Today would have been my cat Casper's 5th birthday. Sadly he was killed a few years' ago but today would have been his coming of age birthday. You see, Casper was no ordinary cat, he was a Maine Coon, one of the largest domestic cats you can get and they don't reach full maturity until they are about five years old, so the photos you see here are him as a baby! He was like no other cat I have ever known - more like a daft puppy, chasing after us down the street when we left for work, thundering up to us when we came home, chasing sticks, playing with water - the breed is often described as the clown of the cat world. He's the reason we know all our neighbours; we became known as the people with the big cat. When we were out at work he would visit everyone in the street - he even won over people who have never liked cats, inviting himself into their homes, greeting them as they pulled up in their cars, even getting in their cars. He was loved so much by so many that people would come to visit him (not us) and once when he had been ill, came and knocked on the door to ask after him. When he died we received cards, flowers, plants, heard stories of his adventures in their gardens and even had a neighbour crying on our doorstep. That's not the reaction you get over your run-of-the-mill moggy! People still talk of him fondly now. We'll always miss him and wonder how big he would have grown - he certainly would have weighed more than our 7 month old baby daughter! One day we may have another cat but they'll have some tough competition to be as great as Casper.
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