Our cat Florence, who joined our family as a ten week old kitten in July 2023, has left our care this week after three years and three months. She has crossed over the rainbow bridge to Cathalla after a short and sudden illness 😭. She will be missed, especially by my daughter Evie, since she was full of hugs, cuddles and love ❤️. Unless you were a small rodent or bird 😂.

It only seems like yesterday that I introduced the latest member of our family, the little black cat Florence.

• Space is the Final Frontier – July 2023

She was a young kitten then, found on Middleton High Street in the rain, in some boxes. Typical of cat rescue naming conventions, she was initially called Rainey by Oldham Cats.

We quickly learnt she was made of love. I initially kept her safe in my office, since she couldn’t go out due to being unvaccinated and unneutered. I spent my evenings being snuggled, and head pushed. During the day, she’d spend time with the other family members, doing much the same. To think that I was initially very against getting her, when we went to Oldham Cats as an afternoon out, to entertain the kids, who were bored the day after returning from Centre Parcs! In hindsight, it was perfect timing since Evie on that post GCSE holiday, had specified what she wanted from a replacement for Felicity, who was my mother in law’s cat who we inherited after her death and only lasted a year before being knocked down just before the start of her GCSEs. It was to be a kitten, pure black, cuddly and affectionate and called “Flossy” (which was one of her nicknames later, which, when I reminded Evie, she had completely forgotten her intention to call her that!).

Evie, quickly took ownership of her, and they were besties through Evie’s A Levels, and her recent gap year.

She was pretty fearless and took no nonsense from Callie dog, our Sprollie (a Border Collie cross), Max, a boy cat one year older than her and partner in adventures outside, and Millie, the Grandma of our Cat Colony.

Two years ago, though, she ended up with a sudden chest infection, spending the best part of a month at the Emergency Vets. Despite some very, very expensive tests (thank goodness for the insurance we took out on her a couple of months before), they never found any signs of a cause.

We then had two lovely years with her. She quickly recovered (mainly thanks to Evie’s in room care). Went on many adventures with Max in the lands around our castle, and mooched around the house, snuggling up to the Dog and us, and having run ins with Millie, who was a bit grumpy about her.

Then at the end of last week she came down with it again. This time, despite everyone’s best efforts, she was too weak to overcome it. So after five days at the Emergency Vets, we put her to sleep, with Evie (who is now at Durham Uni) joining us via FaceTime.

Her life was in many ways short and tragic (the illness and abandonment as a Kitten). But it was full of love, and I believe the Great Cat Distribution System sent her to help Evie through the difficult times of her A levels, and to help the family as a whole recover from a series of upsets we endured post COVID. She really was the most affectionate and loving cat I’ve ever met. We were fortunate to get to love her, and that her life could have been even shorter if we had not picked her up from the rescue. Ultimately, she had an underlying immunodeficiency disorder, which was always going to get her in the end. For me, that’s the damn shame, because I saw how the first illness hit her development, and she was only just becoming a beautiful, silky, sleek adult cat. But now she’s done her life’s purpose, free of pain, and has moved on to Cathalla, ready for her next stage.

If you want to see more photos of my furry daughter, I’ve made a Google Photos album of some of my favourites, which includes some videos.

• Florence’s Greatest Hits July 2023 – September 2026