With the focus on ailing kittens and the trials and tribulations of The Garden Family, it would have been easy to lose track of the Visiting Cats. Many continued to visit regularly, not wishing for any human contact, merely availing themselves of a good feed as they made their rounds and patrolled the fields.

Kiwi had been visiting regularly for some time – in fact since Dinky brought her across the fields as an unsteady, wobbly and malnourished lady. CH cats were not something we had any experience of until then, and we learnt a lot from Kiwi.

This is one of the earliest photos we have of Kiwi, in the fields with Longtail. There was definitely some bond between them, but we would never know what their relationship was. Often they would come to eat together; maybe they were siblings, or maybe Longtail was Kiwi’s son; we had no idea how old Kiwi was, other than knowing that she was fully grown and mature when she arrived.

Kiwi was very nervous and not accustomed to being around humans, But as she settled down and started to come regularly to eat and drink, her intention tremor diminished, although it was always there. She filled out and her coat improved. We gave her her full name based on the area of the fields which she made her own.

Due to her condition, her jumping was erratic and she could not control her landing when jumping down which meant that, with years of bumping her chin on the ground on landing, she broke her fangs and some of her teeth. Especially in later years, there was often a hint of pink tongue.

Kiwi raised two kittens during the time we knew her – siblings Ariel and Stardust. They were both completely grey in colour; sadly Ariel was always frail and only lived a few months, but Stardust grew up into a handsome young man. From a young age, he was protective of his mother and proud to be at her side.

From day one, Kiwi was one of the most proud and determined ladies we had the pleasure to care for and it was a pleasure to watch her flourish. One of her favourite places to sit was in the plant pots in the front path and this was a family trait which she passed on to Ariel and Stardust.

But her one real luxury in life was the indoor door mat. She would sit on the front door step and barge into the house, stopping a few inches from the door.

She didn’t go any further than the mat, but just rolled around and wriggled on it to her heart’s content. Once she was indoors and squirming in ecstasy, she was impossible to move – she turned to lead the minute she touched that mat.

In later years, Kiwi became close friends with Visiting Cats Gypsy and Phantom. It was an odd friendship – Gypsy had arrived out of the blue and was used to people and keen to be everyone’s friend, but Phantom was a petite, shy feral girl who had chosen to make her home on the far side of the fields opposite. She was not looking for friends and she was fiercely independent and feisty, but the three ladies developed a strong bond, spending time together in the front path, eating and napping together, before heading off into the fields in their various directions.

It was lovely to see this unlikely trio getting such pleasure from each other’s company; they all deserved to be happy and content, and this companionship was the icing on the cake for them all.