Sometimes littermates remained closely bonded throughout their lives. Sometimes their characters dictated that they went their separate ways, passing here and there, just as they would any other unrelated cats.

Sisters were more likely to remain closely bonded than were brothers, just because feral females tend to remain close to their food source (with the raising of future kittens in mind) whereas males will roam further afield.

But not all female kittens had sisters, and not all female littermates remained close. So it was relatively rare for sisters from the same litter to choose to spend time together as they grew up into adulthood.

Picked from thousands of photos, here are six examples of Garden Family females who remained close to their birth sisters.

Photo The First
The Cat’s daughters, Fleckle and Drip. They were born in the fields and came to the garden for weaning. In this photo, Fleckle and Drip were exploring the vine which would lead them onto the garden wall from where they could look out over the surrounding fields.

Photo The Second
The Cat’s daughters Sprockets and Ratchet. Like Fleckle and Drip, they were born in the fields and came to the garden for weaning. Ratchet (pictured right) sadly only lived for a few months, but Sprocket raised her own family the following year, joining with The Cat in a joint colony to bring their kittens up together.

Photo The Third
Visitor Cat’s daughters Fennel and She-ba. They came to the garden for weaning but left with their mother after a few weeks, dividing their time between the fields, the drive and the garden. Sadly, Visitor fell foul of a pack of dogs in the fields, but her daughters were weaned and did well, coming to The Cat’s Garden to eat. She-ba (pictured right) subsequently raised several litters of kittens, and so Visitor Cat’s line continued.

Photo The Fourth
She-ba’s daughters Lychee and Mini. She-ba brought Lychee to the garden as she was seriously unwell. A few weeks later, Mini joined her and they were able to spend time together. Lychee remained frail for her entire life and never grew as big or strong as Mini, but she was able to enjoy the time she had, and help with other cats’ kittens in the garden. Mini raised her own litter with the help of her younger sister, Sundown, and so the family line continued further.

Photo The Fifth
She-ba’s daughters Moonstruck and Sundown. Moonstruck (pictured left) was friendly and lived mostly in the garden, but Sundown was wary of humans and also spent time in the fields. They spent a lot of time together in The Cat’s garden before Sundown teamed up with her older sister Mini to help bringing up her family.

Photo The Sixth
Flora’s daughters Satsuma (pictured left) and Swift were independent young ladies but spent some time together in the garden after their meals. All The Cat’s daughters and grand-daughters were self-sufficient young ladies, but that didn’t mean that they completely eschewed spending time with their siblings.

Although some sisters had a strong bond, none of them were dependent upon it and they were all independent individuals and perfectly able to live their own lives without any family support. So bonded sisters must have found some emotional support from these relationships which were forged from choice rather than necessity.