Show Off Your Pets 2026

Sorry to keep on about Dewi, but I am pleased he stayed on my lap just now, for about 10 minutes while I had a cuppa. He was purring and rubbing his head on my hand and arm so I think he feels quite happy.
He's got sharp claws !

 

What a lovely shiney coat. I think he has decided he is at home with you. A lap sit is more positive than under a kitchen counter for sure. I guess he understands Welsh

 

All animals understand Welsh

Here's a link to a photo of Dewi and me on the rescue centre facebook page. It was taken the day I collected him. He was called Luca then. Facebook

If you look and read the comments you won't find me called 'Michael Hewett', that's only here ...

 

Here they understand Portuguese but I doubt Welsh as I don't undertand it

Munchkin was found by the dog of an English couple not far from us so for her first five weeks only heard English. However, Van appeared out of the orange orchard and hovered here for 6-8 weeks being fed by me before we adopted him so we have no idea what language home he came from. Did he have a home? did he run away? was he dumped? After nearly 12 years with us, he is still afraid of strangers and vehicles.

 

You don't have to understand it, the animals do, they understand it instinctively

 

That was a quick warm up period. You must project calmness that Dewi picked up on right away! Good going @Michael Hewett .

 

Munchkin enjoying the sun ...


Van falling asleep on my lap last night ...

 

That is the reward you deserve, @Michael Hewett .
A cat needs to be trained from the beginning to hold still when the claws are cut. If they aren't trained, no chance to get it learned later on I would say.

I took care of two cats in my life over a period of 28 years. My first cat loved me from the moment we meet. The first months were bumpy because I rescued her from my sister's home to a friend who wanted to have a cat. But he didn't have time for her, and when ever I visited him, we both played for hours. One day, she jumped out of the window and after 5 days, I learned that she was gone.
I was looking for her for 2 days, went to the area three times a day, no luck.
On Monday, I came back from sport and while sitting in the tram, God said to me, "tonight, you will find her, you need to prepare everything". There was no logical reason, it was what it was.
I brought the sport clothes bag into the flat, and went to the area. I looked into each of the houses, was drawn into a house and knocked on a door in the ground floor in the backyard.
A young girl opened the door and said "is she the one with a white belly, you need to be there at night.
At 10 pm, I went again to the area and was calling her for 2 hours. Then I heard her calling and found her. I had tears in my eyes. I put her into my backpack and we went home. After 5 days and nights outside, she was finally found. Skin and bones, I gave her food first and then a shower and wrapped her into a towel. She purred like a Singer machine.
I still intended to give her to someone else because my small flat didn't allow to keep a cat, and I wasn't used to it. After 8 weeks, I decided to keep her and said it to her. She understood that she can stay with me and was over the moon. Since then, we lived together for 13 years. We were like a married couple.
I brought her with to England and she had the best time ever.
We had bought salmon and other fish from Billingsgate a month after we both had moved to England. She loved salmon and when OH was on a business trip 2 weeks later, my cat and I - not used to so much good salmon - ate the entire salmon in the following 2 weeks. OH came back from Asia, opened the freezer and said "where is the salmon?" My cat and I didn't say a word, still digesting the salmon from the evening. That story was told again and again for many years.

She couldn't believe what she saw: This was after a visit to Billingsgate in November the same year.



Unfortunately, she got ill the following year and I had to put her to sleep, the most heart-breaking moment in my life.

Two weeks after my cat had died, we found our second cat at a farm shop near Windsor. She looked like my first cat and saw this as a sign to take care of her.
Our second cat loved OH, despite that OH hardly did the day to day jobs.
In the following 15 years, our relationship grew and in particular at the end of her life, she developed a love for me knowing that I was the one who had taken care of her all her life.
After 15 years, learned from what went wrong with my first cat, I decided when to put her to sleep. It was the beginning of the end.

As we found her on the farm, fighting for life in a cold and freezing November, just 8 weeks old. You know, September kitten are only half the size.
She always had this dirt on the nose from eating.



I'm glad that I have no longer to care for a cat after so many years giving everything for them. I only wish I could hold such kitten once more, just hold for a few moments.

 

That was wonderful @simone_in_wiltshire you are a very kind person. Your cats were pretty ...
I had decided not to have another cat, but the house and also the garden had a sad heavy feeling and I was becoming actually very depressed, crying all the time and not eating, and feeling quite unwell. A friend started worrying about me and phoned every day to see how I was. In the end I couldn't cope with feeling like that any more and decided that having another cat would help, so when I saw Dewi's photo on the website of the rescue centre, and it said he only had three legs and had not been cared for by his previous humans, I decided to give him a home where he could be happy. He takes my mind off grieving.

 

@Simone in Wiltshire Darling pretty little girls and you gave them a safe, happy home. It is always sad when they leave us and leave a big ole in our heart.

I don't like fresh salmon, but love tinned!

 

@Michael Hewett That saving a life or two and caring for each other connected my first cat and me so much. She was my mental health in difficult times after I (like so many East Germans) couldn’t find work and life looked so sad. We were best mates. She didn’t care how small my flat was, or where we were, as long as I was there, everything was fine. Our lives changed when we moved to England and we had a future. I couldn’t give my first cat a garden, but our second cat got it 7 years later and she enjoyed gardening with me and I with her.
We had a ritual in the morning. I started from one end, she from the other, we met in the middle of the garden, one or the other gave space to pass, and continued slowly going along the paths.

@Victoria , believe me, after eating salmon for two weeks in a row, my cat and I took some years break from it

 

I am the opposite to that, love fresh salmon but hate tinned. I used to buy it for Bella who enjoyed it but didn't like the fresh !

 

I used to love tinned salmon but not anymore, I much prefer tinned Tuna these days.
I do buy fresh salmon as well.
Ben likes a tin of Tuna in spring water from time to time.

 

Is it safe to give tuna to dogs @pete, they say you should not give it to cats because of the high mercury content.
Bella loved it so I used to give her a little bit occasionally, however it is dangerous for cats with a thyroid problem so after Bella was diagnosed with that I didn't give her any more. In fact I stopped eating it myself because Bella knew I had it and kept wanting a share and I felt mean if I didn't give her any.