Articles

Day 3

Word on the street, which filtered through the open bedroom window, is that the cat catering at Tom Cat Towers has improved immensely these past couple of days. Several of the feline ‘garden guests’ who make their way through our bushes and shrubs, have stopped to sniff the wonderful fragrance of my new kibbles as they waft out through the open window.

Sydney, an old ex-mousing officer, was sitting on my garden wall his whiskers and jaws chuffling as he sucked in the scent of the kibbles, his magnificent striped ginger fur sparkling in the morning sunshine.

Sydney. He lives over the road but he’s always in our garden making a nest, chewing on the catnip bushes, or eating the scraps of cat food which are put out by the gate.

Then Cuticles, a beige young tom with white paws was playing ‘ghost mice’, as he chased leaves across the stones, when he stopped in his tracks to catch the wonderful smell of kibbles on the breeze.

Finally Mikey-Mike, a credit crunch cat who we believe has been abandoned by his humans, popped into the garden and made a nest in the catnip bush for a snooze under the fragrant cloud of kibbles and catnip.

I was a bit put out by this and called security in the form of Willi Whizkas. That catnip bush came from Althorp House, and is too upmarket for low lifes like Sydney or Mikey-Mike to indulge in. It is there for Maid to pick sprigs with tender delicious flowers to be laid on my buffet bar with my cat-kibbles at mealtimes. Not for rufty-tufty common tom cats to spray on.

Wills was immediately despatched from the house to send him off, defend the territory and all that.  So I was most put out when I glanced out of the window a bit later to see both Wills and Sydney asleep in the sunshine together under the catnip bush with their tails entwined.

If Wills thinks he is getting his paws on my new kibbles, after this disgraceful act, then he is very wrong. Just to make sure, I wolfed every one of them down before he came into the bedroom.

Maid’s version!

Beautiful day! Although a  little chilly, I opened the bedroom window to let Madam have a bit of fresh air. There’s a catnip bush under the window which I bought back from garden of Althorp House (with permission of course!) When it’s in bloom I place some of the beautiful vivid blue flowers on the little table on the bed for  Little Dumpty Roo to chew on, there were a couple of sprigs still left which I picked and took in for Madam to play with when she had her kibbles.

Mikey-Mike was hanging round. We think he’s a stray. He comes at regular times and I feed him any scraps we have. Sometimes I buy big bags of kibbles for him as I feel sorry for him. He has his own bowl by the front gate and he announces himself with a loud yowl. He loves attention and being stroked, but he’s a bit odd. He will meow, growl, cuss and purr all at the same time, he’s desperate to be loved!

The Very Best Toy for Cats

"Of all the [cat] toys available, none is better designed than the owner himself. A large multipurpose plaything, its parts can be made to move in almost any direction. It comes completely assembled, and it makes a noise when you jump on it."

Stephen Baker