A Cat Romance - Tess & Tim

Meet the lovely Timmy

Last week, I introduced you to Tess. She came home with us in February 2018, and Timmy arrived as her suitor the following July. He simply fell in love with Tess. Of course, we didn't know that at the time. For a start, I thought he was female (or - a girl, as we cat-lovers call them) simply because he was so pretty and dainty.

He just hung around Tess, followed her everywhere, tried so hard to get into the house, and often succeeded. He would follow her so closely as she came in through the cat-flap that the microchip mechanism didn't have time to close. He would climb in through the tiniest opening of any window, he just never gave up.

Tim doing his 'Romeo' impression

I have to admit, I did my best to shoo him away, but he wasn't going anywhere.

A few times I came home to find him sitting on my sofa, quite at home. This confused my poor husband Brian no end - he thought he was seeing double.

And yet this little cat was so timid! I started putting food outside for him, because he looked so thin, but he wouldn't let me touch him, or go anywhere near him. I needed to find out if he had a home, so I borrowed a scanner from the vet, and managed to get close enough to scan him for a hoped-for microchip while he was eating.

When the result came back I was shocked. He was a boy, he was about one year old, and his name was Felix! It also turned out that his owners lived just a street away, and were people I knew. When I spoke to them, they told me that Felix had turned up as a stray, and had never really settled. He would go wandering for days, would never sit on anyone's lap or be petted, and didn't get on with their other cats. What's more, the family was about to move house, and they didn't think that Felix would settle with them.

Well, he'd certainly settled with us! In fact, he adopted us. So his owners were quite happy for us to make it official, and let us notify the vet and the microchip people. I told his owners that he didn't seem to respond to the name Felix, and they said he never had - they had called him that because he looked like the cat in the adverts. So - after a few trials of several names, Felix became Timmy. And Timmy he remained. He never went wandering, he loved to snuggle down, and sometimes even sat on my lap. But most of all, he loved Tess. And she loved him.

He made himself at home, and became a real little character

In January 2021, I moved house. I was a widow now, Brian having sadly died in October 2018, and I wanted to live near at least one of my daughters. So I moved to Swansea. Anyone with cats who has moved house will know how stressful that can be! But it went without a hitch, and the two cats settled in beautifully, enjoying the run of the house and the back garden.

... even occasionally venturing out to the front!

They found the cosiest places to curl up together ...

They were inseparable.

Then in May 2022, inexplicably, Tim didn't come home.

I put posters up, I dropped fliers into all the houses in all the neighbouring streets, but I couldn't find him. I had several calls, people saying that they'd seen him, but no, it wasn't him. It was another black and white cat. There are so many of them.

I still haven't found Timmy. All sorts of thoughts have gone through my head of course - but now and then I hear of a cat returning after months, or even years, so I haven't given up hope. Maybe he got lost, and maybe he's found another home. I hope so. I hope he's happy and he's loved. But I miss him. I just hope he's not hurt. And if he has died, I hope that it was quick and painless. He really was a little sweetheart.

Tess clearly missed her best friend. And that's why, against my better judgement, I adopted Suki.