Tuesday, June 16th, 2026
Today we said goodbye to my sweet little black cat, Peonie. She fell ill during the recent heatwave last month, while the peonies were in full bloom. After many attempts to reduce her fever and get her eating again, and following multiple tests, it was clear that she had several health problems that were not going to be easy, if even possible, to fix. She had a lovely last afternoon out in the sun, and a lick of custard from my pudding bowl, her favourite evening treat. Next morning, with medication still not working, she was further examined under sedation at the vet. What they found there enabled us to decide that the kindest thing for her would be to not let her wake up again.
It is such a shame for this to have happened after she made such a remarkable recovery from having had her leg shattered in a multitude of pieces by a vehicle last March. After a long rehabilitation in a pink cage, by August she was running around indoors and outdoors on all fours and no one would ever have known that her leg was full of metal screws and plates.
Peonie came to us in 2015 to join ginger Georgie (who is now bereft). She oversaw the two-year conversion of the house to B&B accommodation and has greeted hundreds of guests in the eight ensuing years. She is dearly missed, not least by Georgie. A new kitten or cat will be sought to keep him company as soon as possible. Georgie and Peonie (below) were a truly devoted pair and spent 11 years of their lives together.
