Memories of Jasmine, our sweet Bengal cat.

**Here she is, Jasmine!!! This was taken at the breeders in June 2005.**

This is a photo journal of our lovely Bengal cat, Jasmine. I suppose this is mainly for my cat loving readers but could be for any others that love their pets, whatever they may be. Our pets impact our lives in such a positive way, their only downfall is that they are not immortal.

Here is our very first meeting of the kittens. We had been waiting for this moment for weeks; to finally meet Golden Glitter’s kittens and choose one. We chose Jasmine instantly! The breeder called her “girl #3” and we were in LOVE!

We took many trips to the home of our breeder, Dazzle Dots Bengals and Mara could not have been more welcoming or generous with her time spent with us. This kitten was to be a gift for Victoria’s 7th birthday in August and we started planning in earnest in May. After many exciting visits, and waiting anxiously to see if we would be able to adopt the kitten we had all fallen in love with, Mara called and left a message on our voice mail. We kept that message in our archives for years…YEARS! It simply said, “Hello, it’s Mara, I have good news for you all, girl #3 is yours, Jasmine is yours!”

Those words thrilled us for years. I’m sorry if all of this seems totally over the top to you but if you are still reading this you must be a cat lover and you understand. Jasmine’s homecoming…

Bringing Jasmine home was one of the most exciting days of our lives and certainly of Victoria’s life. We had been preparing for her arrival and rehearsing just how it would go down, to best settle her in and to not upset our other pets. At that time we had two Maine Coon sisters Happy and Cee, an Irish Wolfhound named Hagrid and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Lady Royale.

We had the fun experience of entering Jasmine in a local TICA cat show when she was four month old. She didn’t care for the judging process and we did not subject her to it after she displayed some distress, however, she did win the honour of being voted “Spectator’s Choice” over the two day event. She was a charmer, right from the start!

Every part of having Jasmine was an adventure for Victoria and for the whole family.

Jasmine had nicely settled into her routine when we were asked if we would consider fostering her half brother for a time until he could go to his intended home in Sweden. We said yes without thinking it through but Raja charmed us and we welcomed him into the fold. He never did make it to Sweden. Jasmine and Raja got along very well initially but tensions between them eventually ran high. When we moved house 6 years ago we tried separating them to see if that would help and it did. Jasmine became our boudoir cat and she adored being the queen of her domain. You’ve all seen her images on my IG feed. She was so happy and content.

Jasmine had the best life. A very healthy life too. She was a voracious killer in her day and I was happy when I didn’t feel right letting her out to wander the neighbourhood. I have saved the lives of many birds, snakes and bunnies.

It’s hard to sum up what a much loved pet means to you, but in the words of John Sebastian and The Lovin’ Spoonful’s song,

Jasmine,

You didn’t have to be so nice , I would have liked you anyway…