Requies-CAT

This is the last journey of Splodge the Ungrateful Cat.

He has been ailing since before Christmas. Three or four times, he put a white paw into the Shadows and then withdrew it hastily again.

"No - not yet," he said to himself.

But last week it became clear he had passed the point of no-return. "Please, now!" he was suddenly saying. On Sunday, we enlisted the vet to help him take that last feeble step out of this world, brought him home - rather tearfully - and laid him to rest in the garden, underneath a memorial pear tree.

Splodge the Ungrateful: 1996 - 2013. Here is a picture of him enjoying last summer to the full.