A Senior White Cat Gallery

It is the anniversary of a special cat’s passing today and I have been looking at the photographs I have to help us celebrate a cheeky cat’s life well lived.

Harvey’s photos cover the time before I got my DSLR camera so they are portrait, landscape and square all mixed up. They are all memories regardless of their quality – we can all improve, we all start somewhere!

You can’t see the small squamous carcinoma marks in his ears as he naps, but the vet knew what would happen if he didn’t operate, so surgery was scheduled.

Ann Adamus created this lovely graphic for Harvey just before his ear surgery. He was already a senior then and you can see the remains of the solar eczema on his nose. There are very few photographs of Harvey with his ear tips. It was lovely to have the little graphic to share with everyone.

• If you want to read the diary about Harvey’s recovery

After his recuperation Harvey became the darling of Twitter with his Fold-style ears and as an angel he still attends the weekly pet #nipclub. He is often dressed up in one of his themed avatars from buddy Gator. This is a particular favourite.

The happy shot below is not one of my most artistic but it will make you smile because it features both Jack and Harvey outside on a summer evening. Calm, confident and peaceful. Harvey always loved wandering in the garden. Yes, I could crop it closer ([t is an option]

This full length image is a rare image of Harvey up on the wall with next door’s house.

You can see the lovely stone wall which looks craggy and old. After the house was sold, the idiot who bought it put up a fence but, I love Harvey’s confident ‘cat pose’ while he was posed there in front of the aged stone. I am a cat who can conquer the world.

This next photograph is one of my favourite ever captures.

I have never felt the need to crop in closer to Harvey. This picture speaks volumes about a cat feeling at home. Sure there are some things in the background and I could lighten it a bit to highlight him, erase small things, but I am so proud of his achievements and his recovery.

This is my domain, I am watching you with all the wisdom of my years.

• If you have a similar type of photo and wonder how it might look cropped, create a digital copy and play with that. Leave your original safely alone! I think it’s Cmd/Ctrl D (for duplicate but check your photo editing menu).

Finally, Senior Cats as Inspiration.

When Sierra Koester put out the call for her book on inspiring studies in cat resilience Purrseverance, I had a lot of Harvey’s backstory from people at the rescue, and plucked up the courage to enter him.

I wanted to let the world know that a senior cat could have a hugely positive story to tell to encourage others to adopt senior cats, especially as many of his friends knew he appeared on Dash Kitten’s blog.

The book (read it now!) is full of breathtaking or nail-biting adventures (looking at you Angel Sawyer Blue) and brave, stubborn and utterly courageous cats. Link to Sierra’s Author Page ebook & paperback.

Each short story is a thrilling read that will have you cheering for cats.

As you can see Harvey was honoured with a Muse® Medallion from the Cat Writers’ Association. I still have the Muse hung up beside my computer, he makes me so proud. I miss him every day and I am so glad he was a member of our cat family for nine whole years.

(I added a few images to a slideshow).