I bought Fudge from Elaine Robinson (Lanimax) and from the day she arrived in my house I had a bond with her that I could not believe. Fudge was my cat and always loved everyone but I was her mum and she made it clear where her loyalties lay.

Fudge was a Caramel Tabby Point Siamese and she was so pretty and laid back except when it came to all the other cats in the house and my West Highland white terrier called Morgan who she used to chase all around the house. Fudge made it clear from the start she was here to stay and the rest of the house had better get used to it.

When it came time for me to breed Fudge she was the perfect mother and even for a first time Mum Fudge knew what to do and just got on with it. Fudge had her quirky little ways like lying upside down in her radiator bed with her legs in the air and chasing flies while knocking everything flying in the process. At night she would wait and when I went to bed she would beat me there and be waiting to get under the duvet for a sleep. I have to say that normally I don’t allow the cats in the bedroom but Fudge changed that rule. Fudge had this spirit that was so great she had all this love and zest for being a cat and just getting on with it but she was so human sometimes I had to laugh.

The tragedy is that it is because of her wonderful attitude of getting on with it that I have lost the most precious gift I could have ever owned and even now I am sure I did not own her she owned me.

Fudge was taken from me on a sunny afternoon in June. Fudge was due to have a litter of kittens and she did not look very well on the Bank Holiday Monday. She always slept a lot when she was pregnant so I did not think anything strange was going on then I looked at her and noticed she really did not look right so I took fudge straight to the vets. My vet put her on a drip and said she was dehydrated and did not know why. I was to phone the next day to find out whether the drip had worked. I had a call from my vet the next day saying that the kittens had really worn her out so her body had compensated for it and fudges liver had released proteins to feed the kittens. My vet said they had to get the kittens out. I was so worried for Fudge and the babies. Two hours later the vet phoned to say Fudge had delivered 10 kittens and they were all fine I nearly fell off my chair with shock. It was no wonder Fudge was not well. After that Fudge seemed to get worse and the vets did everything they could to save her but it was not to be. Her body just shut down and she could not fight anymore. I was with her when she died and even though she was not with it at all I am sure she knew as just before she died she meowed at me and put her paws up for me to stroke her tummy. She always did that before. I am not coping at all well at the moment and I have a gap in my life I can’t fill. At the end of the day she sacrificed herself for her babies and now I am hand rearing them. I want them to survive so badly. Fudge has left me a legacy something that I have to be so grateful for. At least I have a little piece of her and when I go down to the bottom of my garden under the apple tree where she is buried I can still see her in her run or on her branch of the tree she loved to scratch. I miss her so much there will never be another Fudge the pictures I have put on here are of my darling Fudge she will always be with me my cat with the spirit of a thousand.