Authors like cats...

I acquired Turner about 5 years ago now from a friend. Unfortunately, he'd had a traumatic life up until that point. His original owners (who were gay, so the private joke is that Turner is that way, too) taught him to be awake and ready for food at 4am every morning so it took us some time to cure him of that habit!

He has also been passed from one owner the next rather a lot and at some point when he was younger he lost a cat-buddy through a road traffic accident.

He has a number of pecularities which I think make him adorable but can also be seen as signs of insecurity:

- He sometimes needs to be walked or taken to his food.
- For some time when we first got him he would cry at the bedroom door at 4am wanting to be fed! (His food is always available along with 3 bowls of water.)
- He doesn't like being picked up.
- He doesn't like sitting on your lap and if he does, it's on his terms. He will only do it now (occasionally) because he's received a lot of love and attention.
- He has a fascination with the bathroom, following me in there, sniffing at the bath etc.
- He loves paper and cardboard boxes climbing into them even if they're too small.
- If he's taken to the Cattery he will have a go at everyone who walks past. The Cattery usually can't wait to get rid of him, lol!
- He 'swears'! Oh yes, when you do something to him that he doesn't like, he'll make a low pitch moan. Cheeky chops...
- He was hit by a car a few years ago and now is unable to go outside due to a damaged leg. The vet is still unsure as to what damage was done.
- He's so old, lol, he sometimes loses his voice! Often he'll try and mieow and nothing will come out.
- If you ask nicely and he's in a giving mood, he'll even give you a kiss!

I was given a Pound Purry as a gift when I moved away from home and lived in Exeter, Devon. I've kept it ever since and it's on a shelf in the bedroom along with all my other cuddly toys.

My Pound Purry is white and light beige colour with stripes. It has a PP button on its left leg which I believe confirms its authencity. However, there is no sign of an embroidered heart. It has a pink ribbon, which I suppose you could say is a collar, around its neck.

Unfortunately, my Pound Purry has seen better days as it has lost its whiskers on the left hand side of its face and there's a hole on its back where the collar is :(

POUND PUPPIES PURRIES PLUSH CAT

A Pound Puppies Pound Purry soft toy by Hornby Hobbies Limited, 1986, 12 inches ( 30 ½ cm) long.

Buy for only £5

'Fat cats, brat cats, grinning cats, wigged cats, cats with scowls and cats with jowls...

I Like Cats emerges from the brushstrokes of the best known tribal artists of India.

Silk-screen-printed by hand, this book features a gallery of irresistible feline characters across a variety of Indian tribal art traditions.

This is a book for that will delight art lovers, cat lovers and artsy cat lovers!'

Pre order your copy: I Like Cats

I'm not the only author/writer who loves cats. Here's a list of some famous authors/writers who share/shared their lives with one or more felines:

Anne Frank - Her cat was named Boche.
Charles Dickens - Embarrassingly had to change the name of his cat when it turned out he was a she.
Ernest Hemingway - Set up a colony of six toed cats all descended from his own six toed cat he acquired from the Captain of a ship.
Mark Twain - Gave all his cats very long and unusual names. Quote "If a man could be crossed with a cat, it would improve the man but deteriorate the cat."
Victor Hugo
T.S. Eliot
Theóphile Gautier
Sir Winston Churchill - Owned a ginger coloured tabby called Jock. He attended many of the Cabinet meetings and meals.
Edward Lear: Artist and author (1812-1888) - Owned Foss, a tabby. Drew pictures of his cat and constructed a home in Italy that was exactly the same as his original home to avoid upsetting his cat when they moved.
Sir Walter Scott: poet and novelist - "Cats are a mysterious kind of folk. There is more passing in their minds than we are aware of."
Michel de Montaigne French author - "When I play with my cat, who knows whether she is not amusing herself with me more than I with her?"
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) - Had a cat named Calvin, a Maltese cat, who arrived on her doorstep.
Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855) - Had a cat named Tiger.

This section will list all resources and information I consider interesting about the cat in history. This can also include the bizzare and the unusual.

Prehistoric cats and prehistoric cat-like creatures.

WINGED CATS - WHAT ARE THEY?

History of the Domestic Cat

Cat History

The artist, Turner adored cats even more than his own paintings. It is said that he loved them so much he even cut a cat flap into one of his pieces of art!

Joseph Mallord William Turner RA was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker, whose style is said to have laid the foundation for Impressionism. Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting.

Read more about J M W Turner

'Lilian Jackson Braun has penned over 30 hugely popular cat detective fiction titles and we hope to list more of these titles later in the year.'

At Cat Gallery, you can purchase many of her books which include:

1. Lilian Jackson Braun (1966-8 and 2007) - Four Books for £20.97 - SAVE £6.99(Books)£20.97
2.The Cat Who Could Read Backwards(Books)£6.99
3.The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern(Books)£6.99
4.The Cat Who Turned On and Off(Books)£6.99
5.The Cat Who Saw Red(Books)£6.99
6.The Cat Who Played Post office(Books)£6.99
7.The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare(Books)£6.99
8.The Cat Who Went Underground(Books)£6.99

Buy them at the Cat Gallery!

Cats can be funny sometimes as can all animals, so this section is dedicated to cats and the times they've made us laugh:

Funny Videos of Cats

Cat Humour Page

In Egypt cats were considered divine beings and it was punishable by death to kill one. Whole households would mourn after the death of a cat and its burial would be carried out with huge ceremony.

In Europe the cat was closely identified with witchcraft and witches are often depicted with a black cat. Kittens born in May should be drowned at once as the month is associated with death and the practice of witchcraft.

In Eastern Europe cats were marked with a cross to prevent them turning into witches whilst in France cats suspected of being witches were caged and burned alive.

Tish - My Father's cat

A white, deaf cat that belonged to my father. She absolutely loved rolling in around the coal bunker which annoyed the hell out of my mum!

She was pretty old when I remembered her and to this day, I have no idea what happened to her. I believe she passed away long before my father did.

Tiggy - Sukie's mother.

I have no idea where she came from, perhaps we were given her. She had one set of kittens on my bed when I was 8 and I helped to give all the kittens away but one which we kept (Sukie.) Tiggy eventually disappeared when we lived in Woodchester, Stroud.

Sukie

Beautiful ginger, tabby coloured cat. Sired from Tiggy and a Siamese. One vivid memory I have of her is when she decided to piddle around the back of the TV and my stepfather picked her up to take her outside.

Unfortunately, he took her over my head...you can guess the rest! Yuck!

Scrumpy

A very old farm cat. Scruffy as hell and very wily. We never 'owned' him. He came with the house we rented out. He, too, disappeared one day and never came back...

Minnie - Had already 2 litters before I got her and was spayed before my mum bought her.

A black and white farm cat I was given when I was 18 by my mum and sister. I loved that cat. Took her to live with me in Exeter for four years. When I moved back home, she came with me. Then I moved back out again to live in flat 2 miles down the road. I wanted her to come with me but she seemed happy at my parents house. I did eventually take her home with me but she disappeared.

I found her again, wandering the streets with a surgical scar on her side. I took her home and she stayed with me until I opened the window for her.

She came back for a few minutes to say goodbye and then left again. I never saw her again. I gave her the nickname Minskinnywin which is a username I sometimes use.