Sweetpea
Sweetpea 30 November, 1994
I rescued her from a house when she was four weeks old, it was Christmas and I had went to give in a Christmas card to someone in the Highlands. He told me he thought he had a dead kitten behind his cooker and explained that his cat (Sweetpea's mum) had been run over the day before and that the kitten ran in and upset some boiling water and so went behind the cooker. I went over and made some catty sounds and out she came, a little thing with a burned ear and some scarring down her back, she came to me and I lifted her up and she done the toilet on me, that is when she adopted me I guess. I took her with me, got her seen to by a vet and took her home. My two dogs, Aja and Rocky were not amused but soon they adopted her and treated her as their pup. They would dig a hole for her in the garden and Sweetpea would go out, do the toilet and then Aja would cover it up. They taught her to bury food and to this day she pulls the rug over any food she does not eat, she does not meaow as such but has a low growl, I think Sweetpea thinks she is a dog. I thought after her earlier experience and the pain she had went through, she would not get pregnant - WRONG - she did. I do not have children so when Sweetpea was getting fat, I thought she had worms!!!!!!! I had my own business in the Highlands and so took some time off to be with Sweetpea who turned out to be the most marvellous mother and gave birth to 6 kittens within four hours. I sat beside her with water and food and a book about cats giving birth. She was a very patient and loving mother. After 11 weeks, I gave one of the kittens, Gizmo, away (to a lady who I knew would spoil and love him) but this upset Sweetpea so I kept the other five. Sweetpea taught them to hunt by bringing in branches with leaves and then running all over the house with all 5 kittens on the chase. One by one I gave them names (Shadow, first born), Benji, (second), Snoops, (third), Gizmo (fourth and the one I found a home for), Popcorn (fifth) and Tinkerbell (the last to be born).
Sweetpea has been the one to sit on my lap over the years, she sleeps behind my head in the bed, she bites me to get attention. When Andy and I come back from the shops she has to go through every bag to see what we have bought and knows there is always something for her. She no longer hunts but was a good one in her day, she prefers to be indoors and sitting on our laps. When I moved from the Highlands to the south, there was only Sweetpea, Popcorn and Tinkerbell left. Benji had been killed by a train, Snoops fell foul to some poison and Shadow went off to live in an other farm. The three were shipped down in cat boxes to London by overnight train and were so pleased when we got together again. We soon moved out into the country and they were having a ball. Even now that have moved from our isolated home to a small town, they have adapted well and have the most marvellous of lives. Sweetpea runs the house, if I do not pay her the attention she wants she just hits me in the face with her paw.