Our cat, Mario died on firework night 5th November 2023. He had a heart condition which was being managed well with medication, we were only saying that day how well he was looking and coping.

He always used to hide behind the sofa when he heard fireworks, and he did this on that evening, it was quite horrendous there were so many people nearby setting off fireworks in their gardens it was like being in a war zone.

He spent the evening in hiding and when the fireworks stopped he came out but didn’t want to eat, which was unusual. We thought he had coped well and we went to bed. I woke up the next morning and he was lying on the rug in my bedroom, I thought he was asleep and went closer to check on him and then realised he was dead.

If November 5th was bad, New Year’s Eve was 10 times worse! Our next door neighbours had fireworks in their garden, the other side 3 doors down and around a dozen more nearby neighbours all had fireworks in their gardens. If Mario had not died when he did, New Years Eve would have definitely finished him off.