We chose the name FredTheCat because we had just rescued a cat with Feline Aids. We called him Freddie in memory of 'Queen' star, Freddie Mercury. Fred was in a terrible state but he recovered and took to domestic life very quickly and was a favourite amongst family and friends.

Sadly Fred had to be put to sleep on 13th May 2008, following a fight against Nasal Lymphoma cancer and a seizure during the night. Above is the video that was taken in March after the 2nd week of treatment and is how we want to remember Fred, the huge loving character that he was.

My business name will continue to be FredTheCat, remaining a tribute to Fred.  We can only take heart in the fact that Fred has had a wonderful home and been well loved for 8 years. On a lighter note his good friend Charlie (right), who looked after him throughout his illness, will take over as the CEO.

We also have two new additions to our cat family with Aggy (left) and Carrot (right).

I would like to thank Jo Williams and her family for sending food parcels for Fred during his illness. I will always be indebted to you for your kindness which will not be forgotten. Thank you Jo.

I would also like to thank Stephen Collins from SCVS in Ringwood for all his support throughout this.

Finally, we'd like to thank Kit Sturgess from Anderson Sturgess, for his efforts trying to save Fred's life.

biography of a cat called fred

I'd often seen this beaten up cat walking down the wall behind our house. Many times I had seen him curled up in the rain in the gutter of a garage roof adjoining the cemetery and felt sorry for him. He didn't respond when called to but ran away if you got close.

He did rounds about 4pm every day. I watched him over a period of months. His battered and beaten ears had black stuff running down his face and very often had war wounds from brawls.

I made numerous enquires about who he belonged to, all which came up blank. His welfare weighed on my mind and so I started to befriend him. After 6 months I had him coming for food. I waited for the right opportunity until one day I plucked up the courage to pick him up. To my surprise he didn't struggle but appeared quite happy to be picked up, so I took him inside.

We tried to clean his ears, but soon realised it was beyond our aid, the smell was hideous. I phoned the RSPCA who arranged for him to go immediately to a vet. They said he'd need an operation to clean his ears from inside out as they were completely blocked, hence the deafness. I was devastated to let him go and went to see him after his op. I talked to the vet and asked if I could have him which wasn't really the way the RSPCA worked, but the vet understood that I'd built up a relationship with him. They agreed. When they did the op on his ears they castrated him at the same time and took Leukaemia and Feline Immuno Virus bloods to test.

The operation on his ears was successful. Fred hadn't been able to hear at all but his eardrums were intact. Not all the news was good because his bloods had come back FIV positive. Still after getting all the available info we took him home.

For the first few weeks he recouped in our feline recovery cage where he got used to us, the house and the other cats. Slowly he became more confident and after about a year was fully acclimatised to his new life. We had a further problem with one of his ears as it kept ulcerating. Then one day, cleaning it with a cotton bud, out popped a hunk of concrete!

Fred was extremely verbose. Some people thought he looked angry because of his ears but that couldn't be further from the truth. He was the most loving cat anyone could wish for and we consider ourselves to be the luckiest people to have had such a wonderful cat. How sad that such a lovely boy should have been treated so badly in the first place. I doubt he would have survived that winter.

Sleep well. You were taken from us too soon.