IC S*HEDHULTARN´S MIRELLE

I attended an exhibition in Malmø, Sweden, just wanting to look around and not buy anything, when I suddenly saw this very nice big male cat. The owners told me that he was going to be a father soon, so they got my phone number and they promised to call me when the queen had had her litter.

After they called, I went to see Mirelle for the first time when she was 3 weeks old. I thought that she looked completely wrong compared to the kittens I had seen in Denmark, but the Swedish breeders assured me that she was supposed to look like that if she was going to turn out right in the end. And they were right! I saw Mirelle again when she was 6 weeks old and, my God, was she gorgeous.

When she was 14 weeks old I brought her home and I will never forget how she just came and made a big entrance into my house. She was carrying her tail so straight that she barely made it out of the carrier. The other cats accepted her at once, with pure amazement I guess, and she has never ever really gotten rid of that "here I come" attitude she has shown from the start.

Today Mirelle is a medium sized female at about 4 kg. If there is any trouble in my flock of cats, whether it is a concerned mother who thinks her kittens are in any kind of danger or two studs nose to nose, then our little "police cat" comes running and tells the offending cats to split up. Towards humans she is totally devoted and has an attitude of total forgiveness; for example, if we accidently push her, she will turn towards us and say that she is sorry she stood in the way. This attitude also means that we have to be very careful when children are involved because she will not protest no matter what they can do to her.

She is a patient and loving mother who would rather starve to death than deny her kittens food. We sometimes have problems getting her to eat when she has kittens because she refuses to leave the delivery box, in order to be there if her kittens need to nurse. We remedy this by putting her food where she is with her kittens in the delivery box.

Unfortunately, from the very first day she entered our home, Mirelle had problems with her stomach. Even though the vet checked her over and over again, there was no answer to why she had these problems. After a while I contacted the breeder who told me that there had always been this problem with her Mother! She has, fortunately, never given this weakness to any of her children and that´s a relief, even if it´s a small one.

We did manage to get some control over this problem, although it was never totally controlled. However, in April '99 it became worse. I took her to the vet with the assumption that she would be alright and great was my horror when I realized that her intestines were so severely affected that we couldn´t save her. It was a big shock to get that message, especially since I had thought all the time that I could take her home with me just like I always did after a treatment.

With a heart filled with grief I said goodbye to this loving cat, holding her in my arms while she passed on to the other side. Mirelle will be greatly missed because of her big personality and great temperament. She had the special "something" that made her stand out from other cats and her loss is felt by both us and friends even as far away as the United States. Mirelle was a very special cat and she will always be remembered.