With the problems in The Cat’s Garden over the summer months, it would have been easy to lose track of the Visiting Cats. Their lives continued pretty much as normal, although some of them were only occasional visitors and it was hard to tell whether they were missing through illness, or just because they were being fed elsewhere.

But most of the old, familiar names were still around. Kiwi was one of our longest-standing Visiting Cats and continued to visit regularly. Since The Cat had passed away, she felt more confident visiting the garden as The Cat had never liked her and would chase her out if she caught sight of her. But mostly she visited the front path for food; there she could spend time with Phantom, although the third member of their little coterie, Gypsy, had sadly been lost during the summer.

Mr Bright with his crooked front leg was still one of the most influential males in the neighbourhood. He couldn’t move as easily as he once had, but still managed to preserve his reputation and strike fear into the hearts of many a wannabe alpha-male.

Thundercat in particular, seeing himself as one of the next generation of alpha-males, would go to great lengths to avoid Mr Bright who must have seen Thundercat as a credible threat to his continued dominance in the area. Marking everything in the front path was an enjoyable pastime for Thundercat, although his efforts were not greatly appreciated by the humans.

Twilight’s last two families (who were all male) had joined forces and were often seen together. They were never friendly towards humans, but visited regularly to eat, returning together to the fields afterwards. It would have been interesting to know how they knew that they were related, as they had obviously not been brought up together. Maybe Syllabub had spent time around his little brother, maybe there was a familiar scent or sound – but something definitely bound them together.

BBC, who was Raven’s father, preferred to come to the garden to eat. He fitted in well with the Garden Family; he was tolerant of kittens and younger cats, and, as he came from another garden across the fields, he was used to human contact. Raven was growing up to be the image of his father and, once again, it would have been fascinating to know how their relationship worked, and how BBC knew that Raven was his son, as he surely did.

And Ghost, who came from the same garden across the fields as did BBC, was still a regular visitor, with eating first, second and third on her list of Things To Do.

It seemed that overall, the adult cats had fared better over the summer months than had the kittens.