When we were in Australia we couldn't have a pet, and poor Mitzie had died while we were out there. Peter desperately wanted a pussycat for his fourteenth birthday, so we went to the Cats' Protection League in Galleywood - and I ended up with scratches from unwilling and unsuitable adoptees. So we took Peter, who chose wisely; he immediately took to Magic and we brought her home proudly.
She turned out to be a fantastic choice; I don't remember her ever doing anything wrong. She even came with us on our caravanning trips, for which she was equipped with a harness to go on walks. She even came to Ireland with us, travelling in the caravan on the ferry car deck.
During our prolonged move to France, Magic put up with many tribulations. First she was put in the care of a neighbour while we looked for a house in France. Then she lived with us for a while in our caravan in Colchester Caravan Park. When we bought our little house in Colchester she lived there, and looked down her nose at all the neighbourhood cats. Then when Peter moved to Uni in Cambridge we sold the little Colchester house and Magic emigrated to France in 2005, which she embraced without so much as a flick of a jet-black whisker. Like us she loved the space and freedom of the countryside - and she even got on with Henri and Gaby!
Early this year we noticed that Magic was losing weight - which was welcome, since she was somewhat podgy. We also noticed that she was very much more agile without that weight, and what we thought was arthritis disappeared as she started to jump up on to the window cill to be let in. I took her off low-calorie food and started monitoring her weight, which carried on falling, from over 7Kg it went down to 2.5Kg.
The end came quickly for her. For a couple of days Magic had sessions of yowling in pain and with her back legs collapsing under her - her breathing was shallow and rapid. She spent her last night on our bed and she slept peacefully apart from one yowling session.
We should have gone to a financial seminar that morning but I cancelled it and took Magic to the vet.
He said that she was very dehydrated with very little muscle mass and she had renal failure and her organs were shutting down.
It was unlikely that he could do anything for her so we jointly decided that she should suffer no more. She had an injection to put her to sleep, followed by one to stop her little heart, and she was off to Rainbow Bridge.
I've never had to do that before - all my other cats were either lost or killed - and it isn't easy. I console myself that we had such a lovely and loving cat for most of her eighteen years.
I didn't like the idea of another sad little grave, so I had her cremated. She was almost eighteen years old.
Magic used to help me on with my shoes; she loved playing with my laces and then the cuddle on my lap. Over the years she got tired of the laces, but always made sure she got a cuddle. Now when I put my shoes on something gets in my eye…
We will remember her with deep affection.
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| Peter and his pussycat in 2002 | Keeping the LandRover engine warm |
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| Chasing meeces in Colchester Caravan Park | At our little house in James Close, Colchester |
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| Surveying her new territory at Tessel Bas | Magic by Peter, 2 months prior to her death |