Feral Pets

Kerry, Holly and Marty

Kerry, the large male cat on the left arrived in the garden early last summer (2008) as a very tiny frightened kitten.  He had obviously become separated from his family.  I will save his full story for a future post, but suffice it to say he is repaying the kindness he received from other animals by caring for these kittens especially Marty.  Of course, I sometimes fantasise that Marty might be his kitten, but if I am honest I have to admit Marty resembles the ugly black and white Tom who lives on the railway.

Interestingly, none of my female cats showed any inclination to mother the kittens, in fact they have all been spiteful, and in this I am very disappointed in them.

Sadly the video my husband took of this scene which shows Kerry washing Marty, is too big to upload.  Bobby another cat who arrived as a lost soul last summer is also being playful with them.  Tabby Tom, on the other hand, hates them as he hated Kerry.

 This admittedly poor picture (I had to stand at quite a distance), shows Kerry at a similar age being tended by the cat I always assumed to be his father.  This cat we called Others, Tabby Tom’s arch enemy.  He was a real fighting alley cat, a sort of chav among cats.  Here you see his softer side, when Kerry approached him crying he gave him a few licks.

A few months ago, Others appeared on a chair on my terrace, with a forehead that was very hot to the touch and a strange lack of interest in his meals.  He let me stroke his chin and hand feed him which was an unusual concession.  As a rule he hated soppiness.  If I wanted to get rid of him when he was ripping Tabby Tom to shreds, he was impervious to slippers or liquids but a bit of sweet talk would send him scuttling as fast as his paws could carry him.  Anyway, I digress, Others remained on the chair two days, on the third day he got up, ate something, jumped on Kerry and gave him a quick dominant humping.  He left and we never saw him again.  I guess he went away to die and I like to think that he let me stroke his chin to make his peace before he left this life.  RIP Others.