A pattern seemed to be developing for Visitor Cat. Since she lost Wee Tortie and The Cat allowed her to bring Tiger into the garden for safety, the same had happened with Cheese, Cracker and T after the loss of Biscuit.

One day, we noticed that Visitor had a new family in the adjacent field. There were three kittens, probably two girls (judging by their colouring) and a boy. As we had only had a fleeing glimpse of them, we named them He-Boy, She-Girl 1 and She-Girl 2.

And then, in a cruel twist of fate, history repeated itself when He-Boy was lost overnight on the road.

Within 24 hours, Visitor had once again negotiated with The Cat, and we found her and her two girls tucked under a water tank in the garden. The kittens were completely feral and very scared, their lives having been turned upside down in the space of a couple of days.

In memory of He-Boy, we named the kitten who most resembled him ‘She-ba’ – a loose combination of her original name She-Girl with his name He-Boy. Her sister we named Fennel, as they used to play tag around the wild fennel plants, growing in the fields.

Just as Longtail had moved in to protect Visitor when Tiger was a kitten, their big brother T became their guardian until they settled into life in The Cat’s Garden.