GATCHASTITCH: In Memory of Squeak

MY OWN MEMORIAL TO OUR BEAUTIFUL CAT, 'SQUEAK' WHO DIED YESTERDAY

We got Squeak when she was 10 weeks old on the 27th October 1993. She was one of a litter of 5 kittens that had sadly been abandoned. She had one sister and three brothers.

We took the two sisters, and called them Bubbles and Squeak – sadly, Bubbles was knocked down and killed in January 1995.

Squeak as a kitten with her sister, Bubbles [October 1993]

Squeak had her first litter of kittens on 24th February 1995. I noticed that Squeak was acting oddly in the weeks before hand and that her tummy looked swollen. We took her to the vet who confirmed she was pregnant and it looked like she didn’t have long to go!

My mum stayed with her on the night she gave birth – she had three kittens, which were comically named “Freeman, Hardy, Willis” after a shoe shop by my dad. Freeman became “Oscar” and Willis became “Fluffy”, but Hardy stuck, and she became my cat!

A year later, on 5th February 1996, she had a second litter of three kittens – sadly one of them died only a few days old. The other two were called “Bonnie” and “Clyde”.

Squeak being a protective mum with her second brood [February 1996]

They all got on pretty well together, although every now and again, Squeak would assert her dominance as matriarch! She was a fabulous mother to her brood and in general she had a wonderful temperament and was very affectionate.

She outlived two of her brood – Fluffy who was knocked down and killed in October 2004 and almost a year later, Oscar had to be put down.

Sadly, she had started to become quite frail over the past year or so, she was starting to go deaf and had lost interest in going outside. She took a turn for the worst over the past few days and we realised her time had come.

Losing a member of the family is never easy, but she gave is seventeen wonderful years and she will always be in our hearts!

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R.I.P Squeak: 16th August 1993 to 24th February 2011

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