Isla
Posted By Judith on 1st June 2020
Growing up Janice and I had various pets, most notably Napolean the hamster, Chester the rabbit and Simba the cat. As adults, we have gone down different animal roads with Janice having dogs, Sam and Luke, (golden lab and sheepdog) who are sadly no longer with us and currently beautiful black lab brothers, Aran and Skye.
Meanwhile, I had cats, my current 3, Poppy, Grayson and Suki are numbers 10,11 and 12, that’s not counting the many strays who have passed my way, but not stayed.
And so I was very interested to hear that Janice had recently encountered a stray cat in the fields around their cottage. White and black, very small, very timid and very pregnant!
As the weeks went by this little girl, who was not much more than a kitten herself, gave birth, but the kittens were nowhere to be seen, in fact, we feared for their well being, as they could have been stillborn, succumbed to the weather, been taken by preditors or maybe ‘mum’ was too inexperience to look after them properly.
When it became apparent that she was going to stick around, they named her Isla as she began to visit their garden on a more regular basis, but scavenging around the bird feeder wasn’t going to help her long term,
and so Mr Tesco was asked to deliver some cat food. The first step on the slippery slope of becoming a mad cat lady. I speak from experience!
It turned out she was not feral after all, liking nothing better than a fuss and a cuddle or a knee to sit on,
more likely she had been abandoned due to the unwanted pregnancy.
Isla has been getting regular meals now and has become less timid,
and the other good news is that 3 kittens were spotted in the farmyard across the road and appear to be in good health.
Then a few days ago they appeared in Janice’s garden. Spot the third kitten if you can!
Isla has obviously decided it’s a safe place to raise her family.
What a wonderful thing.
