Sadly, even with the best care, kitties never live as
long as we would like them to. The rest of this page is dedicated to our kitty
friends who are no longer with us in body, though they will never leave us in
spirit, and we remember their lives, characters and eccentricities with joy.
That's why we have left the pages for the most part written as though each
cat is still alive, with just an introductory paragraph describing how and when
we came to be parted from them.
Rest in Peace, Fluffball
Fluffball passed away in June 2020 at an incredible age of almost 21.
  
Here I am posing for the cover of "Fluffball Magazine"... what do you mean you have never heard of it?!?
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Heather named me Fluffball because when I was a kitten I was a tiny
"ball of fluff" but my real name (seldom used) is Charista -- which
means joy and happiness. My favorite pastime is giving friends a lick and
sometimes the only thing that alerts you to my presence is when you find
yourself being licked, by which time it is too late to avoid this honour!
I used to hunt leaves when I was a kitten but these days I find more
stuck in my bushy tail, along with bits of twig, seeds, spider-webs, slugs, and
any other wildlife that cares to use me as a taxi service! I am very
independent and outdoor natured, although I will choose a nice warm
cushion on long winter days allowing strokies and tickles when I am in the
mood and of course plenty of licks in return.
In the summer months I spend time with the sheep although those ticks
sometimes get toooo friendly and I have to have them removed, which brings
to mind the famous song by Pink Floyd, you know the one... "all in all it's
just another tick in the 'Ball". Heather has composed a song which she hopes
to finish called "Song for Charista". It is about a warm sleepy summer day in
the long grass listening to the sheep and the birds.
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Me as a kitten awaiting my tummy tickle and later in the day... shssssssssshhhh I'm composing
  
I'll ring for service when I am ready and think you need to be licked.
I'm the lightest and fluffiest of them all!
Rest in Peace, dear Mina
Mina passed away in September 2018. She was a much loved cat and had a long
life with many years after being rescued. Rest in Peace Mina.
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I'm MINA... my name means "Child of Love".
Mina joined our kitty family in 2005. She was found while we were searching
for Macha (see story below) and had been confirmed to be abandoned in the
area for quite a long time so was skinny as a snake but is much healthier now
thanks to all those Whiskas sachets she's been stuffing. She settled in well
and is generally fine with the other kitties around the place apart from
occasional loud hissing! Mina started life as a feral (semi-wild) cat and,
although she is now perfectly tame and very affectionate with us, she remains
timid towards strangers. Her favorite games are chasing after tin-foil balls or rolled up paper,
shedding trees or playing hide & seek behind a tree or post while trying to catch some grass.
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Mina after a visit to the vets... I'm not sure I enjoyed that!
Rest in Peace, dear Maeve
Sadly, Maeve is no longer with us, and as we usually do, we are
keeping her web page as her memorial.
Maeve passed away peacefully on 22 April 2016, aged a few weeks under 17.
She had a fast-growing and untreatable cancer and kidney failure. But we were with
her at the end and made sure that she knew she was loved, and she'd had a long and happy life.
Praste mukli dre o tanopre, miri kamlori Maeve!
(Run free in heaven, my sweet Maeve)
Rest in Peace precious little Macha
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Sadly, Macha is no longer with us, and as with Mori and Maeve, we are
keeping her web page as her memorial. We acquired Macha as a rescue
cat early in 2001, although she was already adult, so we never really knew
how old she was. Despite the ups and downs she had with her health (see
below) she was with us for nine long years. In June 2010 we discovered she
had
bowel cancer, and although our vets tried everything they could, she just
didn't have the strength to pull through
after the massive surgery needed to clear out the cancer, and passed away
quietly and without pain on 17th June 2010.
We were terribly grief-stricken by the sudden loss of our dear, special
Macha... and in fact as a direct result, Natalie was admitted to hospital some
five days later, and it took more than a year for her health to recover to what it was
before we lost Macha.
