Our Sparky---memories

Sparky with his sister Fizz...my sister Sharon had her...and a week later went on holiday , so we said we would have Fizz here with Sparky---would you believe that they had forgotten each other and they scrapped and scrapped! I rang Sharon in a panic and said we would have to take Fizz home as I was worried they would kill each other! They calmed down eventually and must of realised they were brother and sister!

Sparky disco dancing!!!

He stopped being a lap cat when he reached 6 months old--he hated being held or cuddled bless him....he went a sstill as a board when we picked him up-tail would be out staight and he would stickhis front legs into you as if to say please put me down....but he loved it when he was little...

Merry Christmas Sparks..

Ah Bless...

He loved Christmas...

This was the very first mouse he caught that we knew of... the first of many!!! Wouldn't mind a quid for every mouse and vole he has-besides the rabbits he bought home!

Chasing the squirrel here up the tree...

chillaxing....

he did get into some states when he was asleep...

Fizz and Sparky went to sleep on the stairs after fighting all morning....the stairs were always Sparkys territory...and everyone went very carefully if he was near the stairs or you would get a clip off him or even a bite if you were unlucky...his favourite game was to hide round the corner at top of stairs and pounce out when you got near the top---then he would spit , hiss and growl at you and try and swipe you one..then he ran in our bedroom behind the door and would leap out and do it again,,,,,,little bugger!

this was the only time he slept in that bed!!!!!! Lost count of the amount of beds he was bought  and he never used them!

Sparks and his beloved Dad....what a huge hole that cat has left in our lives...we sat in here last night and really missed the door being pushed open and Sparks walking in-we always said to him "Shut the bloody door Spark" he would just saunter over to where Bill had his legs up on the pouffee look at Bill as if to say "come on then shift yourself", and of course Bill being the softy he is would always move his legs for him to get on there...he ruled the bloody roost bless him.. Then a soon as we had got up and shut the door he would want to go out again and would pull the door and go out leaving it open again!

Sparky Cat --RIP

This is one of the hardest blog posts Ive had to write.... its with great sadness that I tell you all that our dear  fur-baby friend and companion for the past 10 years and 8 months  Sparky cat had to be put to sleep today.. We knew last Tuesday after taking him for what we thought would be his final checkup at the eye hospital..Emma his vet there discovered that the herpes was back in his eye and suggested we had him tested for FIV as with the treatment he had for it should have cleared it up.His shoulder had broken out again where he was bitten in January so we took him down to our local vets that evening and they tested him for FIV and he proved positive.Now in some cats that would just mean being kept in away from other cats and that wouldn't be too much of a problem,,but in a cat like Sparks who liked to come and go as he wanted it was impossible to do.Sparks loved to be outside mousing and rabbiting, lying in the sun down the garden and following Bill round whenever he was worikng in the shed etc. His other joy in life was terrorising the paper lady and postman who dared to tread on his property-earning himself the nickname of Hissing Sid....and he hissed and spat at anyone who came onto his property....hard to believe when you look at the little dot on top of his scratching post just after we had him..he did eventualy grown into those ears....anyway we tryed to keep him in several times before when he had injuries--he was a regular at the vets-in fact we should have our own car park space with our name on it we were there so often--thank goodness for pet insurance..though many times he has been there and the cost was just under the excess and we couldnt claim!     He hated being in--hated using the litter tray and hated us for keeping him in...it was a nightmare at times..he tryed everything to get out....he was so unhappy---  we used a Feliway plug in to try and help him calm down and it helped a bit but we couldnt prolong his suffering any longer and had to come to the sad desision to have him put to sleep.He has been spoiled rotten all week..and this morning we took him out into the garden with us and let him have a last prowl around--the look on his face when we opened the door for him was a picture, and Im glad he had that last chance to do so.....Me and Bill are in bits....he was our baby...but we have had so much support from friends and family over the past week and we are very grateful for that-it has helped us so much xx ...I will proberly bore you all to death in the coming days because Ive got so many photos of him Im going to put on here, along with stories of him.......lastly I want to thank our vet Andrew Cooke..a more caring compasionate man you would never meet--he made it so much easier than it could have been...and we are forever grateful to him for that. Well I cant see for the tears again,,,,Bills has made him a lovely box, he is being laid to rest in the morning acrross the bridge over the stream at the bottom of the garden, where he spent many happy hours mousing.. night night Sparky xxxx

Poor Sparky -Again!

Sparky cat never does things by half....not content with having herpes in his eye-requiring anti-viral and anti-biotic cream being put in it 4 times a day, he has managed to acquire a huge abscess on his shoulder as well.We noticed he was quieter than normal yesterday and he dint want to go out, but we just thought the windy weather was upsetting him,,and his eye looked sore as well but late last night we noticed the swelling on his shoulder and realised it was probably an abscess.Took him to the vets this morning who said he would have to stay in and have an op to drain it :-((  so we left him there while I went to Ironbridge to do the first demo of the year.....

We picked him up at 6pm m the vets nurse said he was fine and he had been a little darling with them,,,,hard to believe he can be such a little monster at home--he is always sweetness and light when he goes to the vets bless him.He had a buster collar on his head to stop him licking the wound which has been left open and not stitched so it doesn't heal too quickly with bacteria still inside it..and poor Sparky is scared stiff of it! As soon as the cat basket was opened he went loopy--ran off bashing into everything, up and down stairs ,into windows, he was just terrified...we managed to catch him and stick him back in his carrier..and rang the vet who said he must keep the collar on at least overnight.So we have borrowed a big dog carrier to put him in so he has more room to lie down and move about in there..While he was under the anaesthetic the vet took some blood from him and they spun it to get the white blood cells out of it, these have to be dripped into his poorly eye along with the antiviral cream  as well, hopefully this will help the eye to heal--if not he will be referred to the specialist veterinary eye hospital nearby.So he is feeling rather sorry for himself at the moment...so fingers crossed it wll all start to get better and we can get the collar off him,,I have ordered some Feliway for him to help him be less stressed..we have used it once before when he had to be house bound and it worked wonders---he hates being kept in the house-and using a litter tray-but he will not be going out for some time by the look of things!

My Managerie!!!!

Couldn't resist taking this picture of all my most precious things!!!! Bill , Paddy Sparky and all the tropical fish on one photo--dosent happen very often!!

Sparky is doing his party trick of begging when he smelt the chicken come out of the oven, he should have been a dog that one, he fetches paper balls from where ever Bill throws them , brings them back and drops them in Bills slipper!!

Wellesbourne , Stratford Upon Avon

We are off to Wellesbourne,Stratford Upon Avon, later today( cant belive the time) to do demonstration for art society.
We are booked into a B+B because of the distance we need to travel, my daughter is staying here to pet sit, so Sparky and Paddy will be spoilt rotten!!

Sparky AGAIN!!!

I swear this cat knows when I sell a painting-without fail he goes out and comes back injured in some way! we should have our own personal parking space at the vets!
The day before yesterday he came in with 2 mice , within an hour of each other,and let them go so Bill could have go a catching them--Sparky thinks that Bill enjoys mousing as much as he does!! Then he walks in around the living room door holding up one leg.Couldnt find any obvious injury on him, no cuts, or swellings, so kept him in and took him to vets yesterday. Another jab for him, keep him quiet(easier said than done) and fingers crossed he will be ok!
He looks so sweet in this pic-you would never belive what a monster he is sometimes!

Cat

I mentioned here while we were away on the painting holiday that I had bought a limited edition crazy cat from the boot sale at Blue Anchor, I just had to share this with you!

You can see who it reminded me of!!

I knew Sparky was model material!!