She made my bedroom her own to begin with. I was in the back bedroom then. She slept under the bed for a few days and I decided that if she was always going to want to sleep under there I would get her a cat bed and put it there. But after only a few days she decided to sleep on the end of the bed. When I woke in the morning and called her she would pad up the bed and come for a "tummy cuddle" on my chest. For most of her life she slept next to me on the pillow. I used to coax her onto the bed and give her snuggles to let her know she was loved and safe. I used to do that every evening for the first few days until she settled.

It took her a while to settle as she was so nervous. She started to explore the house but would run and hide at first if I saw her. She found out how stairs worked at about 3am one morning and had a lovely time running up and down them! I used to tell her that she never needed to be nervous here, she had the quiet and peaceful life which a nervous cat needs.

I realised a couple of months after getting her that she had fleas. I spent half an hour trying to get flea powder onto her and failed. So I had to take her along to my vet, Mr Ho, to get some flea treatment. She was terrified, it takes about 30 seconds to get to my vet and 15 seconds into that she had an accident! But it was the turning point . Up till then she had been affectionate, but a bit aloof and I thought that was just what she was like. I expected her to run and hide when she got back but instead she leapt out of the carrier, looked around and decided "Oh- I am back here, I must live here then". And after that she allowed herself to get attached to me we formed a very very close bond.

For a long time she still hid when anyone came, though she got more confident as the years went on, and there were some people she really liked such as Anne. (who often looked after her when I went away). She never took to my brother though, she saved her best hisses for him. Like when he picked her up, she threw her head back and hissed at him! The following evening she didn't wait for any indignities like that, she just hissed. She was a feisty little cat and wouldn't take any nonsense.

There was a small but exclusive Been Hissed at by Poppy club including Dave, my mum, Edwin, Katherine from work who looked after her for me once, and me occasionally eg when I trod on her tail.

She didn't like to be picked up and wasn't really a lap cat. But she did sometimes sit on my lap. She used to come under the duvet sometimes too. But she was really a snuggly cat, she liked to snuggle up next to me on the sofa or bed. She liked to sleep on the pillow too.

She was scared of the hoover as all cats seem to be!

She was two when she came to me (I never knew exactly when her birthday was). She was very playful and at first she liked to get on high places, the wardrobe, the doors, the bookshelves.

In 2004 I moved from the back bedroom into the big front bedroom and she straight away moved with me. She loved it! She used to sleep in there anyway but me moving in there was purrfect. I made her a window bed on my whicker cabinet where she could lie in the sun and watch the world go by. Her favourite game was to chase in and out of the curtains in there. She never really had a favourite toy, though she did have a few balls and things she would sometimes chase.

She was such a pretty cat but her best feature was her eyes, her amazing big green eyes. Such intelligent eyes too! She also had a necklace, a stripe across her chest.

She could purr for England too! I timed her and she once purred non stop for 45 minutes while snuggled up to me on the bed. She had a lovely meow and used to say meow when she jumped onto the bed to see me. She also used to say prrrpp if I stroked her, almost like an enquiring "yes"?

I loved the way she always had to be near me. If I was on my computer she would lie on the floor in here or on the landing. She used to lie on the landing and watch me in the bath (and sometimes come and peer over the side of the bath). If I was downstairs in the evening, when she was looking out of the patio window, she would keep coming in and checking I was still there. If I was sewing or painting in the back room, she would come and curl up on the sofa. She was always just there. So often I took photos of my hair or things I had bought and when you looked.. there she was in the background or on the bed. She loved to know what I was doing and would gaze up at me with those big green eyes. She loved to "help"me cut out fabric by rolling on it!

In Sept 2008 she became very ill and had to have surgery. It saved her life. I am so glad I realised she was so ill, and that Mr. Ho was able to operate so fast, it saved her life and I had a whole extra year with her that I otherwise wouldn't have had.