I'm Macha...
My name, chosen by Natalie, means Goddess of
trouble and strife! Well I'm far too cute for that and how could any cat outdo
Maeve for being a fluffy trouble maker? Heather calls me "Macha Bunty
Boo" because I like to bunt (note for non-Cat-People: 'Bunting' is when a cat nuzzles
you with great enthusiasm to exchange recognition scents with you).
I love to have digestive biscuit dipped in
Heather's coffee and cooled for breakfast! I also like to curl up on laps
and be the centre of attention at all times.
I was rescued when I was abandoned as a young kitty to walk the streets...
found my way to one of the nearby vets where there was a friendly nurse
who found me a home... I fit in well here and get the most attention because I
am small and cute. But my first night here was a bit unsettled as Heather will
explain in her own words...
We had a bit of drama with her the second
morning. We had to keep her in for a few days to make sure she did not
wander off or get chased off by the other cats but on accidentally leaving the cat flap
unlocked overnight she vanished. We both searched around the house but
there was no sign, so we began to realise she had gone off... So I
decided to get dressed and open the garden gate and go up into the field in
case she was nearby, but nothing was seen or heard. so I wandered right up
into the corner of the field where the kitties often go, and Fluffball and Maeve
followed me. It was cold and windy and over the breeze after a few
moments I could hear something faint... looked around... nothing... then
something made me look up... There she was, 12 feet up a tree in the
farmer's field!!! Cat located.
So I told Nali I'd found her and we decided to take the loft ladder and climb
over the barbed wire fence and I tried to reach her, but she was too high and
she
looked cold and was shaking.
Nali then called the Fire Brigade because she is disabled and myself not too
good on ladders! Then the RSPCA, and they said they'd get back to us. In
the meantime I decided I was now awake enough after my bit of breeze to
take the ladder back... along with a climbing harness and some rope. Nali
joined me (on the ground, though!) and I went up the ladder again and after
about 25 minutes of grabbing her and having her cling with her nails to the
tree and also my head, I grabbed her and Nali let out the rope so I could get
down the ladder without
her jumping back up.
Soooooooooooooooo... she was finally back indoors as if nothing had ever
happened and was kept in for a few days longer. Her second and third
ventures out were not so troublesome and she's been as good as gold ever
since! I wonder why? We named the tree "Macha's Tree".
Sadly Macha
suffers from epileptic fits as the result of an early throat infection which
spread to her brain. When she was first with us she was hardly able to make
a sound but she usually manages to be very vocal if she needs to go to the
vet. On one occasion Natalie was worried about her in case she was
having a fit and used a small stool to try to reach her on a special high shelf
we have. We added a special safety rail so she would not fall off, however,
on this occassion, Natalie fell off the stool and broke her ribs! She had used
to safety rail to grab on to when the stool gave way and it came off in her
hand! Macha was safe and sound, but Natalie needed a trip to the
hospital.
You WILL give me strokies and tickles otherwise I'll stand here until you do!
We had a serious scare in June 2005 when Macha
disappeared after having one of her fits. We searched eveywhere, put posters
up, dropped leaflets around the neighbourhood and even got articles on radio
and in the press asking people to look out for her. After more than two
months missing, we had given her up for lost, thinking that she had had a
fatal fit somewhere and we simply couldn't find her. We knew that without
her epilepsy medication she would be quite helpless and unable to fend for
herself. Then, amazingly, we got a call from our vet saying Macha had
been found alive, though very malnourished and suffering badly with her
epilepsy. After a couple of days in the animal hospital, she came home to
begin the long process of nursing her back to health. It turned out that there
was an astonishing story to how she had been found... What had
happened was that Fluffball had found Macha, well away from home and
very sick, and had tried to lead her home. Macha collapsed in the street, so
Fluffball (with stunning intelligence!) went to the nearest house with a cat
(easy to tell by smell if you're a cat), sat on the step and howled until the
woman in the house came out, then led her to where Macha was lying.
