Very sadly, I am afraid that Frodo did not make it…….
For those of you who have been following his fortunes, he went back the to the Veterinary College on Monday to have his mouth cage removed and was doing well. They kept him for 48 hours to monitor his jaw and make sure that he could eat – then, at 10 last night we got a call to say that he had just stopped breathing…. They had tried to resuscitate but without success. Maybe it had all just become too much…
He was such a character and so well known that ‘tributes’ are already pouring in. If you too knew him, and wish to add one, please do so as a comment.
From his ‘real owners’:
He has been so loved and had such a good full of adventure life I completely agree that it is cruel to keep him alive in these circumstances. We have loved him enormously and in the end he was a free spirit.
From James, his secondary ‘owner’:
Its rather wonderful that, in the supposedly uncaring world in which we now all live, the passing of a cat can cause such a reaction.
He was a genuine one off. The first time I met him was at the bottom of the garden when he was young and inexperienced. He had set off up a rather small tree. Two thirds of the way up decided that this was not a good idea, but had no idea how to get down. Rob, his owner, was attempting a rescue but couldn’t reach him. I supplied a ladder. His next tree adventure was in the crab apple in our garden. he made it into the lower branches but had no idea what to do next. The solution was to slither off the bottom branch, hang precariously by one paw for a moment, close his eyes and let go. For a forest cat he was strangely incompetent around trees.
As Inspector FoFo he patrolled his territory with total feline authority. Everybody knew him and the neighbourhood is now in mourning. Irreplaceable.
From me:
Frodo was all cat. Humans were of little interest to him except as providers of food and of comfortable and warm places to stretch and sleep.
Like a lion on the African veldt, he rarely exerted his authority – he did not need to. Other cats knew their place and should they ever presume, a swift paw soon restored order.
As for us humans, we too knew our place – honoured when we were allowed to stroke him or when, very occasionally, he might deign to share a sofa or a bed with us.
He was a presence in the land and James is right, everybody for streets around knew him, and is now in mourning.
More from James:
From Sue Cane, who, as you will see, had often shared a bedroom with him:
Oh no, poor old Frodo, the great adventurer.
I was wondering how he was doing….He was a truly extraordinary character that one. I will miss him clambering round my room in the middle of the night, and me, starkers, trying to bat him out of the door with a rolled-up magazine. Unsuccessfully of course.
And finding him firmly ensconced on the bath mat in a cloud of grey fluff in the little bathroom when I went in for a shower.
And finding the little whizzy Hoover absolutely full of the same beautiful hair.
Poor Frodo. He truly was a top cat.
From Micki Rose:
Oh no!!! I am so sorry, Michelle; that breaks my heart. Bless him, he’d just had enough. I thought of him this morning too and wondered how he was eating. I will cuddle Benjamin doubly-tight today.
From Tom:
Just wanted to say how sorry I was to hear about Frodo. He was a smashing cat. Like all wise beings, he very much kept his distance at first but what a lovely chap he was when you got to know him.
I will remember his escapades getting through the back garden when Mushkin (cat number 3) was first on the scene – hilarious how his usually care-free saunter through the back garden and into the house turned into a gauntlet of stress once Mushkin arrived.
I also remember his being ever so patient when being set upon by naked child this summer (see attached video). I’ve never laughed so hard.
From Andrew:
I am so sorry to hear that Frodo has died. What a hard road he’s had recently; you will miss his lordly manner. I’ve just been revisiting the poem I wrote about him and Hannah when he landed on her bed in the middle of the night!
This was inspired by an occasion when niece Hannah was sleeping in our loft room (four floors up) beneath a Velux window which, as it was a hot night, she had open. She was awakened by Frodo leaping on her bed and straight on up and out of the Velux window – in imminent danger of slithering down the tiled roof and tumbling four floors down onto the patio below! She did manage to grab him and pull him back in….
From Cressida:
OH! I am so sorry – but yes it sounds like it is for the best. Couldn’t keep a cat like him from following his wonderful/terrible instinct.
From Alex:
Dear old Frodo. My jeans in future will come away from FM Towers a lot less hairy than how they’ve typically left the building in previous years, but their owner will feel a lot sadder not to see him there waiting patiently at the door to be let out … in pursuit of yet another nocturnal adventure ….
From David:
He was a giant among cats, no one owned Frodo, he did what he liked when he liked, and so it was at the end, enough was enough, it was his decision to quit. NW3 won’t see his like again..!
From Jeanne at number 6, next door – visited by Frodo very regularly…
We are currently in California and I was thinking of him when we left on Tuesday. Yes, indeed – Lawn Road has lost and iconic character. He did have many lives, shame that that has come to an end…..
From Hannah (of the Velux window and roof episode above):
Oh no!!! This is such horrible news! I’m so sorry Michelle, Frodo was such a wonderful character. I had no idea about his most recent accident, poor thing. What a trooper he was. Lawn Road won’t be the same without him!
This was him when he got back from his last adventure…skinny and sleepy. Still the most beautiful cat there ever was, despite his rough two weeks!
From Prudence:
I am so sad. Thought of him a couple of days ago and was looking forward to seeing him at Lawn Road and giving him a blowing kiss (where I put lips against fur and blow warm air into the furry skin). What an adventurer he was. Bless him – a sorrowing friend.
From Anna:
How many tributes for dear Frodo! He certainly was the most interesting cat I have ever known and looking down on lawn Road from the window of the room I always sleep in won’t be the same now. But when he was in a cage with the machine to keep the jaw opened, he must have decided that life was not worth living, even if recovered, because he might be run over again and finish in another cage. He knew about the importance of Quality of life. Even in the end, he knew what was best for him.