I’m not normally given to write stuff eulogising pets on here but our cat called Fetish was different. She was a wonderful cat. Fetish got her name for her habit of trying to chew on people’s bare toes when she was a kitten and someone said ‘that cat’s got a foot fetish’ so Fetish became her name. She was a miracle cat in a lots of ways, a miracle that she survived being the smallest kitten in the litter and a miracle that she survived some of the medical problems she had later on in life.
Fetish was the smallest of the litter of kittens that she came from, she was so small and runty that for a short while I considered Runty as a name for her, but Runty is not a dignified name for a cat and as T.S. Eliot said the naming of cats is ‘very important’. Therefore Fetish was our chosen name for her. Although an odd name it was a lot more dignified than ‘Runty’.
Fetish was 18 years old when she passed during last night after miraculously surviving all manner of health problems in her later years. She was a constant companion to my wife and I for almost all the time we’ve been together and she was a similar companion to our son over the last ten years. We are all very upset at the loss of Fetish but our son, who took a large part in administering the medicines that kept her alive and still relatively active even towards the end of her life, is devastated by her loss. He was the one who knew all Fetish’s hiding places that she slunk off to when trying to avoid the nasty tasting medicine or when she wanted peace and was the one who would gently prise her from her reposing spot and bring her for her medicine and help my wife administer it. He also groomed her when her fur got tangled and fed her.
She was an unusual cat, one of those cats without an obvious meow but was always affectionate and purred copiously. She positively hated going outside and her only ventures outside, especially after she was ten or so, was to tentatively creep out of the front door and sniff around for messages from other cats. Once satisfied that she had received the cat scent messages she went back inside quickly.
Our other two 7 month old cats are very confused at the sudden to them disappearance of Fetish, even though she made it quite clear that she was not going to do any of that mothering lark with them by spitting at them and bopping them on the head when they first approached. They are prowling around looking confused and probably wondering where the very senior cat has gone.
So Vale Fetish. You were one of the very best of cats.