by a cat (picture to follow).

She started coming round to my house a couple of months ago; just lazing arounding in my garden. She wasn't too pushy to begin with but got bolder and came into the house more (the back door is always open). I started to try and keep her downstairs - my youngest has always been alergic to almost all animal fur. However, I can't stop him wanting to play with the cat and, to my surprise, he didn't start scratching, sniffing or sneezing... Phew.

Cat (yet to be named) is now allowed the free run of the house. The final part of our relationship was meal-times. She just wouldn't eat anything I put down in front of her.

Mind you, have you ever sniffed cat-food? Foul (and fowl) stuff, to be sure. So it isn't really that surprising that she turned her nose up a the choiciest-chunkiest-rabbit-filled lumps from Wiskas.

The other night she discovered the two gold fish. Oh heaven (for her). She spent 30 minutes scratching at the perspex before giving up. The fish seemed completely non-plussed by the whole episode. Whilst rather unsatisfactory for the cat, she did find some spilt fish-food (the small flakes variety). She licked the table completely clean; both saving me a job and making it clear that the food she wanted was fish based and dry, not rabbit based and wet (IYSWIM).

Last night, *S* woke up to hear the screams of a cat in the garden of one my neighbours. She looked out of the window to see a fox throw a cat several feet into the air. The cat tried to escape but was pulled down the fence by the fox (I didn't even know that foxes could climb fences). Some more screams and then silence. I woke to find find *S* in tears. She couldn't tell if it was 'our' cat, but we don't see many cats around my house and so things looked very bleak. I was at work early today but got a text at 10:11 this morning. Just "Cat's back - having breakfast in the kitchen". What a relief - it wasn't 'my' cat killed last night. 'My' cat will be there when I get home (and it was hard to resist the temptation to go rushing home). It took a while for me to think that someone has lost their cat and perhaps they don't even know it yet. I am sorry for them, but I'm glad that my cat will be there when I get home.

It's funny; before I had a cat (I used to have kittens, when I first left my ex), I couldn't understand how people could get attached to cats because they always seemed so snooty and aloof. But now... now I understand. Cats are incredibly loving; they just reserve that feeling for a small number of humans...

Now - a name?????? She must have a name. I thought about 'lucky' - but she wouldn't understand, and I'm certainly not going to tell her what happened to the other cat last night....



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