Day to-day attitude: Tigger-Lou was a very nervous cat around anyone except myself, mum and Grandad. She occasionally accepted “treats” from relatives (much to my annoyance as i disliked them being fed dairy etc).
She was vocal at night if left outside but would immediately curl on my bed for a snoozy hug once let in for the night.
She loved hugs and being wrapped in a hooded baby blanket which calmed her if she got scared. She went missing for over a month not long after she got here – but we knew she couldn't be far away as Socky kept going out back then and sitting near our back door “talking” to another cat (this ended up being Tigger but we could never get there quick enough before she would run off ).
Eventually she came home when one day I refused to come indoors until very late and she snuck up to me, sat at my feet and somehow magically bonded with me as if I'd earned her trust again(!!).
After this we were very close until a week before she died, when I could sense something was wrong but she seemed fine in herself. She ran away out of the blue again Feb 2006, I was confused and wondered “why now” after everything was so good for a year. She had been to the vets on and off with bladder problems and had been scared to be near sox from oct 2005 onwards as he “smelled different” after his car accident but we had been so close and for her just to “leave”…. It turns out she had left to find a cosy spot in our adjoining gardens (Uncles greenhouse).
We aren't sure whether she knew she was passing and wanted to be alone – or the coincidental snow+wind storm that happened that week spooked her in to hiding out.
She was found hunkered down in a plant box just under a week after she disappeared – 25ft from our back door! Frozen solid (sorry too much detail). Heartbreak …. doesnt describe it.