Cat story continued

Several of you have commented and wondered over what happened with the cat?

Well, after my dilemma that Wednesday night a week and a half ago about what to do about the cat...I did try letting her out and she mewed pitifully - it was freezing and raining outside so I let her stay in.

I went upstairs to sleep and she ran upstairs too and jumped on the bed and slept the night in the gap between mine and CBC's feet.  Yeh, I know it's a bit forward of her sleeping on our bed but she was so considerate, not like any other cat who shoves you out the way for more room.  She pooed on the front door mat so we had to clear that up. We fed her the next morning and then let her out hoping perhaps, after one warm night, not the usual shivering under the bush, she might have the energy to go home.  Sadly not, the next day she was back in the morning and the next morning.

Saturday morning, she was crying outside the window from early in the morning. CBC went downstairs and opened the door and she ran upstairs and lay alongside my legs as I was still sleeping. She stayed in and followed me down the stairs.  She saw me putting my coat on and somehow knew it was time for her to go out so she jumped down and trotted along to the door considerately.  Sunday, CBC and I finally had a bit of time to make some flyers to put through neighbours doors. I went over to a neighbour's house 2 along and had a nice chat and they said they'd seen her most evenings asleep walking through their garden on their movement cam at 2am or 3am in the morning which suggested she wasn't sleeping anywhere and occasionally kipping in a pile of netting. She stayed in all day and she slept on our bed on Sunday night as it was pouring with rain and we tried putting her out. 

CBC went away on the Monday to Scarborough and when I cycled home in the pouring rain, she was sheltering in the neighbour's porch against the elements.  I felt sorry for her and called her and she ran to me.  She went upstairs and slept on my bed for hours whilst I was doing work.  She slept on my bed and on the Tuesday morning, I let her out and left the food outside for her to eat.

And that was the last I saw of her.  Tuesday night, she didn't come up the house and subsequently, the next morning, for the first time in 2 weeks, she wasn't sleeping under the bush in the garden.   I didn't see her again. I left a tray of food in the garden which wasn't eaten for 2 days. It disappeared after 3 but I suspect the badger.

And it all felt very unresolved.  I am presuming/hoping that whoever she belonged to had perhaps returned home from holidays and she was now happy and home but I'd have preferred a grateful owner to have come round to claim her so we KNEW that she was safe and loved.

I've felt curiously sad and bereft about her loss since that Tuesday morning NOT knowing for sure where she was and who owned her.

Yes, she probably had a home and we were manipulated by a devious character but that devious character gave us some love and joy for a week or so and I am not sorry for taking care of her whilst we could. She is one of the most polite, sweet and well mannered cats I have encountered (and I owned  a lot of cats in the past!) I just hope that she is well and happy and safe.

Funnily enough, this morning, as it is Half term, I was walking to the station at around 11.30 and as I crossed from our street, right up the other end, onto the pedestrian path to the next street, a beautiful little black and white cat came running up to me and mewing. I stroked her and did a double take as she really looked like our little friend 'Poppy' (her nickname). She was super friendly and rubbed against my feet and mewed but she seemed to have a slight patch of lighter brownish fur on top of her back plus the addition of a yellow collar and bell but other than that, I could have sworn that was Pops!! I was in a dreadful hurry for the train and I had to move on but she followed me down the street for a while.  I wondered...

On my way home, I dawdled in vain and make cat noises when I reached that point but in vain.

And that's the conclusion to our cat story....I think....

xx

Wistful reminiscences of furry friends

CBC and I have frequently discussed a longing for a cat! The feline variety in Hydra only served to accentuate that longing! There's nothing quite as lovely as a purry furry affectionately milling around your ankles as you try to achieve some particular task or other as I delightedly show in my guise of Pied Piper of Hamelin in Hydra on the left (or mad cat lady as CBC described it at the time!)

My lovely mother came round this morning to come to cut the grass (I've not yet mastered the art of 'Lawnmower' yet, nor, I suspect, does she trust me in this particular role due to a slight propensity towards clumsiness!). We have a mutual love of the birds in our garden, some of whom love her more than they like me! A particular tame robin loves to be around her whenever she arrives. She took some beautiful photos of him, which I shall post later.

Anyway, as we tried to upload the pictures to my laptop earlier, we went to look at her facebook profile so she could find some other pictures and I came across all these delightful shots of previous pets. I spent the majority of my early life surrounded by pets, particularly cats but also chickens, hamsters, fish, guinea pigs, chinchillas, rabbits, rats, mice (but sadly never a gerbil. I want a gerbil! Gerbils can move house when I need to. CBC says a vehment "No!" to gerbils) so it does sometimes feel strange to be without them (my last cat died just under 2 years ago). However, these are so cute and made me feel so happy (combined with a slight nostalgic and wistful feeling), that I thought I'd share them to share the furry love!

A Solstice sandwich: Solstice in the middle with her adopted babies- Harmony and Mewsici!

Katy pins Minstrel, a darling little gent with feline celebral palsy, to the minging patterned carpet!

Old gent Noddy looks confused as a gremlin-like baby Solstice straddles his back! Pushkin, ever the affectionate maternal-figure, looks on with the indulgence of a proud matriarch

The three bantum hens, Polly (and ahrgh, I cannot remember the names of the other two!!!!!) fight over reading My Weekly magazine!