Louise O’Reilly on her cat Bruce, who came into her life via a timely mouse…
Louise O Reilly TD with her cat Bruce
My granny used to say that a house wasn’t a home without a cat. When her cat Pharaoh died – at 19 and a half! – all of us grandchildren went down to say our goodbyes to him. He was such a part of the family for so long.
In my own house, we first had a cat called Gink who lived for 16 years. When he died, my daughter and myself were in bits. Seeing how distraught we were, my husband said there should be no more cats because it was too upsetting when they died.
Later, when my daughter’s own little cat Bobbie was about to have kittens my husband warned her: do not be sending us pictures of those kittens! Around that time I happened to be sitting at home one day when I saw a mouse run across the living room floor. My husband hadn’t seen it but he checked everywhere and couldn’t find any evidence of mice. Shortly after that, he was in the living room on his own on a particular day and he saw the mouse. That’s how our cat Bruce came into our lives.
We actually took two of Bobbie’s kittens – Batcat and Spidercat, my grandson named them. Spidercat ran away but Batcat stayed and he became Bruce, after Bruce Wayne, so still with the Batman connection.
‘Bruce looks after himself very well and loves grooming himself – a lot! Yes, he’s a very vain cat’ – Louise O’Reilly on her cat Bruce. Photo: Frank McGrath
Bruce is about eight years old now and he’s such a lovely cat – big and black and snuggly. And he’s really good company. I know that cats can be very independent, but we definitely get affection from Bruce.
When we’re away on holiday we have friends who keep an eye on him, but when we come home, he bounces out the door to see us. Then he settles down to sleep on the stairs but keeps going up and down just to check that we are still there.
He also picks up on things; when my mam died last year Bruce just parked himself on top of me whenever I sat down, and that was really comforting.
Majella Hollywood and her rescue dog Sadie
He does like his own space, though. He sleeps in the spare room and he’s fairly self-sufficient. But if you ever want to know where the warmest place in the house is, that’s where you’ll find Bruce. He looks after himself very well and loves grooming himself – a lot! Yes, he’s a very vain cat.
Bruce is such an important part of the family. During the 2020 general election he went missing and I was so worried about him.
He’d been gone for two nights and I was in RTÉ and just about to walk into studio to be interviewed when I got a call from my husband: “Bruce is home!” I can’t tell you the relief I felt.
It was the mouse episode, of course, that brought Bruce into our lives. You wouldn’t believe the slagging I got on our WhatsApp family group over that.
So, I would just like to set the record straight – no, I did not procure that mouse myself. But I’d have to admit that it was a very timely arrival!
As told to Roslyn Dee