Own a cat

My girlfriend has declared herself a cat hater. She is fond of the phrase “never say never” – not however when it applies to the ownership of cats. harumph

..the animal shelters will be readying themselves for the yuletide deluge of unwanted christmas pets. I’m considering rescuing a kitten in the new year. Some friends of mine have 3 rescue pets; Hank – a cat and undisputed boss of the household; Sweetie – a biggish, round shaped dog who has no shame in the leg shagging department; and Harry – a smaller, wiry type of hound who is so laid back you would think he has been taking cat lessons from Hank.
I’d love to do it but i need to have a serious think about whether i’ll be around enough to take care of it.

i am really sad about this. I took the cat to the vet this morning. Turned out it was a girl cat. She was very dehydrated and her eyes were really badly infected. I waited by the phone for word all day. Ridiculous. Eventually they rang and word was that she would need a drip and two weeks of syringe feeding and 3-times-daily eye washing.
I would have done it too, but I’m going to New York on tuesday for 10 days and my house mates dont want to take it on. Cant say I blame them but i had to let the vet put her to sleep. The picture is how i found her this morning having wandered out of her towels and just hunkered down by the clothes-horse, unable to get back to her bed cos she cant see.
If you can hear a small snap, thats my heart breaking just a little bit.

The feral cat that has its kittens in our back yard each summer went and got herself “in the family way” this autumn. She appeared about a month ago with two tiny kittens, one jet black and the other white with black splodges. We see them most days whipping about in the yard being little kitten bundles. But its too cold for tiny kittens and today when i was out putting the bins out I heard a pitiful little kitten ‘meiow’. The little black fella was bouncing around as normal but the white one was cowering under a bush looking very sorry for himself.
I never interfere with these cats so i went back inside and forgot all about it, but later on i was outside again and there was the little white fella looking in even worse shape than he was before. i heated up some milk as he looked freezing but when i tried to give it to him he ignored it completely. Even when I put it under his nose. Worse still, my presence didnt seem to register at all; very wierd for a wild cat.
Long story cut short – the cat is tucked up in an old shopping bag, wrapped in towels on our kitchen floor with untouched milk and mackerel beside it. We have put a hot water bottle underneath the bag too, but i will be surprised if the poor little thing is alive in the morning. On top of all this its eyes are sealed shut with a hard crusty substance.
Should i take it to the vet? I guess i should. I’ll see what the morning brings. Tough break for such a tiny little thing.

..one of those afternoon radio chat programmes where these women were discussing how they get turned off a guy if he likes cats as it suggests a loner character. Is this why i am still single?

My new desire to have a chicken in my yard is not terribly compatible with my desire to have a cat. The thing is i would love to create an entire sunday dinner without having to go to a shop. This would involve a chicken; a couple of potato plants; brussel sprouts; peas; onions; and baking my own bread (for the stuffing). So far i have the sprouts.
The chicken is undoubtedly the hardest element. They smell pretty bad and cats like to eat them. But the biggest problem of all would be that the chicken would probably make friends with me and i wouldnt have the heart to kill it. I would probably end up calling it alice and giving it its own room.

Ive seen her around – passing through – but shes obviously decided to rear her kittens somewhere else. I feel quite sad about that. Though the upside is no cat shit in my garden.

Since that evening when i saw her on the neighbours wall our annual pregnant kitty hasn’t appeared.I wonder if i frightened her off. Or maybe all the garden work made her go somewhere else. It’ll be kind of a shame if she doesnt show this year.

I was out in the yard this evening admiring my days work clearing the weeds from the little patch of earth she calls home, when I saw her making her way along the neighbours wall. She was heavily pregnant so i expect we may have kittens tomorrow morning. She didnt look too pleased to see me, being in HER garden and all that.
I’m planning to make a vegetable patch there this summer so i’m not sure how all thats going to work out. There may be trouble ahead, as the song goes!

While i do not have a cat, there is a feral cat who lives in my back yard. Every year for the past seven or eight years she comes back to our yard in spring to give birth and raise her kittens. I was out the back, cleaning a blocked drain this morning which reminded me of her. We have a deal; we leave her alone and she leaves us alone. In return she comes back every year and we get to watch her kittens grow up. She should be back soon. Looking forward to it.