52:11 Cat, I'm a kitty cat.

This week my very fluffy cat Lucy hasn't been very well. She had 2 tumours in her mouth and had to have an emergency operation to have them out. She is poorly but is doing okay. Because of Lulu being ill I have been thinking a lot about my old cats, and how sad it was to lose each of them but yet how thankful I am to have known them. Cats really are wonderful creatures and, although I don't want to get into this debate, when dog lovers say cats aren't loyal they clearly know nothing. If they have had cats that aren't loyal then they are doing something wrong! Anyway, here is a list of the cats I can remember having:

Nelly: I don't remember Nelly very well as she died when I was about five or so. She is the oldest cat I can remember although when we lived in Stockport I think I was born when the fantastically named Dennis was still alive. Nelly was a lovely dusky grey but, being so long ago, I can't remember much of his personality. It is weird because I can remember remembering him... but it too long ago to actually remember the original memory. Confused? Me too!

Dilly: We had Dilly at the same time as Nelly. She was a tortoiseshell and, although she was quite old when i can remember her, I believe my parents got her as a kitten. She had short little legs and they would tell me how her tummy would droop and clean the floor when she was little. Very cute. If I remember rightly Dilly was a bit more reserved than Nelly. As the first cat I can remember properly I really loved Dilly.

Bobby: We either got Bobby shortly before or just after Dilly died (I really have a terrible memory). Bobby was a black and white cat and one of my favourites. He was a bit temperamental at times but was an angel most of the time. I remember when i was about 8 or so he used to love sitting in a certain place on the first floor landing, just outside the bathroom. It was lovely because the sun shined through the window all day and the hot pipes run underneath. When I felt down I would curl up on the warm floor and cuddle up to him. He was lovely.

Sammy and Bonnie: Sammy and Bonnie we got as kittens when we still had Bobby. My family surprised me one day with them. I remember walking into my back room and seeing these two beautiful cats. I was so excited! We had talked before about having two cats called Bonnie and Clyde but when it came to it Sammy, a lovely white and black (not to be confused with black and white) cat, just didn't suit Clyde at all. So Bonnie (dark tabby) was Bonnie but I named Sammy after the window cleaner in noel Edmund's House Party. I don't know why.

After Sammy and Bonnie we didn't have cats for a while. As far as I remember Nelly, Dilly, Sammy and Bonnie all died after being hit by cars (Bobby died after growing lots of untreatable abscesses). Living on a main road at the time we didn't think it was fair to keep any more cats because of the risk of them being run over. We did however, sort of adopt our neighbours cat...

Graham (picture below): One day a black and white cat started to come into our house through our old cat flap. We were a bit weary at first (my dad having been bitten by a random cat who came in through the cat flap once before. His thumb nail still has a line down the middle where it was split in two) but we soon saw how wonderful Graham was.

I named him Graham as his black hair had little patches of grey in it and reminded me of Graham Norton. He was also incredibly camp. Graham started coming over more often, sleeping in our house and sometime eating our food.

We then decided to move house. Although we were pretty sure Graham had a home as he was well looked after, we decided to double check. We bought a collar and put a note on it asking the owners to call us. It turned out he lived in a house around the corner and was known as Tinker. He lived with his brother, a giant cat resembling a cow, who apparently bullied Graham. Seeing how attached we were to Graham the owner kindly said we could keep him since he wasn't happy living with his brother. We were overjoyed.

Graham died of leukemia a few years after we moved. It sounds cheesy but Graham was like a best friend. He will always be my favourite and most missed cat. You could have thrown him out of a window and he still would have absolutely adored you. He was a complete poser and loved having his picture taken. I miss him still to this day.

Lucy and Millie (see right): It was a hard decision to get more cats after Graham. We loved him so much and were deeply affected by his loss. I knew I wanted more cats though, and remembered how much I hated the period where we had none. I did some research online and found Millie and Lucy (or Smokey as she was then called) at a cat home about an hour away. I convinced my parents and we went to pick them up.

At first Millie came straight to the front of the pen and purred. We loved her. Lucy was bright eyed and had such a funny face. She was much more shy though, hiding in the back of the pen and not coming forward. Funnily enough once we got them home they completely changed! Lucy lapped up the attention and purred so loudly, drooling over EVERYTHING (and still to this day). Millie however hid for about 6 months. And that really isn't an exaggeration.

Millie has remained more shy over the years than Lucy but has become a lap cat more recently, loving attention and asking for it ALL the time. Millie and Lucy weren't very well looked after before we ot them. They were very thin and Lucy was matted with feces (so much so we had to admit her at the vets to have it all removed). It has taken many years encouraging Millie to trust us and there is no doubt our patience has paid off.

I love cats.