While The Cat was busy with youngsters Flora and Furrileesa, her older offspring were out and about exploring. The Furries all seemed drawn to the fields on the other side of the road where they spent much of their time.

One evening as Blackfur and Tiger came running back across the fields for their tea, Blackfur jumped off the field wall opposite without stopping to check for traffic … just as a car was driving past. There was a horrible bang as he hit the car, and a few moments later, we saw Blackfur run for his life away from the road and down into the fields. He ran like the wind, putting as much distance between himself and danger as possible.

For two days we combed the fields calling him and Tiger sat sadly behind the gate in the drive, waiting for his friend to return. And then, on the third day, Blackfur returned to the garden at dawn. He had just about made it over the wall and fallen asleep under a tree.

(N.B. The following photos are from his recovery period and are not the early gruesome ones, but you can imagine the initial mess of red muscle covered by folds of rolled back torn skin, fur, limestone and straw.)

He was hungry and very sore. Luckily it seemed that he had not gone down under the wheels of the car, but he had been dragged along, trapped between the car door and the dry stone walls. He had no fur or skin on his ribs, shoulder and hip, and his ribs were clearly visible through what remained of his abdominal muscles. But at least he was alive and he had made it back to safety to start his recovery.

He knew The Cat’s Garden was a safe place to be and, as he had done previously when he had his abscess as a kitten, he set his mind to recovering slowly and gradually.