In the words of Oscar Wilde, ‘a lady never reveals her age or weight’. And it wasn’t just The Cat’s age and weight that were a mystery to her human carers. We had no idea where she had come from or whether Pea Cat and Ana had been her first offspring, although rumour had it that she had been brought from another village to live in the garden as a feline ‘rodent control operative’, but recollections of this were hazy.

There were times during her ten years as matriarch of the garden when the passage of time seemed to be catching up with her especially as regarded her hearing, but maybe what we thought was old-age deafness was just The Cat doing a very good job of ignoring us.

A genetic ailment which bothered her was FOPS (Feline Orofacial Pain Syndrome). It only became evident later in her life, but once the humans had worked out why she was in such great distress, clawing at her mouth and spitting blood in the middle of her meals, we (and she) were able to help her deal with it and calm her down.

The Cat also suffered from mange which was fortunately not a life-threatening condition, but all the same very unpleasant, especially for an older lady. Thankfully we had excellent veterinary back-up and, after a few weeks of treatment, her skin started to improve and her fur grew back.

So, all things taken into account, The Cat was fit and healthy. She was obviously an ‘older’ cat, but when you consider that the average lifespan of a feral cat can be a little as two years, she was doing remarkably well.