Photos of Nimes (the cat)

I'd like to thank everyone for their kind words on the blog and in emails about our sad loss last week. Now the shock has passed, we've been able to reflect back on the life Nimes shared with us. Remembering how he used to follow us on walks round the housing estate we used to live on in Ipswich, how he seemed to find one of our other cats (when he followed Nimes back) and how he would lurk in the hedges of the cycle path and surprise us. When we moved to the Midlands we had several rented houses until we settled in out current house 14 years ago. When we moved in, we thought the house was secure and let him out of the cat box. A few minutes later we noticed a tabby setting off up the grassy knoll and off into the trees....he'd jumped out of the first-floor bathroom window! He came back a bit later no problem and was very much at home here. I mentioned he was partial to chicken, well the local squirrel population reduced when he was in his prime. Just the tails were left...

When we got him, he was 3 months old and had been rescued by the Cats Protection League who had got him from a vets where they didn't put down healthy cats. He was so nervous and would hide under the video recorder/tv stand. He eventually warmed up and was fairly sociable with people but was absolutely terrified at first of the new cats we got a few years later and would never pick a fight with another cat (unlike a certain Mr Fox). It was so pleasing to see Nimes just sleeping in the front garden, completely relaxed - so different from when we first got him.

I've been browsing through the digital photos and found a few nice ones from 2004 when he was 13. You'll see he was a bit of an omnivore. He also loved Skips and any other crisps.

Sleeping...



After some chicken:



"Arthuring" it with Pippa Jones for soup:



These two are a couple of years later when he was 15:




I know everyone thinks their cats are beautiful but he really was and good-natured too. Didn't mind being picked up and put up with the younger cats - and if he did get fed up a mighty paw would descend on the offender and that would be that!