Kirk Dodds

We were having a day out in Sept 1993, at the Metro Centre, Gateshead, when we came across a pet shop, and decided to look inside. We already had a 17 yr old cat called Frosty, who had been the only cat for the last 16 yrs, and we weren't even thinking about getting another cat.
We saw a cage with a beautiful green eyed, black and white kitten inside, who was with 2 smaller tabby kittens. There was a ladder inside the pen, and he kept trying to climb up the ladder, only to find that it ended at the top of the cage, and that he wasn't going to escape that way! When the assistant opened the door of the pen, he came over to her, and rubbed his little head against her.
He was all wide eyed and fluffy, and cute, and before we knew it, we had handed our £15 over and taken him home with us.
We decided to call him 'Kirk', after the adventurous Captain Kirk from 'Star Trek'. This name turned out to be very apt, as Kirk had lots of adventures throughout his life.
He was a very affectionate kitten, who liked to rub his head against you, and would get up on his back legs to reach you to give you a kiss. He also enjoyed being stroked, but did not relish sitting on your lap.
Frosty disliked him initially, but soon grew to like him, though she found his youthful exuberance a bit wearing sometimes!
He used to find Sindy dolls's heads in Sarah's room, and bring them downstairs, and attack and bite them. Even when we tried to hide them, he would smell them out. He also used to appear with rubber bands, and liked to sit on plastic carrier bags. He seemed to find the smell of plastic very appealing!
He used to stand on the edge of the litter tray, and tip litter all over the floor, and would tip the water from the bowl all over the kitchen floor too. I think it was just a game, as he quickly outgrew these antics!
He used to love going outdoors, and would use the kitchen window as a catflap if it was open!
He had a really quiet meow.He used to let us know that the food bowl was empty, by knocking it around the kitchen! I used to go in to stop him, and find an empty bowl, then I would feed him! He had me well trained!
My two children used to love playing with him, it was exciting having a youngster in the house, as my old cat Frosty prefered to sleep! My son even made up a song about him! It went 'Where's my Kirky gone? Has he eaten a scone? Where's my Kirky cat? Has he eaten a rat?
He had a very low pain threshold, when he was neutered, he cried for 3 days afterwards when we picked him up, whereas our siamese cat had a hysterectomy, and was bouncing around the house the next day, pulling her stitches out!He was the only one of my cats that ever cried when they got their annual vaccination too.
When we had to treat all the cats with flea spray, he saw the spray bottle, and hissed at it!
When he was one year old, we entered him in his first cat show, in the household pet section. He did really well, and got a trophy.
He was a really lovely cat, but he could be a bit unpredictable when he was an adult. Once he got a hold of my daughter's hair, and started to bite her head really hard, another time he tried to jump at my face from the top bunk when I entered the room, and once he bit my partner's nose, who wouldn't let him out of the back door, but who was pretending to open the door!! This all added to his character!
He used to like having his teeth brushed with an electric toothbrush!
He used to love travelling in the car, we even took him on holiday with us once, all the way to Devon.
He used to hate going to the vets, probably because of his low pain threshold, and going to the vets does usually involve getting something unpleasant done to you if you are a cat! He used to try to bite the vet, so the vet marked his card with 3 stars! The more stars an animal had, the more wary you had to be with it, if you were a vet or nurse!
Kirk used to be very popular with the cat loving neighbours around our way. He used to go into their houses and get food and fuss. They would often find him sitting on their settees or beds!
If there was a BBQ going on outside, Kirk would go over and join in.
However, he wasn't a welcome sight everywhere! Once he got into a neighbour's house, ate their cat's food, and beat it up! He came in with a bite on his backside, which required a trip to the vets for antibiotics.
Once we saw him sitting in a neighbour's car! It was summer, and he had climbed in through the sunroof!He was sunning himself on the parcel shelf!
On quite a few occasions, me, or a neighbour, would open our garages in the morning, and find that Kirk had been locked in all night!
He used to love sitting in boxes, and on top of the kitchen unit, or wall unit, and also in the top of the airing cupboard.
His best friends were Portia and Chloe. Portia died in 2004, and also has a memorial on this site, and Chloe died in 2009, and also has a memorial on this site
He was healthy for most of his life, but when he was 14 yrs, he started to lose his appetite, and he grew thin, and malnourished. He was very ill, and sadly had to be put to sleep. My daughter held him, as he passed away, as she was his favourite person.
He was a great character, and will never be forgotten