User:Montgomery15/sandbox/Claridgestats
Jingle | |
|---|---|
 Jingle at home in Hardway, 2011 | |
| Born | April 2007 |
| Died | 20 December 2019 (aged 12) |
| Occupation | Cat |
Jingle, Lord Karmy of Hardway (April 2007 – 20 December 2019) was a cat from Gosport, Hampshire.
Early life
[edit]Jingle was born in Gosport in April 2007, and was adopted by the Karmy family, alongside Pingu (2007–2012) when he was three months old. He spent his early life in the Forton area of the town, often playing at nearby Forton Lake, where he became a skilled poacher of shrews and other rodents. Although his companion Pingu was the more adventurous of the two, Jingle developed a love for the outdoors himself, sometimes being away from home for days at a time, only returning for food.
Adult life
[edit]The family moved across Forton Lake to Elson in 2009, and again to Hardway in 2011, and Jingle was again familiarised with the outdoor environment he loved; the wildgrounds beside the family home were well-suited to his interests in shrew-poaching, and he often played there with the local foxes. As he progressed through adulthood, he acquired a reputation as a regal, refined character, with a vast and exquisite appetite; among his favourite foods were olives, roast chicken, and ham, and in particular, he preferred fresh smoked salmon, complimented with a dish of whipped cream. Despite his occasionally unhealthy dietary habits, he maintained his physique, fitness and great agility well into his senior years.
Pingu died unexpectedly in June 2012, aged only five, and this had a significant effect on Jingle; he did not leave the house for several days, and began pulling out his own fur, probably as a coping mechanism for anxiety or sadness, a habit that remained with him throughout his life.
His small stature - he had been the runt of his litter as a kitten - sometimes caused altercations with other cats in the neighbourhood, who would impose themselves on him in an attempt to gain access to his food and water; however, Jingle was not without courage, and in one such instance, he waited until the other cat had walked out of his garden before jumping to the top of the fence and launching himself from it - the offender, surprised at this sudden ambush, retreated to safety, and did not bother Jingle thereafter.
Senior years
[edit]By the time the family moved again in January 2018, he was in his eleventh year, and as with many senior cats, he had slowed down somewhat, still spending the majority of his time outdoors but now either sunbathing in the garden, when the weather permitted, or resting indoors by a radiator or on the sofa.
In earlier years, Jingle had had a fiercely independent personality, reacting angrily to being touched, picked up or otherwise shown too much affection, and had been reluctant to show much affection in return. However, as he aged, he matured into an affable and warm cat, happy to be around those he loved, albeit just as demanding as he always had been. It was a transformation not unlike that of Scrooge - a curmudgeonly miser who became the generous and kind-hearted soul that was his true self.
Illness and death
[edit]In August 2019, Jingle suffered an injury to his right hind leg, which severely compromised his mobility and confidence; this was diagnosed as arthritis as a natural consequence of his advancing age, but may have been the result of a mini-stroke or a fall. His condition improved over the following months, but, refusing to take the medication he had been prescribed, he lived with the leg pain caused by the injury; on some days he could barely walk across a room, while at other times it appeared as if nothing had happened.
At around 6am on the morning of 20 December 2019, having been unwell for several days, Jingle suffered a severe stroke, resulting in paralysis; he was taken to the Pet Hospital in Cowplain, where he died peacefully at 3pm that afternoon, aged 12. He was cremated, and his ashes were returned to the family home in January 2020.