My First Love

I am a self confessed animal lover but there is just something about cats that makes me love them the most. Ever since I was little I have been keen to help animals in need. I was always running around outdoors and bringing home injured animals to be fixed by our poor local vet that lived nearby.

We have had many pets and animals throughout the years but I always remember my first 'proper' cat Ziggy, very fondly. A Siamese crossed with a moggy. She was mine. I helped feed her and looked after her from being a kitten. She was a very intelligent cat with a lot of personality. She would open doors, 'talk', follow us on walks with the dog, come running whenever I shouted for her and would sleep curled up under my duvet around my feet at night. It might not be that impressive to some but when your a child its the most amazing thing in the world. 

 

I grew up as the only girl in a rural setting surrounded by fields and boys so my cat was my best friend. She seemed to know if I was sad and needed my spirits lifted. She would let me dress her up and play or just cuddle up on my bed with me while I watched TV. She was my world but one day that all ended very suddenly.

One day I came home from school and the local vet knocked on the door to speak to my grandad. He took him outside but my grandad told me he had been to look at new plants that had been put outside but he looked upset. It wasn't until my parents came home later that day and broke the news to me that Ziggy was gone. 

Although we lived in a quiet village surrounded by fields Ziggy had been hit by a car right outside our house. I was numb and so angry. How could she be gone. Just taken away from me just like that and in such a brutal way. I couldn't believe someone had hit her and not even stopped to check she was okay. She had suffered serious trauma but still managed to drag herself into the neighbours hedge across the road. 

We buried Ziggy the same day, next to the bird bath in our garden. I had never seen my dad cry but he cried that day. Everyone knew what a loss she would be to our family but especially to me.

Ziggy was the first loss I had ever known. I never felt the same after she was gone. She left such a big hole in my life. I spent years searching for a cat that had similar characteristics without much luck. Until I came across Bengals. 

To anyone that hasn't owned a cat or animal before and felt the companionship that they can bring it probably sounds a little sad that I was so affected by the loss of my cat. Ziggy, to me, was much more than just a cat. The fact she was suddenly gone from my life was a difficult thing to face. 

All of our cats are just that to anyone but us. To us though they offer us so much as a family. Our cats pick us up when we are feeling low, they provide hours of entertainment, companionship and love. They help to teach our children about caring for animals and about empathy for other living things. I know that our cats mean to my daughter exaclty what Ziggy meant to me and that is priceless in itself.