New house: new additions

We hadn’t planned to get cats. The priority was a dog, chickens and the ducks which came with the house.

But then I saw a rat by the pond. Or maybe is was a water vole. But I wasn’t going to take any chances. Oh no.

My husband likes animals as long as they don’t come near him, so a few weeks ago I suggested we went for a little drive to get to know our new area. Cunningly we went near the cat shelter. Let’s just drop in, have a look around, I suggested.

We did and oh dear. I just wanted to cry. It was so emotional there, seeing them, waiting for a new owner, to be taken to their new homes. It smelt very strongly of cats and we, including my husband, just wanted to rescue them all. But we didn’t. We rescued two of them.

Two black cats we’ve renamed Bellatrix and Narcissa. (The photo shows them looking at the ducks.)

In the last few weeks we’ve seen two nervous cats (one more so than the other, Bellatrix bullies Narcissa, naturally), just one year old, transform into more confident (but still jumpy), loving cats. They purr, they like to be with us, they play as kittens, jumping in the air on all four paws. And they’ve now been outside and met the ducks. (The ducks rightly put them in their place).

It’s been beautiful to see them blossom.

There are so many unwanted cats at this time of year. Apparently people don’t tend to rescue the black or black and white ones. I don’t understand that. Bellatrix and Narcissa have come from the shelter spayed (Bellatrix has been pregnant twice!), de-fleaed, wormed, and micro-chipped. If you are looking for a cat, try the shelters first. We went to Wood Green. There are some stunning, loving cats in there.