After Mack got run over in July and Josie (the stray cat who just turned up and stayed for several months) disappeared we decided to approach Cats Protection and offer to rehome an outdoor, working cat. We passed the “home visit”and were offered a feral cat who had been trapped at a factory along with her kittens. We were told that in time she would get used to us and that she needed space and hunting grounds. Perfect…..we thought. We made the onion barn ready to house her while she got used to her surroundings.

I was so excited when the “foster parents” arrived with the Tabby and was only a bit wary when she hissed at them as they brought her out of their van in a metal cat carrier! We wandered over to the barn which was pronounced “perfect”. They let her out of the cage and she sat in one of the boxes that we had put there for her to hide inside. The idea was to keep her in the barn for two or three weeks and feed her twice a day until she was less frightened. The foster mother suggested we put a piece of wood inside the door to stop her running out. We did this whilst they were filling out the paperwork. As they were leaving they told us about another feral cat that they had rehoused who had attacked her new owner and then attacked her owner’s mother. They had to remove that cat. Jeremy gave me a quizzical look as if to say “why are we taking on a FERAL cat?”. Her then told the foster parents that he thought putting butter on a cat’s paws helps them to stay put when they are first let out. “Good luck with that”, they said, “she’ll have your finger off if you try to do that”. Another look at me from Jeremy. The couple left and I went over to the onion barn to check on the cat and give her a dish of water. As I opened the door slowly something shot out at 100mph. She had bolted within half an hour of arriving. I rang the couple as they were driving home and they tried to tell me that “She’ll come back for her tea”, yeah, right! I left the barn door open and some food out. It was still there in the morning and no sign of the cat. After several days I removed the food, the cat tray and the box and closed up the onion barn. By now Mabel had begun to spend more time in the house by the fire and only went out a couple of times a day to do some mouse hunting, although she was still out out at night. I decided that we must get a cat in the new year to keep Mabs company but I would have to buy a cat instead of going through the charity again.

Last week I had a call from a friend in the village. A small, black cat had turned up in their yard and hung around all day. Just as Josie did with us when she turned up small, thin and starving for attention and food. My friend knew that I was looking for a cat. I said I would come over with some food and we would put up notices on social media to see if anyone had lost a cat. Before I was ready to leave the house blackie had disappeared again so I didn’t make the trip. However later that evening Heather phoned to say she had reappeared and husband and she had put kitty it in a box and driven it to a vet in town. The vet told them it was a small, adult MALE cat, starving hungry and that they would keep it for 7 days and place notices online to see if anyone claimed him. He wasn’t microchipped. If after seven days no one came forward then we could probably have the cat. I waited six days and then my friend phoned the vet who said that blackie remained ownerless. I called the receptionist and she asked me to ring back the next day. By then they had contacted Cats Protection who confirmed that we would be suitable “parents”in spite of the incident with the feral tabby. Hooray. We asked to have blackie neutered and we agreed to collect him after the weekend.

We will have to keep him in for a couple of weeks but this time he will be in a cat cage inside The Gables. I am excited but also slightly concerned as to Mabel’s reaction. The staff at the vets have called kitty, Nigel. So Nige it is!