RIP Cedric

Rachel and Pete were on holiday earlier this month, so Lila and I got to spend 12 days at the cat hotel! It got a bit boring after a while. When we at last heard Rachel's voice calling "Mia, Lila..." we were so happy we ran round and round our room in excitement!

However, during this stay at the hotel, a sad event occurred. I don't think we introduced you to our friend Cedric, but here's a photo of him in happier times. He's the little grey mouse. The brown thing is Kiwi; Lila will tell you about him another day.

Lila: I'm so happy to be alive.

A close up of lovely Cedric.

Cedric was my special friend. He didn't have catnip in or anything, but from the moment he arrived I couldn't resist him! Every time I passed him I stopped to bat him about or have a chew on his tail. I'd chase him all around the lounge until we collapsed in a laughing heap on the floor, like an advert for life insurance or something. Sometimes I would snooze resting my chin on his furry back. We had such great times together!

So when we went off for our long cattery stay, Rachel thoughtfully packed some toys and beds for us, including Cedric. It was so nice having him there. But partway through our stay, a tragic event occurred. I don't want to go into details, it hurts too much, but have you seen Slumdog Millionaire? Yes? Well, you know that scene right at the start, when the boy gets locked in the toilet and has to escape in an unspeakably disgusting way? Well, that is kind of what happened to Cedric. It isn't our fault the litter they use at the cat hotel isn't absorbent like the stuff we have at home!

Anyway, I was devastated. When Rachel came to pick us up, she asked where Cedric was, and the lady proprietor said there'd been a "mishap" with the litter tray and they'd had to get rid of Cedric. A MISHAP? How can you describe what happened to my dear friend, my darling Ceddy, as a mishap!

So, we came home and life got back to normal; I tried to put Cedric out of my mind, but there was always something missing, a hollow feeling in my fluffy tummy. The house was too quiet without him.

Then, a few days later, a miracle occurred. I had been out in the garden and came inside to find that our latest delivery of food had arrived. And who should be sitting on the top of the cans, shackled to some kind of board...

On the third day, Cedric rose again.

CEDRIC!! He had been resurrected from his rodenty poo-death! Yay!! I was so excited. Once Rachel had freed him from his bonds, we carried on as if nothing had ever come between us. Of course, I didn't ask him about what had happened to him since I'd last seen him, or what he'd gone to to try and return to me, as it was obviously painful. Before long we were chasing each other around the house as though he had never been away. Although he doesn't go outside, I did take him to the back door to see how much the garden had grown while he'd been away. Look how happy we both are!!

See the grass Cedric? Yes, it's about a foot long. Awesome.

Hopefully now we're reunited, I'll be able to bring you some more stories about the fantastic adventures Ced and I get up too. But I'll be keeping him well clear of the litter tray from now on... (shudder).

Hunting

I caught a mouse!! It was so exciting!!

I was out in the garden and I saw it twitching and sniffing by a treetrunk and I stalked it silent as the night for ages for hours and hours as it scurried about looking for worms or something yucky and then I stepped on an old crunchy leaf and the mouse stopped and turned around and looked at me - right at me - right at me with it's beady little eye - and I growled at it and it looked scared as well it should I am terrifying and it shook like a leaf and ran away but then I found it again later on by the purple geraniums under the buddleia tree and this time I crept closer and closer and my paws were so quiet on the soil this time not even a rustle I avoided the leaves I was like a ballet dancer and eventually I was so close I could smell its stinky sweaty mouse smell and it was deep in concentration looking at something it was stock still not moving at all and I was just a whisker from its nasty tail and then I struck I pounced I leapt through the air so gracefully like a gazelle and BAM I landed on it and HUZZAH my paws closed around it - victory at last - and I put it between my sharp razor teeth still struggling and I ran down the garden like the wind dodging the washing line and the wheelbarrow whose wheel doesn't turn and the puddles of water from the sprinkler and the empty pots blown out of the shed by the wind and then I reached the patio where Lila was sitting by the barbecue and all I could see as I flew by was her wide eyes of surprise that yes I - silly little clumsy Mia - had been the first after more than a year to catch something other than a fly in the garden and then I was almost at the back door and I could see someone's feet and legs in the dining room and it was Rachel in her slippers I screeched to a halt as she turned to look down at me and I proudly laid my quarry at her feet brown and furry and dirty looking with its paws in the air and its body frozen in fear and its long long tail stretched out on the carpet I knew she would be so proud of me and tell me how I was her big scary tiger and so pleased to receive what a wonderful present from her clever clever Mia.

She did tell me how clever I was and what a wonderful present... BUT then...

She laughed at me! And she giggled at my savaged mouse! And she called Pete and he came downstairs and positively guffawed!

How RUDE!!!