My Little Tiger: Meet Tilly

Back in 2019, I put together a post all about my little love, Tilly. You will have seen her appear here and there on my blog, and you may even follow her on Instagram (yes, she has her own account because she’s THAT extra). I’ve talked about her on my blog before, and today I’m going to tell you a little more about her.

I first met Tilly in October 2013, but it was a good month before we brought her home. She was fostered by a lady that my Mum knew from school, who worked for Cats Protection. My Mum drove me over there one evening where I met a litter of four little fluffy tabby kittens. They were only a few weeks old at this point, and had been found abandoned in a barn without their mother. I had a cuddle with each and every one of them, but there was something about the tiniest one who kept meowing and licking my hand. Once I picked her up I knew that was it. She was mine. I made my decision, and I’m not going to lie, I was a little disappointed when they said she already had a name. I’d had a whole array of names picked out! However, upon hearing that it was Tilly, I realised that I absolutely couldn’t change it. My Mum also pointed out that Tots TV was one of my favourite programmes as a little kid, and Tilly, the sassy French puppet, was my favourite character. It was most definitely meant to be.

It was agreed that Tilly would have her first set of vaccinations and be chipped and neutered before I took her home, so I kissed my new baby goodbye and went home completely in love. Unfortunately, two weeks later, Tilly’s foster Mum messaged me and said the kittens were off their food and looking very unwell, and she had taken them to the vets, where they said that it could be some sort of virus, or it could be Feline Infectious Enteritis, a particularly nasty disease, especially in kittens. If it was the latter, it would have meant putting them to sleep. I was heartbroken, especially seeing as I’d already fallen in love with Tilly. 

Thankfully, a few days later, I had a message to say the kittens were doing much better and that it was just a virus that had caused them to be a bit under the weather. However, she said when they had gone for their check ups, they had picked up that Tilly had a slight head tremor, most likely a birth defect. She reassured me that it wasn’t a problem, it just meant that she would be quite a messy eater and that she would probably be better off as an indoor cat because her reflexes weren’t as good as most cats. This was actually a relief for me, because over the years I had lost my fair share of cats through going missing and getting killed on the roads. 

Eventually, we were able to collect Tilly, and she came home with us on 4th November 2013. She was the most curious little kitten, and as you can see, she loved having her picture taken. As for her wobbly head and messy eating, I rarely notice it, and if anything, knowing she’s a little bit different to the other cats makes me love her even more.

Personality wise, Tilly is quite the character. While she loves nothing more than a big snuggly cuddle, she also gets rather sassy when she’s not the centre of attention. If you make her wait for her breakfast or her bedtime Dreamies, she will ensure you know that she’s not happy about it. She’ll often tell us off for leaving her when we get home from work in the evenings, and when we’re in the house, she’ll refuse to be on her own for more than 5 minutes. If we head into the kitchen to wash up or upstairs to hang up the washing, she’ll follow simply so that she can be part of things. She’s quite the Daddy’s girl too which I just find annoying – no matter how cosy she is with me, the second Liam sits down she’ll be straight on his lap instead. Despite the fact she clearly favours her Daddy over me, if I’m ever ill or upset, she’ll know about it straight away and she’ll come and snuggle up to me. If anything, when she cuddles up to me it’s extra special because she’s chosen me over Liam! 

My favourite thing about Tilly is that she makes me laugh every single day. Whether it’s her incredible sassiness because she’s 5 seconds late getting her breakfast, how she loves playing catch with her toys, or when she tries to do a huge jump from the bedroom window onto the bed, she’ll brighten my day one way or another. I love nothing more than seeing where she is when I get home – she’s usually curled up in a ball on the sofa, or perched up on the top of my bookcase like Mufasa surveying the pride lands. She’ll usually come and demand some attention by meowing at us and most of the time, she won’t stop until she’s been picked up. Sass queen. As you can see, she also loves having her picture taken. The ones you see below were taken by my lovely and amazingly talented friend, Cheryl. Check out her page on Instagram – she takes some incredibly beautiful photos. Tilly most definitely loved her modelling session! 

I feel so lucky to have my beautiful Tilly in my life. There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t look at her and smile, and she’s always there to cheer me up when I’m struggling. Even when she’s being incredibly high maintenance, or stealing my seat on the sofa so that she can be closer to her Daddy. That trick’s her favourite. One of my friends calls her Queen Tilly, and the name suits her down to the ground. She’s the Queen, and she knows it.