take him home to bury him and we were given as long as we wanted to be with him, but he was in pain so it would be selfish and cruel to keep him too long. We were seen quickly too just walking in of the street. Had I turned up sick at our local hospital I'd have to wait five hours. So we really are sad and quite teary. I know some people won't understand this, but we will miss him so much. We were lucky to have him in our lives and we are grateful he wasn't sick too long. Y'know he just strolled in our back door one day - right out of the blue - and he never left us. On the plus side he had a great life, with over eighty years clocked up in human years. We've had other cats but this wee guy was a unique little character who disproved the saying dumb animals. He was almost completely black, save for four little white paws - like little tiny white socks. This little guy could open window locks and pull up window handles with his mouth and get out the kitchen window. He could focus on this task for easily 20/30 minutes, whatever it took. He could knock the front door with his head. I remember hearing the door knocking one evening. I said to my wife someone's at the door. She said it's Mr Soots. I said catch yourself on, muttering as I opened the door and there he was. No humans anywhere about. He looked up, miaowing at me as he went by, tail up. If he was bounding across a field and was called he appeared at the back door quite quickly. One of the most loveable things was when the grandkids called. They could lift him, squeeze him and he would just flop like a rag doll. He was afraid of the kids but no nails, no bites just like a cuddly living toy. So we can smile a little through our sadness today. read more