The pet I’ll never forget: Oscar the cat, who opened my eyes to the power of male friendship

He looked like Brendan Gleeson and carried himself like a mob boss. Naturally he was my dad’s favourite child My dad is not a religious man – he goes to the pub when my mum goes to mass – but I’m sure that meeting Oscar was a spiritual experience for him. When they locked eyes across the scrubbed concrete floor of the shelter that Oscar presided over with mob-boss-like remove, an oath of loyalty was sworn. The other cats mewled in vain.I had walked in hoping for a grey ki