Mary the cat is dead

Mary came to our house in Huntingdon from the Wood Green Animal Centre in Godmanchester at around 5pm on 8 November 1998. At the time she was called Konstantina and Wood Green told us she was about 5½ years old. We always thought she was older. Mary had been left at Wood Green when her Polish owners moved away

She didn't take to us at first. She hid under the bed in the spare room. We think that she may have had a hard life but in time she settled in with us and limited her horizons to the courtyard that contained our house. In October 2004 she moved to Spain travelling down in the MGB GT through France. She stayed in two flats in Santa Pola and moved to her final home in Culebrón in April 2005.

For the past year or so she has had arthritis and her "hips" were a sorry sight but she remained active, alert and hungry right to the end. She never got on with our new Spanish cat Eduardo who moved in July 2005.

For the past week or so her breathing has been quite heavy and today, August 29 2006, we took her to the vet, Cristina, in Pinoso. After an X ray the vet said that Mary had liquid in her lungs that needed to be drained straightaway. She fitted a canula to administer the various drugs and Mary's breathing became even more strained. She started to struggle. Both Maggie and I were holding Mary as, presumably, the stress proved too much and she died. It was about 11.30am.

We brought Mary home and dug her a grave under the bush that was her preferred spot in the garden in Culebrón and that's where she will now stay.