REMEMBERING BRYAN

by Ruth
(England)

Ten years ago today we said goodbye to our beloved Bryan.

He came to us as a tiny kitten soaked to the skin. Some children brought him to our door, they said they had found him in a pond, in a carrier bag with a brick in it too.

How could anyone be so cruel as to try to drown a tiny kitten like that!

We already had Bert, Alice and Felix. Bryan settled in beautifully with them all. He particularly loved Bert who was very old. He washed his head and ears for him, but sometimes got a bit too enthusiastic and we had to rescue poor Bert so he could have a bit of peace.

Sadly Bert died of old age a few months later and Alice was diagnosed with a brain tumour and we lost her too.

Bryan got along well with Felix and then Ebony came along and all three had fun and games.

After the death of our mother Bryan was my rock! He kept me going many a time, he had his own high chair in the kitchen to 'help' me there and he slept on my bed.

But he did live his own life too, going off out to enjoy the sunshine and the grass and hunting mice but he had plenty of time and lots of love for when he came home.

Just after his tenth birthday he didn't seem too well, it was nothing we could pinpoint but I knew something was wrong. Three vets at the practice we were with then couldn't find anything wrong and one more or less called me neurotic.

Then suddenly he deteriorated quickly, started hiding and stopped eating. The fourth vet of the practice came out to our house and found a lump in his tummy too advanced to operate on. She did say the particular place the growth was it would have been hard to diagnose and more than likely terminal even if he'd been diagnosed sooner and operated on. But we will never know if that was right or not.

I held him while she put him to sleep, having lost our mother horribly to cancer not long before that, we couldn't let Bryan suffer the same fate, but it was the hardest thing ever to make that decision.

We still miss Bryan even all these years later, he was very special and his life was far too short.

R.I.P Bryan we will never forget you
xx

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