Treacle and Custard are brothers and were six months old when we adopted them from our local branch of The Blue Cross.  It was the 13th December 1997, the last day before they closed for Christmas.  It was upsetting seeing the cats of all ages looking for homes and Lindsay wanted to leave, she couldn't choose. Derek knew better, a little silver tabby had already picked him.  Every time Derek went near the pen the little cat would rub up against the bars purring, it was Treacle.  Derek was sold :-), we weren't leaving alone.  There were four other cats in the pen with Treacle, as we wanted to offer a home to two cats we had the difficult job of picking another one.  Our first choice was not actually Custard, the cat we chose would not come out from behind the cat loo!  Custard was peering innocently out of the cat bed, so the poor little chap was grabbed and stuck in the cat box beside Treacle.

Treacle and Custard are very sweet little chaps, if a little demanding at times.  Both of them insist on harassing us until they are picked up, they do enjoy being carried around.  Luckily Treacle and Custard leave our other little animal friends alone, preferring to sleep rather than pay attention to the antics of the rest of the family.

Our funny little Custard gave us a very big upset over Christmas 2002.  We had noticed he wasn't very happy going to the toilet and had been keeping an eye on him.  Then the week before Christmas he became very unhappy, whining and grumbling not knowing what to do with himself.  We took him straight to the vet and they admitted him, it was very difficult leaving Custard behind not knowing what was wrong with him.  Later that day the vet phoned to say Custard had bladder stones and they had given him a catheter and would keep him in for a few days to see how he was going.  It was a long three days without Custard following us around the house and we were very relieved to finally bring him home.  After a few days we realised that even with his special medicine Custard was still having problems.  We took him straight back to the vets, who told us the best thing for him was an operation, which would end his problems once and for all.  So Christmas Eve Custard had his operation, we were very relieved to get the phone call telling us he was okay.  Because it was such a serious procedure Custard had to stay at the vets for the rest of the week. Custard is a big baby and the the nurses at the veterinary surgery were very taken with him.  Custard was very happy when we brought him home, though he wasn't very impressed with not being allowed out of the cat flap.  We were pleased to have him back safe and sound, Christmas just hadn't been the same knowing he was on his own.  After a few days Custard was back to his old self having made a full recovery, showing what a special little cat he is and when he was finally allowed out of the house he only went as far as the bottom of the garden, funny Custard.

July 2003:  Our beautiful cheeky little Custard went missing.  We have asked around our local area and searched woodland near our home, but have found no trace of him.  It has been two months since we last saw him and we have had to accept the horrible idea that we will never see him again.  Custard was such a happy little cat with a funny meow that he used to announce himself when ever he came home.  We have had a magical six years with Custard in our lives and we really do miss him.  Treacle is still happy and healthy and keeping Custards memory alive.  Until we know what has happened to our silly little cat we will always have hope that he may come home, but for now we shall look at his photos and enjoy our memories.

September 23rd 2003:  We had just finished tea and were in the kitchen loading the dishwasher when a familiar face appear at the cat flap, it was Custard.  After being missing for two and a half months he returned home and thought he was wonderful.  It was a big shock and relief to see him, we had begun to believe that we might not ever find out what happened to our little cat.  Now we know it was probably down to the very hot summer we had.

April 21st 2005:  We uprooted our family and moved from Cambridge to Ipswich.  Treacle and Custard were not very impressed when we first put our house up for sale and people kept coming round to view it.  Then when we started packing up our belongings their mood did not improve.  Most of the time Custard was amusing, wrapping himself in bubble wrap or just sitting on whatever we were trying to pack.  Treacle was another story, he would wander around the house crying and there were several times we found him standing on top of the stack of boxes.  Due to all the disruption we decided to put the cats in our local cattery sooner rather than later.  They spent four days away from home before the move, we did miss them but it made life a lot easier not tripping over them all the time.

On day of the move the morning was spent hanging around while the removals men finished loading the van.  Lindsay had the job of collecting the cats, her car is a bit more practical than Derek's.  So with three rats in a carry box on the passenger seat, two gerbils in their tank on the back seat she went to pick up the cats.  Treacle and Custard were not very impressed with being in the cat box and were already crying by the time they got out to the car.  Lindsay had to drive for over an hour with a car full of animals and Treacle and Custard crying in the boot.  To say her nerves were a little frayed when they arrived in Ipswich was and understatement.

Once at our new house we had to stash the cats somewhere while the removal men unloaded the van, so we shut them in the bathroom and let them out of their cat box.  Being responsible cat owners we had the cat loo ready in the car, so with some food and a bowl of water the cats had everything they could need.  No the cats were still not very impressed, the wanted us in there with them.  And every time Custard heard us moving about outside the bathroom door he began crying again.

Once the removal men where gone we let the cats out of the bathroom.  Custard was thrilled to see us and followed us around the house.  Treacle was not so thrilled, to begin with he did not want to leave the bathroom.  When he plucked up the courage to leave the bathroom, he went into one of the bedrooms and hid behind a box.  Moving their food to the kitchen, soon persuaded Treacle to explore the rest of the house.

After a few days of exploring the house we let the cats outside.  Again Treacle was not very happy and went charging back inside, hiding under the bed.  The next day was a bit more successful and the cats left the garden.  Unfortunately for us all was not plain sailing  We had planned to fit a cat flap to the back door, as this is what the cats are used to.  When we came to examine the back door we found it was made of metal and there is no way Derek would be able to saw out a hole to fit the cat flap through.  At the moment we are considering many options, from getting a new back door to fitting the cat flap through an external wall of the house.  For now Lindsay is having to let the cats in and out, we have built up a routine and for the moment the cats are happy.  We are sure as the hot weather arrives things will change and the cats won't be quite so agreeable.

We finally got a cat flap fitted, we'd had a chap out to do some work on the garden for us, Derek mentioned the cat flap problem to him and he said he's see what he could do.  Several weeks passed and the chap phoned us to say he'd found a special saw that would cut through the metal door skin.  It took him a very noisy hour to hack through the door, but I'm pleased to say he did it and the cat flap fitted perfectly.  We were both so happy all we had to do was get the cats to use it, no problems there. Custard who was already in the garden came up to the new cat flap bumped it a few times to test it out and then just came in.  Treacle was just as easy, he wandered up to the back door to be let out saw the new flap and left.  As far as the cats are concerned our home is now complete.