Ever since I was a little girl I have wanted a cat. I used to pester my mother something rotten, but to no avail, she didn’t like cats (even though Dad was crazy about them) and so no cat. As I got older I realised the responsibility that comes with ownership of animals. When I owned chickens in the UK, every time we wanted to stay away just for one night, we had to make arrangements for them to be looked after and holidays were a big problem. Recently, I have developed allergic reactions to cats, so I thought I would just have to give up on the idea. But I would still like to have an outdoor cat to keep the mole population on the campsite at bay, but where do you find such an animal?
Last year at the beginning of May, I heard some meowing in the lock-up we keep our bikes in.
As always with Cees being rather deaf, he said I was imagining things, but I was certain I heard something and so I kept looking. It was however another week or so before I saw a beautiful little kitten walking around on top of the lock-up. For several days I watched and I was convinced that there were more than one, but how many I didn’t know. The area is totally inaccessible for us, so we could just climb up and see what was going on. Gradually we realised that we had three kittens, being fed by their mother who went off every day returning to feed them. We went out and bought cat food and put that down for the mother, which she gobbled up every morning. However, we couldn’t get near any of the cats and so they grew up shy of people.
I was thrilled to bits, at last a cat (or four to be precise!), no responsibility regarding days away or holidays (we bought an automatic feeder for those occasions) and none in the house to upset my asthma as they were real outdoor cats. Sadly though Mummy cat left for good one day in July and took the kittens with her trotting behind in a little row (see the photo). Funnily enough after two weeks the kittens came back, three stayed until mid-August when one disappeared, another disappeared at the end of September and the third one last ate from the food on Christmas Eve. Since then no cats. They must have found somewhere warmer to live or somewhere where they got better food.
The other evening, we heard meowing again, just as some campers returned from a walk. They had been followed by a little cat. The cat is very friendly and immediately made herself at home in the shower block of the campsite. Where she comes from we don’t know, but she has adopted us. Since then we have been feeding her and playing with her, I hope she stays, I’ve missed having cats around.
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