She was always there waiting in the hall for me when I got in. She used to come and see what I had for dinner and sometimes mug me for my food. I used to save some for her. She knew she got a treat of biscuits at bedtime and sometimes used to tell me it was time for bed. She loved ham too, so I often used to buy her ham as a treat. She was never a big eater, but more a grazer, she used to have lots of little nibbles of her food through the day. She used to come and watch me putting the shopping away, to make sure I had remembered her food.

If I couldn't find here I would say "where's my baby" and she would eventually come and find me.

I used to tell her that I worshipped at the paws of Poppy. I used to say to her "In ancient Egpyt, cats were worshiped as Gods, cats have never forgotten this".

I remember saying to her in about 2006 that she was a little cat in her prime, sturdy, muscular, glossy coat. I often used to say to her that I wished she could live forever, that I would never be ready to let her go because she was my soul mate cat. I told her she was the best cat in the world because to me she was. I used to tell her I wouldn't swap her for all the other cats in the world because all the time there was a Poppy in the world I wanted her with me. I wished she could have been the cat I had when I retired.

She spent most of the daytime in my bedroom but in the evenings she would go and look out of the patio window. A big black and white cat used to come and look in at her and they would have an argument through the glass. She was defending her territory.

I had lots of nicknames for her. Popples, Popcat, Poppycat, Poppsywoppsypoodles, Poppsypoodles, sweetie Poppet, Little Kittle, babbles, babblekit, furry purry, precious little soul, Poppy poppets, little poppet, baby beautiful.

She used to sharpen her claws on the stair carpet, but it must be tough because she never really damaged it.

She liked to sit at the top of the stairs.

She liked to chew my plants and sniff my shoes. She liked to chew plastic bags which I had to discourage. I made sure I never left any lying about.

When I snuggled under the furry throw on the sofa to watch telly, she used to come and lie on it with me. Sometimes snuggled right up next to me. I kept a grey fleece blanket on the sofa for her too.

If I opened either the door to the cupboard above the stairs, or one of the drawers on my filing cabinet, she would come running to have a look. She was also fascinated by the airing cupboard, I had to keep her out of there as she did once get behind the water tank.

She never drank from a bowl, instead she used to drink from the tap in the basin in the bathroom. When I had cleaned my teeth, she would lick all the water from the bowl! I had to keep the loo seat closed in case she decided to drink from there. I used to let the bathroom tap drip a bit so she always had water there to drink.

She loved to knead and one of her favourite things to knead was a grey furry throw which I keep at the end of the bed, she could spend ages kneading that, purring all the while. She loved to help me change the bed too- at least she thought she was helping.

She loved to play chasey tail. She once got a claw caught in her tail, and wasn't able to understand what had happened- so she growled. I had to rescue her.

I have some glow in the dark pebbles in my bedroom and she loved to pat those about and chase them.

She never meowed if she got shut in a room! She got shut in the larder once. I knew she hadn't got out but I still paniced, then remembered that Ian had hung the garage key up in the larder and not shut the door so I had shut it.. and there was Poppy in there, just sitting there, not meowing.

She knew where all the warm spots in the house were, either where hot water pipes were or where the sun shone and she used to follow the sun round too.

She loved to wash me, especially my face when she used to sleep on the pillow. She would wash me and bite my nose, then when she was happy that I was clean, settle down for the night with her little face pressed against mine. Cat tongues make good exfoliators. She also used to give me Poppy kisses, if I made mwaah mwaaah noises she would lick my lips, those were Poppy kisses. Sometimes if I made kissy noises she would press her forehead against me for a kiss.

She got treats of biscuits during the day when I was in, as well as at bedtime. She always got some when I left her too, to go to work or go out. Before I left her I had a routine. I had to say to her, twice,

"Be a very very very good girl and don't run away and don't get lost. You make sure that you are still here when your mummy gets home and all being well mummy will see you later". I said that to her for the last time when I went to do the paperwork with the vet before taking her along to say goodbye.

I hated leaving her to go on holiday. I was often in tears the night before because I just did not want to leave her. Even though she was always looked after in her own home, there was no way she could ever have gone to a cattery. She was too nervous.

