The Otis Files. Otis – The Final Tail. Or Not…

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Otis finally left us at the age of 16. Apparently in her last two weeks she would go and visit some people around the corner who had two huge dogs and several cats. They told us that she would walk up to the animals’ bowls and help herself to their food, then lie down in the garden, and their dogs and cats would all lie down around her. On the last day they found her in her final sleep, in the same situation.

In some of the later photos here, her physical deterioration is evident, but she was still really big on the inside… Continue reading →

The Otis Files. Otis, I Notice 7

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'You are feeling coooold. You need a warm furrrrry thiiiiing in your bedddd....'

‘You are feeling coooold. You need a warm furrrrry thiiiiing in your bedddd….’

Otis, I notice

Likes sleeping on beds

And sometimes enjoys

Curling up by my head

She’ll come in the dark hours

And prod me to show

It’s time to move over

And share my pillow

She’ll tap me quite gently

With padded wee paws

But if I don’t wake up

She’ll put out her claws Continue reading →

The Otis Files. Otis, I Notice 6

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Sometimes when she’s washing she’ll leave her wee tongue peeping out of her mouth, which really looks dumb!

Sometimes when she’s washing she’ll leave her wee tongue peeping out of her mouth, which really looks dumb!

Otis, I notice

Likes to be clean

But you’ll never see her

In a washing machine

She uses her tongue

To comb out her fur

It’s got brushy bits on

For getting out burrs

Sometimes when she’s washing

She’ll leave her wee tongue

Peeping out of her mouth

Which really looks dumb! Continue reading →

The Otis Files. Otis, I Notice 4

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I really want to touch you but you're icky and sticky...

I really want to touch you but you’re icky and sticky…

Otis, I notice

Is quite into bugs

She’ll chase after wetas

And follow the slugs

She’ll poke at their feelers

With tentative paws

And sniff at the slime trails

Crossing the floors

The wetas will poke back

With big spiny legs

And cling to her fur

Like ugly clothes pegs Continue reading →

The Otis Files. Tribute to an Old Friend – Otis, I Notice 1

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And she also has stripes on one leg at the back... Otis, Queen of the house - apparently.

And she also has stripes on one leg at the back… Otis, Queen of the house – apparently.

Otis was a friend that I lived with for 16 years. We moved many times, from the forest to beside the highways and many places in between, and she was always there, somewhere in the background, usually no more than 12 feet away from me. She wasn’t a lap cat, nor a smoochy cat, but we had a very special friendship and I miss her very much. I truly hope I see her again some day. This is the first installment of my 8-part tribute to her. Continue reading →