23rd May 2019 - 3rd April 2020

Today (23rd May 2020) would have been Xander’s first birthday but he didn’t get to make it that far. He was in a RTA on the evening of 2nd April and put to sleep on 3rd April. Here is his story:

Xander was found by my partner living in a retail park when he was about 4 months old, presumably having been dumped there. Not wanting to leave an animal’s welfare to chance, we both went out the next evening to try and trap him. With the help of another very kind couple we were successful and he ended up coming home with me. After no microchip was found and noone came forward to a facebook post after two weeks, Xander officially became mine. It felt like fate had brought us together. 

As you can imagine, Xander was very scared of people at first but as his main caregiver he quickly started to trust me. Within a week he was curling up next to me in bed purring. Even when the rest of my family got involved in his care it was clear that I was still his “special human”, he was a very loving cat. Each morning without fail he would wake me up meowing outside my bedroom door so he could come in and cuddle in bed with me. It would make me laugh how Xander would come on my bed with me if my partner got up but he would hop back down as soon as my partner sat down again. I was the only one whose lap he would climb on seeking strokes and cuddles. I felt so privileged to be chosen by him.  

Xander was generally a funny cat. I set up a cosy bed for him with a blanket and a cushion but he wasn’t interested in it until I took all the cosy adornments off. He also liked sleeping on shoes, for some reason that I could never understand. He preferred to eat our other cat’s food, only eating from his own bowl once he had polished off hers. 

Xander was full of mischief. He was always making me laugh with his antics. I once came home and found him with the top of his head soaked, which we later figured out was caused by him playing near the kitchen sink. He made a play toy out of anything, constantly having to be told to leave something alone. His favourite toys though were stuffed animals, which he loved to wrestle and bunny kick. He would make funny noises that sounded like a gremlin when he got too into it. 

Xander’s hunter instincts were clearly very strong. He seemed happiest when he was chasing something, whether it was his ‘da bird’ toy, a laser pen, human feet, insects or, best of all, birds. Unfortunately that’s how I imagine he ended up in the road.

I wish I could have given Xander the long and happy life he deserved. Xander was such a brilliant cat, I will love and miss him forever.