Feline update

Regular readers will remember the arrival of our two new friends back in September. Well, they’re both considerably bigger, and have learned various useful skills such as walking along the apex of the roof (Merry), finding lumps of moss (Pippin) and hunting earthworms (both).

Let’s go back to the end of 2008. As they were nearing 6 months, we planned to have them neutered as soon as possible after Christmas. There was one slight hitch. Coming in from the garden on Christmas Day, Merry seemed unusually talkative and was waving her furry booty in the air. Oh, and look, that cuddly ginger tom is sitting outside the back door, with his whiskers slicked back and his best tail on. We kept her inside after that, but it was too late!

Having talked Merry out of going to Social Services and getting a flat of her own (teenage mothers, eh?) we settled down for the nine-week wait, and it all ended as stealthily as it had begun. She quietly disappeared into her nest (in one of the drawers under the bed) and spent an hour or two producing four tiny things, two stripy, one black and one grey…