[Gayle]

This is my cat, Dolby - he's a tom cat so named after Thomas Dolby (I used to have an Eddison as well once).

Dolby, is an old man now of about 17. He's got kidney problems and costs a fortune in special cat food but it's worth it for the pleasure he's given me over the years. I got him when he was a kitten along with his brother Franklyn who was knocked down when he was two years old. Dolby was the scrawniest kitten ever with really bandy legs but he grew into a beautiful, sleek cat. He's a bit soft and has never strayed far from home, in fact the only time he disappeared was a few years ago when he didn't come home for a couple of nights. I was really worried, then when he did arrive home he was black all over (even his white bits were jet black) and absolutely exhausted. A day or so later someone phoned and said that they'd found his collar in their garden and it was caught in a bush. It would appear that he'd got himself stuck in the bush and through wriggling and chewing had managed to get his collar off to free himself. Now he wears one of those easy release collars just in case he gets stuck again!

He's obviously at the end of his life now and very tired with it all but he's still got the most fantastic purr - it's a much nicer sound to be woken up to than the alarm clock. As soon as he hears my alarm go off he jumps on the bed and curls up for a cuddle. Oh, I'm getting all soft about him now, I could talk about him for hours, I'm going to really miss him when he's not around.