When the song "what's that coming over the hill, is it a monster" came on I used to sing "who's that coming onto the bed, is it a Poppy, is it a Poppy". "One day like this" by Elbow sometimes makes me cry. It was being played a lot when she had surgery in Sept 2008 and I was worried I might lose her. I called it the Poorly Poppy song.

I remember how she was with me when I was ill. I had pleurisy in 2001 and could only sleep on one side. I gathered all the pillows and cushions I could to prop me in the one comfortable position. I woke in the morning and there she was.. asleep on top of them! She was by my side in 2004-6 when I was really struggling with anxiety. She seemed to know and would often snuggle. She was there when I had my gynae surgery in Nov 2007 too. I took a photo of her into hospital. I was at home for 6 weeks recovering and she was right there with me, having snuggles all the time. She was a great comfort. You are often tearful after surgery and having her there helped. She was my little soulmate. I didn't feel lonely on my own with Poppy there with me.

I honestly believe that Poppy was meant to come to me. She came to the perfect home for a nervous little cat where she could have the calm and peaceful life she needed with no-one messing her about or trying to pick her up. She had such a happy life. She had warm places to sleep, a comfortable bed, a loving human, nice food, lots of love. All that a cat deserves.

I think I knew before I found the lumps that things might not be right. She wasn't eating as much and she had got very thin at the back. She was still lively though, still chasing in and out of the curtains. But she wasn't as keen on her treats like ham, as she once had been. When I found the lumps on her tummy my blood ran cold. Thankfully she didn't have to wait long for her surgery. I was in a state of anxiety for the two weeks leading up to it and in floods and floods of tears the night before, and on the morning. But she came through it and seemed to be recovering OK. But then about 10 days after having her stitches out, she went off her food, was hardly eating anything, was much more lethargic, spent most of the time under her bed. I knew, the cancer had spread. I knew too when it was time to say goodbye. One of the hardest decisions you ever have to make but a kind one too. I hope she crossed the rainbow bridge before she was in too much pain.

I am glad I stayed with her until she had almost gone too. It wasn't horrible, it was very peaceful. She let me pick her up and hug her for a while just before we went along to Mr. Ho. I put her red blanket which used to be on her window seat in her cat basket. It was so peaceful, she had the injection then slowly lost consciousness with me there talking to her and stroking her. Just before I left her for the last time I kissed her. I think she knew it was time, she was calm too. She died on 26th Oct 2009 aged somewhere between 11 and 12.

I had a photobook made of my favourite photos of her which will be of great comfort in the weeks to come when I am getting used to her not being here any more. I found a few of her shed claws and some shed whiskers and some fur which I have kept. She is being cremated and she will be put in a little casket with her name on it. So she will come home. I have bought her a little angel to watch over her and a glass pebble with a heart in it, and a little picture of an angel with long plaits, with a picture of a little tabby cat hanging onto one of the wings. I will put her casket in the window in my bedroom, where she loved to sit so much because it got the sun, with the little treasures I bought her by her. She will always be in her forever home.

I have printed out all the entries in poppyspurrsto keep, and I will print this out too. I am going to make a scrapbook of Poppy memories.

I won't be without a cat for long, I will mourn my Poppy for a while then a new kitty will come to its forever home here. It won't be a replacement for Poppy as there could never be one of those. But I am one of those people who has to have a kitty companion. There will be a loving and quiet peaceful home here for another kitty and you know, it wouldn't surprise me if Poppy hadn't sent a message out to kittyland to say "My mummyperson is sad and needs a new kitty, help her find one". Poppy will always be with me, I believe she will become an angel cat and will be watching over me. Then one day when I too cross the rainbow bridge I will be with Poppy and all my other cats again, and none of them will be jealous of each other or fight because they know I will love them all. But out of all my cats, and family cats, Poppy was the special one. She was my soulmate cat. She was meant to come to me and we had a really special and close bond.

RIP my sweet Poppy, you will always be loved and you will never be forgotten. We were meant to be together.