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COLIN MACLEAN: Sweet, hateful little creature  

We recently lost a member of our family: our 15-year-old cat, Annie.

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Annie and I had a complicated relationship. One built more on tolerance than love.

Though, in my defence, Annie did nothing to endear herself to anyone, ever.

We brought her into our home while we were living in St. John’s. My partner’s sister had adopted Annie from the local Newfoundland Humane Society a few weeks earlier. The idea had been to give her cat a companion. Instead, they immediately hated each other and fought constantly to the point where the original cat stopped eating.

We had recently lost a cat and the girls didn’t want to return Annie to the shelter, so she moved in with us.

I wasn’t opposed to the idea. At least, that’s what I thought until I started living with Annie.

For the next 14 or so years, Annie was a ghostly presence in our home. You knew she was there, but you didn’t see her much.

We’d added a second, male, feline to our lives about six months after we acquired Annie. It was not the wisest decision we ever made, but you live and learn. While they........

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