One-Line Bio
I'm a big, black, dribbly cat with no teeth.
He's looking a bit blue in that photo cos his coat was so shiny it reflected the sky.
Biography
Bob was born into a large family sometime between 1993 and 1995 and given the imaginative name 'Dasher'. His sister 'Prancer' came along in mid-1996.
In early 1997, Dasher and Prancer were given to the RSPCA for re-homing, as their owner had too many cats to cope with.
They lived at the re-homing centre at South Godstone for a couple of months before Husband and I spotted them, huddling together in a corner of their cage.
We'd gone to South Godstone with our friends that day in April 1997 to help them pick out a dog, not expecting to find pets of our own.
I suppose we must've already been looking for a cat at this point, and must've had our RSPCA home-check, as we dashed into Reigate to get the cash to take them home that day.
We had them 'micro-chipped' (which they did not like one bit!), put them into separate boxes and they miaowed at each other all the way home.
Once in the house, we opened the boxes and the cats leaped out, finding a nice dark corner to hide in. Being rather un-prepared for cats, we left them to acclimatise as we nipped out to the shops to buy bowls, food and a litter tray.
However, on our return the burglar alarm was ringing; each time the cats moved to a new hiding place they triggered the sensor.
Not a great start!
They hid in the bathroom, all week.
Next-door-but-one lived two tabby cats, called 'Del-Boy' and 'Rodney'.
We wanted to 'out-comedy' them, and so 'Prancer' became Vic and 'Dancer' became Bob.
Eventually, they settled in well to their new home.
Vic would go out 'hunting' and bring back presents of mice and birds, shrews and voles (although sometimes she ate them, leaving only the tail as a present)
and Bob would stay in to 'guard' the house. In the evenings they would curl up together on the sofa and go to sleep.
Sadly, two years later, Vic went out one night and never came back.
Deciding Bob needed some company, just before Christmas 1999 'Coco' came along.
Bob was most seriously displeased.
Look...
Bob's the big, pissed-off looking one. Coco is on the left, her brother on the right (later named 'Wilf') who we were minding for a friend.
Never as affectionate together as with Vic, they tolerated each other.
It was around this time that Bob was diagnosed with FIV and, although this made him more prone to infections, he was relatively healthy for another five years.
In August 2004 Bob was diagnosed with a prolapsed lens in his left eye, then a year later the lens in the other eye prolapsed too.
It was not long after this that his health began to deteriorate.
A kidney infection in November 2005 marked the start of the trouble. The FIV had now become 'full blown' and, in an attempt to fight it off, we tried giving him a course of interferon injections.
After a protracted cycle of appetite loss - steroid injection - recovery, a lump was discovered in his belly.
Two weeks later, on March 1 2006, he had a stroke and died.
About Bob
- He was...
- chunky
- FIV+
- hairy
- dribbly
- affectionate
- almost human and was frequently seen sitting up like a person on the sofa watching telly.
- He had...
- an extremely loud purr
- a strange 'lick spot' on his side. Stroke it and he was compelled to lick himself - stop stroking and he stopped licking.
- a knack of being able to get onto your lap without you noticing.
- He loved...
- food (of course). First choice would be steak, but failing that Whiskas or Felix pouches. Tinned Whiskas or Kit-e-Kat is an acceptable alternative. Dried food was acceptable only as a last resort. Towards the end of his life he developed a partiatlity for the top-of-the-range pet foods in tiny foil containers.
- being stroked; anywhere would do, but his favourite spots were on his nose, under his chin and on his belly.
- people; he loved company and would follow us wherever we went around the house and garden.
- Bill Oddie's bird programme 'Bill Oddie Goes Wild'
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