Creamer’s story.
posted in Cat Stories |I once heard a best- man speech which began, ” I don’t know what I can say about (bridegroom) that hasn’t already been said in court”. And so it was with Creamer. An affectionate hooligan and lovable rogue, who had obviously been standing behind the door when good manners were given out. But we still loved him.
We had got him from the RSPCA in 1993 as a playmate for Dulcie our new kitten. He was a tabby with beautiful markings and black, straight hind legs.
Despite his often thugish behaviour, Creamer could be a bit of a wimp. In particular he was a poor traveller, and even the shortest journey in a car would result in him losing control of all his bodily functions. Not very funny when you were the one in the passenger seat with the basket on your knee or sharing the basket with him.
So when we decided to move 75 miles down the road to Lincolnshire, Creamer posed a bit of a problem. We discussed the situation with our vet, and he prescribed tranquilizers for all 4 of our cats for the journey. He said it would give them the same feeling as me having a couple of double gin and tonics. Sounded ideal!
Due to the constraints of having a small 2 seater car, Linus and Grover were moved to their new home 24 hours before the rest of us. The tablets made them drowsy and the journey was uneventful. They shared the cat basket quite happily and we left them to explore their new home still drowsy and confused.
The plan had been that Creamer and Dulcie would travel in similar fashion the following day, the day of the actual move. Unfortunately Creamer had other ideas.
It soon became clear that Creamer had not reacted well to the medication. It had brought out a nasty and aggressive side to his character that we had never seen before. When the time finally came to put Dulcie and Creamer in the basket for the journey he had decided that no-one was going to join him, and I feared for Dulcie’s safety had we pressed him.
This left us with a dilema. It was now 3pm and we had a long journey ahead of us, not to mention a removal van to empty at the other end. Out spare basket had been packed in the van some hours previously, and was unaccessible. Due to this, the time of day and the size of our car we had no choice but to put bad tempered Creamer in his basket in the back of the removal van, to make the journey alone. Dulcie travelled with us on Peter’s knee, and was good as gold.
We all arrived safely to find Linus and Grover fully recovered from their ordeal of the previous day. Creamer was still bad tempered and everyone gave him a wide birth. It was not until the following day that he returned to his normal lovable self. We settled in quickly and all the cats loved the large garden where they could play safely.
Sadly Creamer became ill a few years later and died of accute kidney failure in May 2003.
