Maisie - Our first cat

Maisie came to us as a stray. Well, that's what we thought anyway.

This was back in the day when we didn't have a patio window but had ordinary windows with a window sill. One day we were looking out through the windows and saw this tabby head looking in at us. Kind of floating in space.

Being animal lovers anyway, we went to the window to get a better look and see if the cat was friendly or not - she dived off the stool and ran! Maybe no so friendly after all.

A little later, she popped up again and, over a period of weeks, we progressed to the point where she was happily strolling in and out of the house through the window (good job it was summer).

As a rule, she was ravenous, so we came to the conclusion that she was a stray and in need of a good home with an unlimited supply of food. So, we adopted her and she adopted us. And, somewhere along the way, I lost the bottom corner of my bed.

Turned out later that she actually belonged to some people just down the road from us, not that they were interested in getting her back. Seems their kids weren't interested in the cat other than as a play thing and had been abusing her - which explains why she legged it to another home. Apparently, the last straw was when they 'trimmed' her whiskers - never a good idea.

Fair to say, she wasn't the most friendly of cats and was fiercely independent, but we loved her for what she was and we got a lot of love in return.

Sadly, she developed mouth ulcers and had to be put to sleep when she couldn't eat any more. We only had about five years with her, but I think she enjoyed that time to the full.