Quincy - a shy but noble cat

He looked like a miniature cougar, and as a purebred Abyssinian he was an excellent hunter. One of two brothers given to me several years ago, Quincy was the shyer of the two. Simon his brother who was nearly identical, was much more independent and adventurous - which unfortunately was his undoing. One day he didn't come home from going for a walk.

However Quincy stayed fairly close to home. He adored the next cat that came into his life and was like a brother, the big applehead Siamese Zachary.

The lithe little cat did have adventures of his own though. One day I heard a tremendous caterwauling outside and ran to the door.

In the hedgerow about fifty yards from the door there was a line of asperagus - Quincy would often hunt for mice in there. This time he found a fox kit.

I saw Quincy leaping in the air out of the tall grasses and asperagus ferns one summer afternoon, then a fox kit lept up - it was about the same size as Quincy... not very big but that lovely bright orange of a young fox just developing its coat. This went on for a few minutes until one of the dogs - Coffee the animal police constable in my gang of four-leggeds at the time - decided to put a stop to the fun and ambled over to investigate.

The fox bolted and Quincy trotted over to me in the doorway as if to say - "Now that was fun." He purred and rubbed up against me and allowed me to pick him up, giving me a little lick to say hello. He was a beautiful cat, and a very loving one as many cats can be if they're treated with respect and given love and affection.