How an angry cat reached beyond the grave to raise money for a Thurso charity shop

A grumpy looking cat immortalised on a commemorative stone for sale in Thurso became a social media sensation and raised almost £100 for charity.

The stone was seen by retired Dounreay worker Graham Ball on one of his regular visits to the Highland Hospice shop on Thurso’s High Street in mid-May.

“I often go in looking for motorcycle memorabilia, but as soon as I walked in the shop that day, I spotted this memorial for a cat called Pusskins,” said Graham.

“What caught my eye is that he didn’t look like a particularly happy cat. In fact, it was like he was angry at anyone looking at him with a defiant stare as if he was challenging you. It really seemed to capture some part of the cat’s character.”

Though the picture had been well painted, Graham felt a bit unnerved by Pusskins’ glare but also saw the funny side of the matter so he decided to take a picture of the late cat to share on a humorous Facebook page called Charity Shop Shit. The page contains many examples of the weird and not-so-wonderful world of charity shop ephemera with a slant towards objects that will raise an eyebrow or a good laugh.

Graham shared the picture with the added line: “Pusskins’ accusatory eyes say, ‘Has it come to this? I was a Lord!’ Highland Hospice Shop, Thurso, Caithness.”

Apart from the painting of Pusskins, the stone showed that the cat had lived a long life, from 1973 to 1996, reaching the grand old age of 23.

“I thought it was brilliant, and other people have got to see it. People found it quite amusing, and it got a lot of interest. Quite a few people on the page wanted to rescue it, and a local lady from Dunnet offered to go in and buy it.”

One of those commenting on the Facebook post said: “Love Pusskins’ death stare!”

Someone else wrote: “Lovely painting of Pusskins doing an angry thunder fart.”

Another said: “That’s really nice! Pusskins however is disgusted he ended up in a charity shop! Look at that face.”

Graham added: “Someone on the page said that the best idea would be to auction it for the charity shop it had been found in. There was a lot of interest in it when it was put up on eBay.”

Liz Ritchie, a writer based in Dunnet, ventured into Highland Hospice and bought the Pusskins memorial stone for £5 after seeing Graham’s post on Facebook. “If it was a pet I loved, I wouldn’t have wanted to see it end up in a charity shop,” she said while admitting Pusskins had a “resting bitch face”.

“I’m a big animal lover, but unfortunately, I’m allergic to cats. I’ve got two dogs, though.”

Liz said that when she put it up for sale on eBay “thousands and thousands of people” viewed it and “loads of bids” came in.

“It reached £83.50, and there was a Buyer Protection fee of £3.27 and postage costs on top. So really it was £94.95 and that’s what is going to Highland Hospice on Thursday this week. The buyer was located in the Highlands.

“It’s incredible that people bid on it and it went for a lot more than I thought it would go for. It’s amazing and I’m really glad we’ve been able to raise money for the Highland Hospice.”

Thurso’s Highland Hospice shop has a wealth of bric-a-brac and other collectables on its shelves. The shop is recognised by many Thurso residents as a great asset within the community, and its staff go over and above on special occasions, such as Christmas and Halloween, getting dressed up in suitable attire.

The shop was also recognised for its great efforts to bring in and entertain customers when it won the UK’s Favourite Charity Shop Awards last year. The prestigious award was handed over by the chief executive of the Charity Retail Association, the organisation behind the competition, at a public event in November 2024.

Susan Imlach, manager of Thurso’s Highland Hospice shop, said: “ I saw Pusskins and I thought someone might like it for their garden. I never expected it to go on to eBay and raise the amount of money it did.

“I’m absolutely delighted and over the moon that Liz is donating the money back. That’s so kind of her. Being a writer, Liz probably knew that there were Pusskins books too.”

There are children’s books by author Sam Lloyd based around a character called Mr Pusskins that were published years after the other Pusskins passed away. Coincidentally, Mr Pusskins appears on the cover with a grumpy face.

Susan said that the person who bought the stone shared a publicly available image on Facebook showing it in his garden along with his two dogs. He said he was happy that the money went to a “worthy charity”.

Graham says he is very pleased that Pusskins, despite having passed away almost 30 years ago, has had a new lease of life and raised so much money for a good cause.

“I never imagined it would attract so much attention. Someone wanting to buy it even wanted to place it on the top of Mount Snowdon.”

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