For the first couple of years that we were looking after The Cat and feeding the Visiting Cats, the only black-and-white cat we saw was a feral tomcat from the surrounding fields, who we called Corky. Corky was an admirer of The Cat but, unfortunately for Corky, The Cat was not an admirer of him, and his stay was short-lived.

Despite this, a few black-and-white kittens were raised in The Cat’s Garden; some were the offspring of The Cat, some of other mothers.

The first was The Cat’s son (and Ana Half-Tail’s brother), Pea Cat. Once the boys became young adults, they fought for dominance and the winner (Ana) stayed in the garden with The Cat while Pea Cat left to seek his fortune in the next village.

Next there was The Cat’s son, Fred, who was born in the field with sisters Fickle, Fleckle and Drip. He was a fine young tuxedo boy with an adventurous nature and protective of his mother and sisters.

And then came The Cat’s son Blackfur. He was born in the garden with littermates Whitefur and Greyfur. They all grew to adulthood; Whitefur and Greyfur gradually moved themselves to the fields opposite while Blackfur remained in and around The Cat’s Garden. He was averse to crossing the road after being in an accident with a motor vehicle as a youngster; he was fortunate to survive, and learnt his lesson thereafter.

Blackfur was the last of The Cat’s tuxedo offspring although the family line continued through Blackfur’s younger sister Flora who gave birth to a fluffy tuxedo kitten called Black Tulip in the garden. Sadly, only two of the litter survived to adulthood due to a feline virus, but they all had the best lives they could in the circumstances.

And the following season, Checkers was born to Flora in the garden. His father was probably BBC, a fluffy black cat, and Checkers dutifully developed a thick, fluffy coat and a plume of a tail. He was never completely at ease with the humans, as you can tell from his expression.

T was the son of The Cat’s arch-enemy, Visitor Cat. Over the years, The Cat and Visitor’s relationship mellowed somewhat, and T and his identical twin sisters Cheese and Cracker made the garden their base. The Cat was never antagonistic towards Visitor Cat’s offspring, only towards Visitor herself.

And little Oregano was the son of Cheese, T’s sister. Sadly he was a frail kitten and only lived for ten weeks, but he had a happy and exciting life in the garden with his siblings and companions.

Moonstruck was She-ba’s daughter and thus Visitor Cat’s grand-daughter. It was necessary to socialise her at quite a young age as she had a nasty flea infestation which required treatment, which was much easier to carry out with a friendly cat. In the end, it only took two days to win Moonstruck round as she had such a lovely disposition.

And finally, Bubble, who was born to Mini, She-ba’s daughter (making Bubble Visitor’s great-grand-kitten). Mini was never friendly, and neither were her kittens. Sadly Bubble and the rest of the litter fell victim to the awful virus which swept through the garden one summer, taking seventeen cats and kittens in ten days and devastating the feline population.

There were more black-and-white cats roaming the fields, but these are the Garden Family members, and with alpha-males like NVQ around, it seemed certain that tuxedo cats would continue to be seen in the neighbourhood.