A TRIBUTE TO TANYA
THE END OF AN ERA
A tribute to Tanya, 28th April 1987 – 28th April 2004
Some cats found breeding dynasties; Tanya formed a Cat Club and changed our lives forever.
It is with heavy hearts and through a mist of tears that we write a tribute to our darling Tanya who we lost on her 17th birthday following a valiant yet fruitless battle against squamous cell carcinoma, one of the most aggressive cancers in cats. Sadly Tanya had it all against her, she was old and she was white, we knew the minute it was diagnosed that we had her for but a limited time yet she fought it bravely and stoically for three months, even insisting (oh yes, Tanya could INSIST!) on appearing one last time as SRPCC Club mascot at our 10th show on Valentines Day 2004. She was a trooper to the end and, for a while, we all thought she was winning the fight, but sadly she was no match, for the first time in her life, for her final adversary.
We consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have shared our lives with Tanya for almost thirteen years; she was not a kitten when we got her, we did not go looking for a white cat, we had never owned, or wanted to own, a white cat, obviously we were destined to own a white cat. During our thirteen years together Tanya achieved so much and was, quite literally, responsible for changing our lives. So where did it all begin? Let us go back to the summer of 1991…..
Tanya obviously began life as a happy, loved and well-cared for kitten who grew into a beautiful cat. When we first saw her, in 1991, however, her life had changed dramatically. Following the arrival of a baby in the household she had been unceremoniously dumped into the nearest cat rescue where, bereft of all she had known for the four years of her life, and surrounded by cats of whom she knew nothing, she quite simply curled up and prepared to die.
We had visited the rescue with a young friend who wanted a kitten and Pat made the, as it turned out, fateful “mistake” of going in with her instead of waiting outside in the car. Not for us the cute, hopeful kittens crying at us, no, they would soon find new homes, but Pat was instantly attracted to the inattentive curled up bundle of white fur at the back of the communal pen. Upon hearing her story Pat would hear no argument and soon, despite all my protestations that we did not need another cat, we already had more than enough (about 8 as I seem to recall, a mere few) we were on our way home with our pathetic bundle. Pat said, little realizing at the time the significance her words were to have, nor knowing exactly what things she meant, “I can do things with this cat”.
For months Tanya was like a zombie, never moving from where she was put, a fixed eye focus/pupil size, she ate, used a litter tray and slept, but little more. Gradually, however, she rallied and regained both her beauty and her character, so much so, that in May 1993 we entered her in our local Cats Protection League cat show, just “for fun”. To our astonishment and delight she not only won her Open Class but also Best in Show!! Thus began our new hobby—cat shows! Over a 3 year show career Tanya won the majority of the Open Classes in which she was entered, more than 50% of the total number of all Classes in which she competed and in three appearances at the Supreme Cat Show won her Open Class all three times and was voted Best of Group over the male on each of her last two appearances. This eventually led to the inevitable.
One morning in September 1994 I awoke with the words “Let’s form our own cat club!” Over the time we had been exhibiting Tanya we had become increasingly aware that the lot of the non-pedigree at all too many shows was, shall we say, less than satisfactory with what were obviously last year’s ironed rosettes, late results, missing rosettes, lack of trophies etc. A general “couldn’t care less, only there to make up the numbers anyway” attitude seemed to prevail at numerous shows, not all I hasten to add, several were, and still are, superb in their treatment of the HP. It was time for a change. The initial idea was to form a club especially for the non-pedigree with the express intention of providing a non-pedigree cat show where the balance was redressed – nothing but the best – superb rosettes, a myriad of magnificent trophies, a helpful, friendly atmosphere, a plethora of classes to choose from, split classes so no one class was too large – we despaired of classes of 12 plus at some shows – results out in a timely manner and HP-friendly judges.
There were four founder members – Pat and myself, a (then) friend, and, of course, Tanya, without whom the idea would never have even germinated, let alone come to fruition. Little did we realise at that time just how much it would change our lives.
