Thursday 1 November 2012

A tale of two kitties


Today we had the best surprise EVER at the office. Two and half years ago, a mother cat gave birth to five tabby kittens under the Bishop's house. She left two behind. The four ladies of our organisation (all cat worshippers to a woman - we had 8 between us at the time), took care of them, feeding them and giving them lots of water. We had tried to catch them in humane cat traps, in order to get them neutered, but the wily critters escaped every time.
One of the kittens vanished when he was almost fully grown, and we were left with the glorious cat in the picture above. I took this photo a week before I went on annual leave at the beginning of May. When I came back, my colleagues broke the news that the cat had disappeared..... until today! We had left his box on the balcony in the hope he would return, and he did.
I suspect he had gone looking for an amorous encounter and had to walk a very long way. We are in the city centre, and there aren't so many residences close by. There are apartment buildings, but even if there were cats in residence, the chances are they would have been "fixed". No howling females at dusk within a 10 mile radius!
So, here is our boy, in the very top photo, snuggled on a woollen jumper inside the Wellington weather-proof box we bought him. The wanderer has returned. He had three plates of food and water, then dropped off to sleep.
No doubt he will be shouting for breakfast at 8 am when I arrive tomorrow, and we will be back to having conversations with him at lunchtime through the kitchen window.

2 comments:

Kat Mortensen said...

What a handsome lad! I'm sure he's grateful for your hospitality. Nice work, ladies!

Ms Sparrow said...

I could tell from his full ruff that he's an intact male. You must have been so happy to see him again. For living an outdoor life, he seems to be quite healthy, no doubt due to the kindness of people like you!