An Ode To Morrissey

If you follow me via social media you'll know that last week while I was on holiday in Melbourne my cat Morrissey died. A friend of ours was minding our house/cats, and Morrissey, being forever the wanderer, was hit by a car two streets from our house.


I got a phone call from a stranger at 8am who had seen him on the side of the road and called my number, having seen it on his collar tag. She stayed there with him until my father in law could come pick his body up, even though it made her late for work, because she said she had a cat of her own and she knew she'd appreciate the same kind of care for him in that situation. I've since discovered that we have some mutual friends and I'd like to send her a thank you card.


Morrissey was my first cat and he was very special to me. I paid ten dollars for him to a man who looked kind of Amish and he was probably only about four weeks old when we got him. He was very headstrong and loved to explore and it was impossible to keep him locked up for long - he was feisty and always got what he wanted. C had hoped we'd be able to move out to the country in the next year or two, where Morrissey could go for long walks and explore more safely.


He rarely caught animals, but the day before we left he caught a bird and ran through the house with it, then a few hours later, he caught a rat and ran through the house with it ("Oh, you didn't like the bird I caught you? How about this rat?!"). After disposing of their corpses, we locked him in the laundry for an hour as punishment (I was actually kind of impressed) but reconciled before we left the next morning.



He was a very charming cat with a lot of personality and my heart feels sore thinking about him. C's dad buried him in our yard while we were on holidays and kept his collar for us. I'd like to plant flowers on his grave and make a little plaque.




Morrissey liked:
+ Suckling on C's t-shirts until he left big cat spit marks around the neck
+ Spooning with and grooming our other little cat Dexter
+ Exploring, especially other people's gardens
+ Fake meat
+ Sleeping between us in bed with his head on the pillow
+ Sitting on windowsills
+ Making high pitched screaming noises (he didn't meow, he screamed)
+ Making friends
+ Laying in the sun

Some of my favourite posts about Morrissey:
+ This Charming Cat
+ Morrissey's Photos Pt. 1
+ Morrissey's Photos Pt. 2
+ List: Things That Morrissey Does
+ My Cat, The Artist