Part One – Rio’s Arrival:

I had always wanted a dog; which seems a very odd thing to open with for a story about Rio, my gorgeous siamese cat. However, when I was young this was the case. I filled my  walls with pictures of German Shepherds and covered my school folders, all in a desperate bid to convince my parents how serious I was about owning one. I had fallen in love with German Shepherds after seeing them as cute puppies, in my opinion the cutest puppies you will ever see. I had countless books on them, I watched “Dogs with Dunbar”  on Sunday night TV religiously, and wrote notes on dog training. You could say I was obsessed with owning a dog. I couldn’t wait until I was an adult and could make my own decision and have a dog join me in my adventures.

I never did get a dog, and to this day have had fish, budgies, rabbits and cats, but no dogs. I still love dogs, but one day a cat or two touched my life and that was that… cats it is. I met two gorgeous cats before Rio came into my life.

Toady was an oriental tricolour mix with an absolutely soft and sensitive predisposition. I didn’t believe she existed for quite some time as she would hide from me. However after a few weeks we became lifelong friends. Sadly Toady got cancer and after a fairly rough time went to cat heaven over the rainbow bridge. I still have the biggest smiles when i see her pictures, she was a special cat. Remy was a complete disaster of a cat; a small black oriental boy that had absolutely no manners whatsoever. He would get into fight, and need to be rescued by his older brother, climb into the neighbours kitchen and steal food and cause most of the tension in a household of three cats! I don’t see Remy anymore as he belonged to an ex, which is sad, but I know he will be just fine.

Then came the arrival of Rio. A friend adopted her, and as I was taking a break from working, I said I would collect her from the cat rescue centre (Oriental Cat Welfare Trust), and look after her. I had seen a few pictures of a cat shape under a blanket, I had no idea what she even looked like, she was a very sensitive cat that hid all of the time. So off I went on the train to Hastings, little known to me that this would change my life forever. After a number of snow delays getting out of London I arrived, met her foster mum and was soon re-boarding the return train into London, very nervously in the sole charge of a very small but very very loudly meowing gorgeous blue point Siamese cat. I spent the hour and a bit journey with Rio covered in her carrier, gently talking to her and stroking her – trying anything to calm her down. She is a very shouty cat! You could say that I was not the favourite passenger during rush hour that day!