As much as The Cat enjoyed the warm weather and the sunshine and disliked strong winds, there were other cats who had their own preferences when it came to the weather.

Ana Half-Tail would often roll in for breakfast after what looked like a good night out, his fur sticking up in tufts with the rain, sometimes set into hard spikes by an added layer of mud.

It appeared that the local ladies could not resist a gentleman with a dab of engine oil behind each ear, or maybe tyre-marks or some blue or green paint in his fur – Ana knew how to win their hearts.

And Kiwi had not been visiting for long when she found herself caught out in torrential rain one winter’s day after breakfast. She was sitting on the wall between the drive and the fields in this spot (obviously this photo is on a sunny day, but believe me, the rain was torrential and relentless).

There was no shelter for her and, despite the humans’ best efforts with a dish of the tastiest food to tempt her down (while they got soaked to the bone), Kiwi refused to move. Once the rain had stopped, Kiwi went into the field and sat on a low wall in the sun where she licked the rain from her coat. The humans dripped their way back to the house where they wrung out their clothing. At teatime, Kiwi’s coat was sleek and glossy as though she had spent the afternoon in a grooming salon, while the humans’ clothes took two days to dry on the washing line.

G5 was another cat who did not mind the rain. He also had a liking for wet kibble and would always be the first cat to arrive after shower, heading straight for the softened food.

Some cats seemed to like softened kibble – maybe it was preferable for older cats whose teeth weren’t as good, or younger cats who had taken a liking to unsuitable food (and didn’t they all!)

Both Cheese and Early Lately were less fans of the rain, and more fans of damp or wet ground. They would shelter from the rain, and moment the rain stopped, would emerge and lie out in the saturated garden.

If the cats were sheltering on the verandah, Cheese would be the first one to emerge, heading down the garden to lie in the long grass.

Early Lately would tuck himself between the front of the verandah and the trees where he would lie on the damp old leaves and stones.

Whitefur, Greyfur and Blackfur had differing views on the rain. Greyfur seemed quite impervious; he had made his home in the fields opposite and would walk in the rain through the wet fields to The Cat’s Garden for breakfast, arriving covered in mud.

Although his fur looked wet and muddy, if you parted the top fur with your fingers, you could feel that his base layer was dry, fluffy and really warm. His sister Whitefur would also carry on as normal, ignoring the caked mud on her legs and feet, finally having a wash an hour or two later, after breakfast and a nap.

She had grown up into quite a tomboy – maybe the effect of being the firstborn with two brothers.

Conversely their brother Blackfur hated the rain and would avoid it at all costs, high-stepping and shaking each leg as he walked as though he was deeply offended that the drops of water should be so bold as to land on him and spoil the dapper look he had worked so hard to achieve.

Blackfur was a neat and tidy tuxedo gentleman, always well dressed and presented.

And finally Phantom (a petite feral cat from the fields opposite) would arrive at mealtimes, saturated from walking through the fields after a night’s rain. Like Greyfur, the top layer of her fur formed spiky tufts, protecting the dry layer beneath.

She would shake the water from her legs as she walked, and later dry off in the sun.

Just like humans, there was the right weather and the wrong weather for every cat. But unlike humans, there was no option to put on a raincoat or shelter under an umbrella.