Lars

Lars was my first pet (apart from my brother, but when I was younger I just thought he was a pest! Sorry bro - I love you really!)

My first long term boyfriend, Alex, bought Lars for me, shortly after I bought my first house when I was at Uni (please don't think that I am loaded after that statement - it was cheaper to pay the mortgage, and have 3 lodgers who paid me rent, than to pay rent on a crappy student house).

Anyway, Lexie stayed every weekend, and sometimes other nights too, and after a while we decided we wanted a cat. We got him from a pet shop in Northwich. He was most definitely the runt of the litter, and he had strange little paws - one paw had an extra pad and claw on it, and one of the other ones had 5 pads, with a double claw.

Sadly, when I met my now ex-husband, Lars became an inconvenience (not to me I hasten to add) and once we moved out of my house up to Warrington, Lars became a predominantly outdoor cat - he wasn't allowed in the living room or upstairs (although to be fair, I won't have our cats upstairs now either - but after living through University with Lars snuggled up on my bed most nights with me, it seemed very unfair). The one place he was allowed was the conservatory on the old house - a real suntrap - and this was a typical position and spot for Lars.

In case you're wondering, the name ...he was named after the drummer in Metallica - Lars Ulrich - as we had been to see Metallica the week before at the Milton Keynes Bowl (1993!).

Clearly, I got custody of Lars when I left in 2005, and he came with me to the place I rented for six months and settled well. Then Corin and I moved to the house we are in now, and about 5 weeks after we moved in Lars went out and never came back - he was 13 years old - it is possible that he just wandered off into the local woodlands to have some peace, or he could have been knocked over, or he could have found a nice family to go and live with - maybe he was p***ed off at me for moving him again.

its a shame - James had grown up with Lars and still misses him, and Corin IS the cat man and Lars loved to fuss over him.

If you are in cat heaven Lars - I hope they let you sleep on the beds upstairs.

xxx