She’s definitely squeaked through the door of reasonable doubt with her previous 8 lives though! What a lot of great memories we have of our adopted kitty.
Our first experience with Bree was when this white shape started sleeping regularly on our front porch. Nicknamed “Cat B” (as we already had cat A), she managed to find a spot to sleep in peace where Eve never went.
Bree formally entered our lives with a moment of daring theft on 26 January 2006. Obviously starving, she ran into the house, jumped onto the table and nicked some leftover chicken from dinner. From that point, we decided to keep her.
She was in pretty bad shape when we adopted her – only weighing 2.2kg, covered in fleas, needed teeth extracted. With an old broken tail and manky fur she wasn’t a pretty sight! With some TLC however she quickly turned in to a lovable pet. Due to her “Cat B” status, an appropriate “B” name was sought. As she was initially pretty anxious, we named her after “Bree” from Desperate Housewives! It was always difficult to guess her age, between 10 and 12 at the time of adoption the vet thought.
Not everyone found her as lovable as we did though! Eve had her furry nose firmly put out of joint with the new arrival. It was weeks until she would stay in the same room with Bree. Still, they slowly adapted although having two female territorial cats in one house could be challenging. Regular yowling, chasing and hissing battles ensued, especially fighting over the catnip.
Bree settled herself into the household. She was never a terribly active cat, preferring to sleep in the sun when given the opportunity. Despite her age, she managed the move down south well and absolutely relished the Canterbury summer (mmm…30+ on the deck) and also enjoyed the double-glazing and heating in the winter.
Bree had some less cute habits though. Regurgitating food was one – leading to an extremely amusing incident where she vomited into The Dragon’s trousers which he put on before realizing what she’d done. Awesome.
It’s been a bit of an eye-opener having an older cat. She’s been through the mill – hyperthyroidism last year (did you know cats can have radioiodine?), has a heart murmur and in February 2010, became extremely ill with vomiting and diarrhoea.
As she’s got older, she’s begun to struggle to move around and wash herself. New experiences for us include brushing a cat, cleaning the ears of a cat, clipping the toenails of a cat, bathing a cat…
Thanks for all the memories little one. We’ll miss you terribly.
Here’s a photo tribute to our baby:
The first pictures of our new arrival taken January 2006. Gosh she was thin! As with Eve, never managed to convince her to keep a collar on.
Looking lovely December 2006:
Out in the garden March 2007. Not sure why she looks so worried!
April 2007. Sleeping in the sun - Bree's favourite activity
August 2007. One of the unusual times where the white cat slept on the white washing...
November 2007. Bree adapted well to the move to Christchurch, discovering that sleeping was possible in different cities
April 2008. She loved the fire in our flat in Christchurch. The cats grudgingly learned to share - although Bree seemed oblivious of the potential danger!
We moved into our new house and bought beanbags for one room that proved extremely popular...
As did the catnip...Catnip? What catnip!
Last days in her favourite place...
With love from The Rose & Dragon
Thinking of you both, and Eve, as you mourn Bree. She certainly turned into a much prettier puss than when we first saw her - I love some of the photos you've put up (and the story about The Dragon wearing cat-vomit trousers - outstanding!).
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