Razzle's full name was, Fitzherbert Rasputin, and he was born 19th May, 1989. Razzle was a Chocolate Tabby Point.

I first met Razzle when I went to visit after seeing an advert in our local paper. I had never met a Siamese before. I was taken up to the bathroom, a large room, incorporating an airing cupboard. I was amused at the sight when I went in. There was a mother in the airing cupboard, cuddling a little kitten. And two other kittens who were belting around the room. When I sat down, I was besieged!!! I began to wonder what I had come to!!! In the end I chose Razzle instead of his sister. And I know that his then owners were very sad to see him go.

That night, I tried to settle him outside my bedroom, but he 'howled' the place down! And when I found him balancing on the bannister I could take no more, and took him into our bed, where he snuggled up under the quilt, purring happily, first victory to him! But he was there every night after that!

He was a character. He LOVED eating wool. My husband and I could not understand why our jumpers kept developing holes, we thought we had giant moths, and bought moth balls. It was only coming home early one day, that I found Razzle in the airing cupboard, looking very guilty! He had been found out! So we put a bolt on the door and hid all our jumpers!! No more holes.

But he also LOVED knitted finger gloves, he could eat one in seconds! Very embarrassing when you had friends round, and at the end of the evening, no gloves left!

He also had a nasty habit of wandering around the neighbourhood, and 'stealing' any soft or furry toys he could find and bringing them back to me. I had a garage full, and it was very embarrassing!

When the first of my 2 children were born, he was an angel, he would tell me if they had woken, and was very protective of them. (By this stage I had another Siamese, Truffles, who was a blue Point, the dubious duo my neighbours called them).

We had a double glazing salesman round one night to discuss conservatories. Razzle sat by his brief case, and watched him the whole time. If he put his hand in his case, Razzles eyes followed. The poor guy was looking quite worried, we knew he wouldn't hurt him, and it was amusing us. He would growl occasionally which made us silently giggle. Dear Razzle.

Razzle knew who he loved. He was passionately loyal to us and our children. But he would rarely let anyone else get close, except my mother and one of my dear neighbours. But with me, if I was ill, he was in bed with me. If I was upset, he was there. And if he didn't get what he wanted, he banged the cupboard doors.

When he ecame ill, we didn't notice at first. He was probably suffering a while before it became visible. His fur stopped looking sleek, and then I noticed the weight loss. It seemed to happen so suddenly. I took an emergency appointment at the vets. He told me sadly that my boy was very sick, and it looked like a tumor.

The next day he went into 'hospital'. I wasn't hopeful, this was December and I was supposed to be putting up the Christmas Tree. It no longer seemed appropriate, I just wanted Razzle with us.

He pulled through for a while, I really hoped the vets had got it wrong, I prayed they had got it wrong, I even convinced myself they had got it wrong. But they hadn't. When I came back from a trip away to see my family, he had been boarding at the vets. I could see instantly that he was really sick again. He sat with me that evening. I wished I had not left him.

Over the weekend he stopped eating. I couldn't bear the pain to look at him. To not be able to help. On Monday morning, he had disappeared. My neighbour found him in her bedroom. So we went to the vets. I cuddled him as the vet quietly let him slip away from us.

6 months later we lost Truffles, he seemed to lose the will to live after Razzle went. We had lots of cuddles, but it was never the same for him.

Razzle's ashes sit by my bedside, and when Truffles passed away, his joined them. Razzle was such a spirit. He was such a uniq animal. We will never forget him. We loved Truffles very, very much too, but he never got into mischief like our Razzle!

Now we have two young lads, another Chocolate Tabby called Basil, a Lilac Point called Merlyn, and a new arrival, little Tigerlily, who is a Caramel Tabby. We love our cats to bits, and thank Razzle for introducing us to such wonderful animals. We also have a beautiful black cat called Percy, who we took in as a stray. You know, even he missed Razzle. And when we had our large white Rabbit who would run in the hallway, Razzle was the only cat she would near her, and not attack, strange that.