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Dorothy L. Sayers – a.k.a. Dotty Aug/1987 - 7/May/2004 “The youngest grand old lady you could meet” |
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We acquired Dotty whilst I was still
at DEC in 1987, from a fellow Deccie. Within a year, she had had her first
kittens, whereby hangs a tale; it was Daniel’s 2nd birthday on
March 8th 1988 and he had moved into a bunk bed from his cot for
the first time that night. At about 2 a.m., I was awoken by plaintive mewing
noises and, upon entering the boys’ room, discovered Dotty and 8 kittens at
one end of Dan’s bed, on the (now slightly sullied) brand new quilt, whilst
he was asleep at the other end. We woke the children and they all took turns
cuddling Dotty and congratulating her and stroking her and the kittens. Before she was eligible for
neutering, she had another set of kittens, this time on the turn of the
stairs in our house, one rainy afternoon. As a half-Siamese, she never showed
her age, but in latter years, she slowed up and her vision deteriorated. But
she had daily knockabout fights with our other cat, Dashiel Hammett (“Dash”)
and held her own. On one occasion my sister brought her
dog round and Dotty went for him fearlessly and the poor dog scarpered, well
and truly beaten up. She slept on our laps, she slept on
our beds and she was a warm and loving pet all her life. She purred when she
was stroked. She sang occasionally, much to our surprise as there never
seemed a cause. She presented us with dead frogs one spring, but never again
in any other year. On 7th May 2004, we found
Dotty just sitting outside, shoulders hunched up and staring at the floor.
She was brought in, but took no notice of food and, during the day, lost the
use of her rear legs. We made her comfortable on the sofa, and there, about 8
p.m., I stroked her as her last shallow breaths ceased. She gave one last
long stretch – and died. She was buried in our garden, amid
much tearfulness, by Wendy, Dan and me, this morning. -
Andy Leslie, 8th May 2004 |