Believing initially that Macha had been in a road accident, the woman rushed
her to the vet. The vet realised that she was epileptic rather than injured,
scanned her ID chip and realised she was our Macha. After two months
of intensive nursing, during which Natalie slept on a mattress beside Macha
to be with her 24/7, she was returned to a healthy weight and had recovered
as much as was possible. With the help of the vet we were able to change her
epilepsy medications to a better regime, and since then she has had no major
fits at all, just petit mal epilepsy, which is fairly harmless. Macha is
now partially disabled as a result of her ordeal: she's not very steady on her
feet and can't jump or climb any more, and needs extra care and attention as
well as a special diet because her digestive system suffered badly from over
two months' starvation. But she's not in any discomfort, she's happy and
always her normal affectionate self. We give her lots of special attention and
care, and Heather has built a special section of our garden that is safe for
Macha and that she can't get out of to get lost again.
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Macha, August 2005 - Not very well, but safely returned and alive!
Macha always enjoyed assisting with new projects in the studio - Quality control of course!
Requiesce in pace, preciosa Mori
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Sadly, Mori is no longer with us. We are keeping her page and pictures
here on our web site as her memorial. Mori had a long and happy life,
almost fifteen years, after being rescued from a very tough start in life. She
was a beautiful and very affectionate pet whom we both adored, and was the
'grand old lady' of our family of cats. I shall never forget her funny habit of
going into paroxysms of ecstasy whenever her fur was combed, and the way
she used to jump on our laps and beg to be groomed, and I've never met
another cat with such a loud purr when this was done. She passed away
peacefully on 16th January 2008 after a short illness, and her ashes were
scattered on the green hillside overlooking our home, where she used to sit
and sunbathe in summer. I am sure that her spirit is not far away, probably
enjoying a plate
of fish and a nice lie down in the sunshine.
I'm Mori, a magical black cat. I came to Exeter when Natalie met with
Heather and moved down here. Originally I was rescued as a kitten from a
building site when I ran into one of those big long ceramic drain pipes and
stayed there... next thing I knew there were a load of big hairy builders
tipping the tube up and down and poking things down to get me out... of
course I stuck my ground although it was like a fairground ride! Eventually
they managed to persuade me to come out and I was found a home with
Natalie who was able to calm me down and tame me. Life has been pretty
good ever since and I'm getting on in years now so I guess I'm classed as an
OAP! I also suffer from arthritis and prefer to hide inside in the winter where
it's
warm.
For a long time I was boss around here but then some other kitties
arrived. I tried to frighten them off my territory but they kinda took over
the place - yes, the whole place including all my favorite sleeping places... on
the bed, in the wardrobe. They even scoff all my favorite foods. After a few
years I didn't mind them so much but I'm the boss and I still have to hisssss
to keep them in order. My favourite pastimes are having a tickle under
the chin and eating 'Iams'. I'm very partial to a nice piece of freshly cooked
fish. A long while ago I decided to pop out for an evening walk (like us
felines do) and saw a cute fluffy field mouse. I decided to pick her up and
take her home as a gift... when I got home Natalie saw me carrying her so I
ran into the lounge and let go of my find there which ran off. This was at
three in the morning so getting every one out of bed to look for a mouse was
not appreciated. Thing is, this little mouse was only a baby and too young to
be let go again - some other cats in the neighbourhood like to eat them
whereas I like to play. So, she was kept as a pet and looked after. More
about her below.
Here are the words of a song Heather wrote about Mori, they are very
simple so don't be shy, sing along...
Fluffy Mori
Fluffy Mori
Fluffy Mori
Fluffy Mori, Fluffy Mori, Fluffy Mori, Fluffy Mori, Fluffy Mori
(repeat this song 50 times every half an hour for full effect)
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MORE KITTY PICCIES
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