The rest, as they say, is history. The Club went from strength to strength and will be 10 years old in September 2004, we have a thriving membership, some come and some go but a hardcore of loyal members remain and we held our 10th show on Valentines Day 2004. We soon became intermediaries in any disputes on the day between HP exhibitors and show managers rather than the previous, sometimes bad tempered arguments, the lot of the HP is generally now very good, a few new shows have, on occasion, sought our advice before introducing certain innovative, so far as the HP is concerned, ideas, and even the Northern Non-Pedigree Stakes would not have come about but for Tanya. We formed lasting friendships with a large number of those exhibitors and show managers, and still, we hope, hold at least the respect of the rest, with the result that most of our closest friends today were gained through Tanya.
At the outset we had a charity/welfare side which offered assistance to local cat owners on low incomes with neutering and vaccinations. The welfare side of the Club became a fully Registered Charity in October 1995 and is going strong, although its functions have altered as circumstances dictate. For a while we did some rescue work and that, combined with our love of showing, brought about an increase in numbers of our own cats. Not only did we rescue and re-home many cats and kittens over the three years we operated, we also doubled our own numbers to around 16, the combination of rescue and showing proving irresistible, hence the number of cats we have today. Again, all due to Tanya, without whom the series of events that actually led us to our first rescue ( a mum and six kittens living under a mobile home – we kept mum and one kitten, they will be 10 and 9 years old respectively this year) would not have occurred.
Without her we would not have the number of cats with whom we currently share our lives, most have Tanya to thank for being here. Especially Littleman Raffles, our very successful white semi-longhaired boy. We had always wondered what Tanya would have been like as a kitten and we finally got the chance to find out when Raffles was brought to our attention by a friend who had heard of this little white, SLH kitten and who knew of our 7 year search. The individual circumstances that brought the rest here are too numerous to detail, suffice to say that all but two can be traced directly back to an action carried out or a reputation gained because of Tanya.
Tanya, from the start, being one of the founder members, was also Club Mascot and appeared proudly on exhibition at every show but one of the ten. Even this last year, when she had been diagnosed with the cancer and we felt it might be unfair on her, she insisted on being there, strutting and supervising the Thursday and Friday pre-show preparations at our house just as she had for the last nine years. If you don’t believe us, ask any of the committee members who were there helping. Tanya supervised, no doubt about it, and at the end of the preparations we all agreed that she just had to be at the show, she deserved it and, more importantly, she WANTED to be there. She had been far quieter than usual then all of a sudden she livened up as the realisation hit her that it was time for HER show and nothing was going to prevent her from being there as always, posing in her decorated pen, showing off and being admired by all, a role she just adored. We could not refuse her what we knew would be her last ever time in Exhibition Pen 1, the pen she had made own.
Our every achievement in the show world is down to Tanya, as is the welfare of numerous cats belonging to impoverished owners or strays in need of urgent veterinary attention, a large number of which have been helped by the Charity over the last ten years and are still being helped. Whilst we would, eventually, have entered our local CPL show it would have been with the cat we took along with Tanya, Cleo, whom we lost last year at 17, or her now almost 18 year old brother, Anthony. They both tried it and both hated it, had we not had Tanya we would never have attended another cat show in our lives, would never have even thought about forming a cat club and certainly would not be where we are and with the friends we now have. I personally would never have heard of the Cats magazine, as it was then, certainly would never have ended up doing the odd show report and article for Our Cats as I have begun to do and would not be writing this tribute. Tanya was a very special cat, and we do not feel that we are exaggerating when we say that she was responsible for setting in motion far reaching events in the Cat Fancy’s non-pedigree section. In fact a fitting end to the week in which we lost her came about, quite coincidentally, at the Manchester & District’s last Sanction show when, in their usual tradition, they put all BIS varieties, including the non-pedigree, against each other for Overall Best in Show. The non-pedigree triumphed. We think Tanya would have approved. She may no longer be with us but her legacy lives on.
Tanya brought us so much and in releasing her from the dreadful disease that invaded her body and disfigured our beautiful lady so badly we hope we have repaid her but at oh what a cost to ourselves. She was Pat’s constant companion for 13 years, never being far from her side, she stayed with her constantly while she, ironically, recovered from oral cancer herself, and there is a massive gap in our lives that can never be filled, a huge void within our hearts that hurts so badly but there are also innumerable memories within us that will forever keep her with us.
Goodnight sweetheart, play peacefully in heaven and supervise the angel cats to your heart’s content, we miss you dreadfully, you truly were a cat in a million and we know we will never see your like again.
“All cats are special but some are more special than others.”
Carol Walker & Pat Creaton
