A VERY SALTY SEA CAT
Dotty the Salty Sea Cat
2013 - 2025
When Dotty came to us, we did not think that she would survive. A special diet and many hours of tender love and care saw her pull through and become a beautiful cat. As soon as she was old enough, she enjoyed exploring the fields and hedgerows in the countryside on the Welsh Border.
When I received surgery for breast cancer in 2015, she was a constant companion during my recovery.
It was during five weeks of radiotherapy that the idea of writing a book came to fruition. Macmillan Cancer Support had contributed funds to enable the building of the Macmillan Renton Unit at Hereford County Hospital. However, a second bunker, which could house a linear accelerator machine remained empty. A group of us receiving treatment decided to launch a fundraising campaign so that a second machine could be installed.
I decided to make my contribution by publishing a collection of short stories and called on friends and family to help. My daughter produced the cover, and my sister did some proofreading. It was when she returned the copy that she reminded me of how I would tell her stories of Tom Kitten when we were children. As soon as one was finished, she would demand another. As a thank you to her, I decided to write a children's book about a cat, and as we had a yacht in Lydney Harbour at the time, I based the stories there, and so the Salty Sea Cat was born.
The stories became popular, and soon, we had a series of four. I was asked to talk about the books and the inspiration for them on the BBC, and attended several fundraising events.
My real passion is for historical fiction and one night, while trying to summon inspiration to write about the last days of Oliver Cromwell, I saw Dotty hunting in the field below the office window. Her nocturnal activities provided the inspiration for the poem, 'Hunter's Moon' and many more that followed. Soon we had a collection and published it under the title, 'A Book of Accidental Cats'. Dotty's eye, whiskers, paw and claws feature on the cover. We have read several of the poems included in the collection on the BBC.
In September 2025, Dotty became ill and was diagnosed with cancer. A course of steroids saw a temporary improvement, but on 9th October, we had to make the difficult decision to let her go. Her vet came to the house, and she passed peacefully away in my arms.
It was her time.
However, Dotty has been immortalised in the children's books and poems that she inspired. We are grateful to the thousands of people from all corners of the world who followed her adventures on Twitter, Facebook, Bluesky and Instagram: we have been touched by your genuine outpouring of love and affection for this remarkable little cat.
We laid her to rest between the plum and the apple tree, where she loved to play.
​
Incidentally, she never did get her feet wet.
​
​
