I suppose the toughest decisions I’ve had to make in my life was whether or not to let several of our pets be put to sleep when they were seriously ill and unlikely to recover. I’ve written about Rosie* but there were a few cats in my life who were ill at various times and the vet said there was no hope.

One of these cats was called Tiggy. She joined our family when we were living in two rooms in London with our two cats, Moosh and Orpheus.

Judy and I were both students living in digs* in London with my daughter, Veronica, who was seven at the time. Patty had moved us all to West Malling in the summer before and she lived there with the two cats while we were at college during the week. At the week-ends we would drive down to the village which is a distance of about 35 miles, if you don’t travel via the M20. (The M20 had not yet been built!)

But some time after the Easter holidays, Patty and the two cats had to come and live with us while her cottage was being renovated. It wasn’t the best living arrangement but we were all relatively poor so had to put up with it. One day, Tiggy walked in and joined us. The other two cats were quite welcoming, surprisingly. We tried to find her owners but after several weeks of posters on lamp posts and knocking on doors, she became our third cat.

After the end of the summer term for us all, we moved back to West Malling. My car was full of all our belongings,the four of us and the three cats, each in a different carrier. Orpheus caused a bit of difficulty when he escaped from his during the journey but we made it after an hour or so.

We all settled in to the cottage which finally had a bathroom instead of the toilet at the bottom of the garden and the bath next to the kitchen sink! After the summer holidays we didn’t go back to live in London but, instead, commuted on the days we needed to be there, and Veronica started school at the West Malling Primary.

The cottage is on the High Street which at the time was exceedingly busy as the main route to various places. (New roads and Motorways were in the planning stages and eventually, the High Street was much quieter.) Because of the traffic, the cats weren’t allowed to go out front but could go into the walled garden at the back. They soon found their way out by climbing up and over the neighbouring building and across yards.

Tiggy was the first to be hit by a car in the night. Somehow she made it back home with a mangled leg! I took her to the vet whose immediate thought was to put her to sleep. I suggested that he amputate her leg, because cats can survive happily with three but he just said I should take her to another vet if I didn’t like his decision. I had no idea where to find another vet! Certainly there wasn’t another in West Malling and I didn’t want to leave Tiggy in such a state for much longer – she must have been in terrible pain! So, I gave in to the vet and Tiggy was put to sleep. (I never went back to him but found another in Maidstone.)

Moosh was next. Some years had passed. We had acquired two new kittens from a friend – Piggy and Tiggy (2). As before, the cats went in and out the cat door into the garden. One night Moosh went out and came back injured but the injury wasn’t visible on the outside. We only realised when he behaved strangely. I took him to the Maidstone vet and they were able to ascertain that he had, indeed, been hit by a car and his lungs were affected.

They took him into their animal hospital and treated him but, sadly, after 3 or 4 days, told me that he would not recover and I knew I had to ask them to put him to sleep.

That was all about fifty years ago. Since then I’ve thought a lot about euthanasia. I have realised that if I were struck with an illness that was only going to get worse I would want to be given a medication to put me to sleep when the pain was just too much to bear. But, cats can have a jolly good life with one leg missing and I think most modern vets would agree.

——————————————————————————————-

*see post “Rosie Supposes her Toeses are Roses” (Oct 2017)

*digs = rented accommodation