Dear Pussy Cat Sid came into our lives when he was a poor bedraggled stray and we used to put biscuits on our wall for him.

He seemed to be quite feral but eventually we gained his trust and he came down into the garden for his biscuits.

At the time we had our miniature dachshund, Chester, and they really did not see eye to eye so he never came indoors. We gave him a cardboard box in the conservatory which he used as his bed.

We then had to say goodbye to our beloved Chester and the day we came home from the vets I just sat on the settee and broke my heart. Sid came running into the house, making the most terrible howling noise, jumped on to my lap, put his paws around my neck and we went to sleep.

Sid had come into our home and our hearts.

We have two tortoises: Ben, who is in his seventies, came from my sister when she passed away and Sheila, who is in her fifties, came from my friend’s grandparents when they passed away. They had a little house in the garden but came in every evening into their boxes. Sid thought he had to take care of them and was always with them. When they were on the deck in the sun he would go to sleep with them, and one time he laid his head on Ben and went to sleep.

We moved to the country with a bigger garden and they all loved it. Their house was put near the hedge, which caught the sun and during the afternoons while they would be inside having their nap, Sid would be asleep on the top.

Ben liked being hand fed so I would take my kneeling mat and squat down to give him his food and Sid would lay by the side of me on the mat watching him eat.

If the weather was inclement their bedtime boxes would be put under the awning, sheltered from the weather, on their sides filled with hay and shredded paper. If Sid got to the box first he would fill it completely so they couldn’t get in, so they would either push their way in or both end up in the other box. They would also share their lunch. Ben and Sheila would have a fresh supply of dandelions and lettuce from the greenhouse and Sid would be in the middle of them seeing what he could eat. He would have a few biscuits to share with them.

They were the most unlikely companions but they were inseparable.

Glenda Wombwell, UK   

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