Thursday 27 October 2011

......and nobody is getting fat except MY TWO CATS (do doo....do doo.....do dooo)











But hang on there. Could there now be a THIRD? Oh NOOOOO!!!! (I jolly well hope not. But read on!)

In these days of financial stringency when we're all having to count our pennies - unless you happen to be a member of the jury in a TV 'talent' show, a member of the British Cabinet (21 millionaires out of 29 at the last count - or maybe it's down to a mere 20 since the recent ignominious departure of the Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox?) or a banker slavering after his/her forthcoming bonus. But if you're not one of these then too bad! But there is another group which ought to be mentioned as inured against the financial constraints the rest of us have to suffer, viz. domestic pets, and in particular, my own 'Dynamic Duo', Blackso and Noodles, above.
   We've known for some time that even Her Gracious Majesty, the Queen, regularly glides around Buckingham Palace at night like a phantom, switching off the lights in needlessly illuminated rooms. I have no doubt that when she is succeeded by the lovely Camilla (bless her jodhpur-clad royal thighs!) that this practice will continue unabated.
   Meantime my pussies expect, nay, demand, to be fed at any and every hour as though money grew on trees.
 And now, not only my regular two, but bang on cue, after the prolonged absence (and, surely, sad demise, of one of my several regular window visitors), comes yet another one - and this one owns the biggest appetite of all! :-
  I've no idea where it came from. I suspect with the timing, that it may actually be a replacement for the dear recently-disappeared pussy. I haven't established its sex yet but, with staggering imagination, I've been calling it 'Ginger', which it now responds to. And boy, can it eat!
     It wears no collar but I'm hoping like anything that it does have its own home. It comes in at least twice a day, sometimes more frequently, - every time with an appetite as great as it itself is small. A really forward, cheeky little thing (much smaller and, I'm sure, much younger, than my own two) and with such a loud voice. Blackso has a soft, croaky miaow, Noodles a high-pitched but 'polite' one. Ginger just bellows its little lungs off - and if the kitchen window is shut and it sees me in the room it'll cry out there for attention like it's a life-or-death emergency. Seeing as though I get up at around 5 a.m. when it's still dark, and I can't avoid going into the kitchen, this is not a neighbourhood-friendly cat. So in it comes - and it just will not shut up until I attend to it, never mind the other two who are sitting silently, patiently, looking on curiously The other day I had to open no less than FOUR food sachets because what I'd offered was not good enough for it. And did it eat after the fourth serving? Did it hell! A flick of the tail and it was gone!.
     If I knew that it didn't have a home I wouldn't be able to resist taking it in. Trouble is, I'm not supposed to have any pets at all. My landlord has been aware for some years that I'd got Blackso (who'd left his own house down the road, preferring to move in with me) and said he'd turn a blind eye to that one. Then a couple of years ago when he was in here he noticed Noodles. His reaction led me to believe that he's also a cat-lover, though he didn't say anything to me directly about him. (Noodles, like Blackso, had decided to leave his own home - a different one, on this same road - and also to move in.) But now for me to take in a third? That really would be stretching things. With the cold weather coming I do hope Ginger will be less frequent in presence. But if it's going to be perched on my window sill in frost and snow, crying, I know there's no way I could to refuse to let it in.

      So, while we are all having to tighten our belts (me literally, as through eating less in order to save money, I soon expect to have the flattest tummy in Sussex - West AND East!) my pussies just carry on as before, letting the world's economic problems just drift by them - and even smiling at it. What a life!

8 comments:

  1. Hello Ray:
    Oh, we have fallen instantly in love with Ginger. He/She reminds us of a dear departed pussy [imaginatively called Cat] who owned us for 19 years.

    Cats really do have agendas of their own which come rain, sun, boom or recession they follow with scant regard for anyone or anything else. So very, very different from dogs, we think.

    But, dear Ray, we are concerned that you may incur the wrath of your landlord and should not wish you to fall foul of him. So, perhaps you must be cruel to be kind, harden your heart and not give in to Ginger's every wish or cry. If only we lived closer....!!!

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  2. I'm with Jane and Lance - if you're comfortable that Ginger has a home, don't go feeding him/her yourself.

    In our last house, my housemate and I had a regular visitor whom we entertained but refused to feed. Once he got his own puddykins we were at pains to chase any others that wanted to take advantage of their food.

    I think it's a "cruel to be kind" thing - by feeding him/her you'll not be doing them,you or the owners any favours!

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  3. I miss having my cats
    "Fat cat, fat cat" I would chant as I cuddled them.
    I miss my fat cats.

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  4. J & L - Thanks for your visit which is always appreciated (and coming from so far away too!).
    My landlord's attitude is always in my mind, otherwise I'd have had a dozen cats here by now. I think that even if they do have their own home, these cats still prefer my place because they know I'm a 'soft touch', giving them anything they want, letting them be comfortable here, and I'll give them the space to roam about or to sleep without being disturbed. When cats have a home where there are children who treat them as toys, as though their presence was just to please the kids when wanted (I too did the same when I was young), then it's no wonder they will prefer to go somewhere where they can live 'normally' as close to what is in their nature as possible. Very important to let cats sleep out the 2/3 of their lives that they need to.
    Meanwhile, if I knew that Ginger didn't have a home (though I'm 90% sure that it does) I wish I could parcel it up comfortably and send it safely to Hungary (don't take that literally!) where I know it would get sympathetic owners.
    If anything significant happens in the 'Ginger Saga' I'll put it in a future blog. But thanks again for popping by.

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  5. Yes, Andrew. I know in my heart that you are right - and that there's no way I could seriously contemplate taking a third cat in.
    The intricacies of keeping Ginger out are, however, not easy to arrange as I not only always leave the kitchen window open for my present two to come and go as they please, but also leave food out for them (changed regularly). Chasing him away IS an option but, having tried that and closing the window behind him, he'll just sit on the sill wailing his little heart out - the neighbours no doubt thinking that I'm so callous and cruel that I don't deserve to own any pets at all! I know that in time he ought to learn, but at the moment it would cause me more grief than it does him.
    Watch this space!

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  6. Dr Spo, I can see you as a reliable and sensitive cat-owner. I suppose 'someone' is preventing you from getting any more? Such a shame - and a loss for those little 'uns who could have had you as their 'Daddy'.

    My present two, though I give them all they want, have never really run to fat. Blackso, actually, has always been slim - and no, there's nothing wrong with him, so the vet says.
    But I'm thinking of changing Ginger's name to Tubby. S/he is already starting to balloon. I just don't know how it manages take it all. If any food is left in a tray by the other two I can guarantee that before long it'll be licked clean, rather like having a dog.
    So I can well imagine you with the little fat fur-ball Ginger on your lap as you tickled it under the chin, chanting "Fat cat, Fat cat" - or, indeed, "Chubby Tubby, Chubby Tubby."

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  7. Knowing that the Queen runs around the palace at night turning off lights made my respect for the British Monarch shoot way up. I think her doing that is really cool.

    I wish I could help you with your pussy problems.

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  8. Cubby, I think the most fervent anti-monarchist in this country would have to concede that Liz, despite her foibles, has done more than any other member of her distinctly odd family to help maintain an affectionate regard for the institute in the minds of most Brits. When she goes I very much doubt if the eccentric Charles (with the lovely Camilla) will be able to keep that up.

    Re: the pussies - As I write, the 'problem' has got less disproportionate. Ginger still comes in daily but I think it returns to its own home the rest of the time. My main concern is that when the cold weather sets in it doesn't want to move in here completely.

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