"Look what the cat dragged in"
Lisa had 4 cats. Sisters Tinker and Pickle and brothers Chunky and Fidget. Chunky sadly had a heart murmur and was found on day in the street. Fidget was so sad and so was Tinker who had 'adopted' him. A few months later Tinker was diagnosed with cancer but, due to her age of 15, it was decided treatment would have been too much for her. When she passed Pickle took it hard and a few months later she too was diagnosed with cancer. When she lost her battle, just after her 15th birthday, Fidget was beyond devastated. He stopped eating and playing. He was grieving really bad, as is proved cats do for each other. Fidget stopped purring and showed no interest whatsoever in anything. He would lie really flat on the arm of the sofa and just sigh. Lisa says she has never seen a cat so depressed. Lisa hadn't intended on getting any more cats as she thought Fidget had had too much change in his recent life, but the longer his depression went on the more Lisa began to believe he needed to be with his own kind.
Ronnie and Reggie were two little kittens who had been thrown out with the rubbish, they were perfect to bring in to their lives as new companions for both Lisa and Fidget. The change in Fidget was amazing and Lisa notes he had light in his eyes again. He began eating and playing again. It was just wonderful. However, sadly Reggie was born with a terminal illness that meant he was unlikely to make it past 18months old and he passed tragically at 7 months old.
Ronnie and Fidget became the best of pals. They went out together and came back in together. They slept together and chased each other all over the place. Lisa genuinely believes Fidget would have died from a broken heart if it wasn't for Ronnie saving him. Ronnie was a funny character, more like a dog in a way. He loved playing fetch and would bring a toy mouse and drop in at Lisa's feet with a funny grunt whenever he wanted to play. Ronnie also went viral....... Lisa woke up one morning to find a strange item on her bedroom floor. She thought the cats had got the inner out of one of their toys and expected to see a little parcel of catnip maybe. It actually turned out to be about £5000 worth of crack! Lisa phoned the police. Lisa learnt that dealers don't keep their stash on them person, they tend to stash it on the street out the way of any eyes. It didn't escape Ronnie's eyes though! Lisa speculates that, due to Ronnie's fondness of playing fetch, the bag was around the same size as similar items he plays with so he must have brought it back home hoping to have another game of fetch! On a serious note, its extremely lucky Ronnie didn't ingest any of the substance and didn't become ill, or seriously worse.
Check out some of these articles on Ronnie:
Ronnie had such a big heart and a kind soul. When Lisa rescued some kittens in January he really took them under his wing. He would sleep with them and even tried to let them suckle on him. Lisa watched him take them up the tree in the garden and he even taught little George how to play fetch too.
Now Lisa is left trying to console 3 kitties who desperately miss him. The kittens George and Charlie have been wandering aimlessly around the house calling for him and are unable to settle. Fidget also looks lost and so sad. Slowly Fidget is taking over Ronnie's role of cat dad but they are all grieving yet trying to find some comfort in each other. Ronnie was a remarkable, gentle cat and will be so greatly missed. Lisa is so grateful for the time Ronnie was in her life but the anger of how he was failed by Bristol council has not escaped her.
Ronnie was tragically hit by a car and callously left in the road. A neighbour found Ronnie's body by his van and flagged down workers from the councils recycling team who happened to be in the vicinity. They put Ronnie on the back of the truck. However, they failed to follow the policy of then notifying the driver who would log the cats ready to be scanned once back at the depot. Because of the breakdown in communication between workers and the driver, Ronnie was never logged as being in the back of the van so when they got back to the depot, he was tragically lost. While this is happening, Lisa walked the streets tirelessly posting flyers through doors and enquiring where he could be as he never came home like he always did. That is when the neighbour who found Ronnie came forward with what had happened. Unfortunately, we were alerted late Friday night which is classed as 'out of hours' and we struggled all first thing on Saturday to locate the depot Ronnie would have been sent to. Eventually, between ourselves and Lisa, we did find where he had been taken although our efforts had been in vain and Ronnie had already gone. Of course ourselves and Lisa raised complaints and demanded action. Bristol council say, had the call been phoned in then the usual procedure of logging, collecting and scanning would have occurred, but because their contractor was flagged directly communication breakdown caused this to happen. Council procedure is for their contractors to collect the cats and flag them all to the driver who will then log the incident and the cats are to be scanned at the depot. When the team were tracked down, they claim the driver was completely unaware of what happened and the news of a cat being lifted was news to him. The workers in question have admitted protocol was not followed but have gave no reason as to why nor has the worker in question apologised for his grave mistake. Staff we have dealt with both at the council and the depot in question have said they will retrain staff to ensure this does not happen again and, although Ronnie's legacy will ensure this does not happen again, it goes nowhere to healing the pain of Ronnie not going home where he belongs.
Ronnie was such a special cat, and Lisa is heartbroken, as are the siblings he has left behind. Our hearts are also broken for, not only the tragic loss of a special little man who was hit and left in the road in the first place, but the failings to treat his body with dignity and respect afterwards and the lack of decency to let his family know
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