17.1.11

This is Charlie, my cat. Charlie Bo Barley to give him his full, unofficial name. C Bo B when he's feeling groovy, and Charles when he's looking suave.

Mum wanted to call him Mr Bo Jangles but I swiftly put a stop to that one.

He was called Lottie for a couple of weeks, back when we thought he was a girl (sorry Charlie).

He is, as you can see, a cat of many names, but no longer has quite so many lives.

When he was about a year old he dissapeared for about a week. We put up posters in the street asking people to check sheds and garages for him and one night, at about 10pm he showed up on the back door step looking skinny and terrified. We're pretty sure he got in a shed through a window and couldn't get out until someone opened it. There went life number 1.

Another night, about 2 or 3 years ago, my dad called me through the to livingroom as Charlie was in there, again looking terrified. He couldn't walk properly on one leg and his tail was drooping. A trip to the vets and we figured out he had fallen from a tree, landed square on his buttocks, and broken his tail at the base, also pulling a muscle in his front leg trying to cling to the tree as he made his descent. What followed were 2 very stressful weeks. Because the break was so close to the base of his tail (which is, obviously, part of his spine) we had to make sure he was able to go to the toilet by himself before we could get his tail sorted. If he couldn't go to the toilet, he would have no quality of life. Charlie is very much an outdoor boy, and keeping him cooped up made him quite depressed. Also, I have never had such an obsession with wee and pooh! Thankfully he was ok, but he had to loose his lovely grey ringed tail. Still I would rather have a Charlie with no tail than no Charlie at all! He does now have an amusing stumpy tail, that fluffs up like a pompom when hes excited. But that was life 2, gone.

Thirdy, perhaps a year and a half ago, dad found Charlie sitting on his bedroom windowledge looking, you guessed it, terrified. He couldnt put any weight on his back left leg and his foot was really swollen. Though thankfully it calmed down without having to go to the vet and nothing was broken. I reckon he got it caught in some of the wire fencing around one of the fields. Possibly he leapt over a fence, got stuck, and was left dangling for a bit. Strike 3.

Charlie also has a metal BB pellet in his neck. We have no idea when he was shot, and suspect it was someone out shooting rabbits (which I dont condone, not least because they shot my cat!!) as we live in the countryside. Again, a very lucky escape as I am quite sure Mr Farmer McShooty was aiming for his head. 4th time unlucky.

So at last count my cat has 5 lives and 6 names. I love my Charlie Boy......oh theres another name!