And today, another six cats and kittens who had fluffy coats.

First today is Gypsy who arrived during the pandemic but chose not to return to her original feeder/home afterwards. She had a lovely, fluffy coat and tail, although, a couple of months after she arrived, she had an accident which damaged her tail leaving her with a fluffy stump. Gypsy had obviously been loved enough by a human somewhere to be neutered, and she knew the purpose of a front door which made us wonder whether she had been a garden cat or an indoor/outdoor cat somewhere previously.

Next, there was BBC who came from a garden across the fields. He had a beautiful, fluffy black coat with a plume for a tail and was a friendly and easy-going gentleman who fitted in well with the Garden Family. Visitor, Sniffly, Thundercat and Sabiħa came from the same garden; they always returned in that direction after eating and were accustomed to humans even if they were not all friendly. The header photo also shows BBC.

And the first of today’s kittens is Oregano whose mother was Cheese, Visitor’s daughter. Oregano was a happy kitten, although being born in the year when we lost so many kittens over the summer was a disadvantage as many of the kittens born that year were not strong and already compromised when the summer virus struck. Oregano had some happy times but sadly did not make it to the autumn.

Nike was one of a joint colony of kittens brought up in the garden and could have been either Cheese or Souci’s daughter. Like Oregano, she was not a strong kitten and did not make it through the summer.

Flora’s litter born in the same year was happily an exception as the virus spared them all. As the months passed, it seemed that Checkers’ father must have been BBC as, unlike his siblings, Checkers developed a luxuriously fluffy coat with a beautiful plume for a tail, just like BBC. Checkers’ personality fell in between his parents’; he acted as though he would have loved to have been friendly like BBC, but something held him back – probably a strong feral instinct inherited from Flora, his mother.

And there was absolutely no question as to who Raven’s father was as he grew into a younger version of BBC with his fluffy black coat and magnificent tail. BBC seemed to know that Raven was his son, and they often spent time together in The Cat’s Garden. As Raven matured, it became more difficult to tell his and his father apart.