Tanis. October 20th, 1991 - July 29th, 2004.

In memory of a cat who occupied a large space in our hearts and, indeed, a large space wherever he happened to be.


Dear friends,

It is with great sadness that we are writing to tell you that Tanis was hit by a car yesterday and killed instantly. It was a freak and, obviously, tragic accident in what is our relatively traffic-free street. Tanis was scared by many things - vacuum cleaners, tradesmen, the thought of spending more than 5 consecutive hours awake - and he was especially scared of cars. A more “car-savvy” cat you’d be unlikely to meet.
      After making a successful transition from Templestowe to Richmond, Tanis was King of the Hill with nothing to prove. However, over the past few months a number of the local cats had been invading Tanis’ block of land, wandering around as though THEY owned it, and consequently Tanis was involved, no doubt reluctantly, in numerous scuffles to reassert his control over his territory. Something no dignified 13 year old should be made to do. Certainly not a 13 year old who’d always choose sleeping over fighting.
      We believe that he would have been involved in such an altercation on the other side of our street when Kate came home from work yesterday. He would have heard Kate and, keen to call it a day and flee to safety, he bolted across the street toward her and his intersection with fate. The female driver was very upset at what happened, and we feel most grateful that several of our neighbours were on-hand to help out and take care of what needed to be taken care of.

Tanis will be laid to rest tomorrow at Templestowe in the stamping ground of his youth.


Tanis will be remembered as a cat who (in the recent words of our vet) was “somewhat on the tubby side” and yet who was “remarkably healthy for a 13 year old”. She also observed, (no surprise to us), that he had one of the softest and shiniest coats around.
      He will be remembered as a cranky, old whinger who’d never take no for an answer. Despite our insistence that 5am was NOT breakfast time, he never ceased trying to persuade us otherwise. Tanis loved his food.
      He will be remembered for his remarkable “stomach-shimmy”, the undercarriage wobble-wobble that happened when he ran.
      He will be remembered as wise yet remarkably stupid. When waiting for the door to be opened he would always wait with his nose pressed into the right side of the door, even though it always opened on the left!
      He will be remembered as a cat who overcame considerable obstacles to (somewhat awkwardly) walk along the top of our fence, just like those other younger cats. We’ve rarely been so proud.
      He will be remembered as a most affectionate cat who, if you were at the right height, would barrel in and bash heads with you; on occasion causing some degree of pain, such was the momentum he managed to build up.
      He will be remembered as the cat that no-one upon first meeting him EVER felt too uncomfortable to exclaim about his previously mentioned “tubbiness”.
      He will be remembered as the cat who brought love and warmth (and the occasional clawed swipe) to many, and whose companionship made the first year of our marriage far richer than it would have been without him.

He will be remembered fondly in too many ways to record here.