There were not many completely black cats either within the Garden Family or coming to eat, but there were a few who initially appeared black but later turned out to have little white patches. This was often not evident until we saw them close-up or lying on their backs, so it was something that didn’t happen until the cats settled in and felt relaxed with humans around.

The first not-quite-all-black cat was one of The Cat’s kittens from an early litter, Blackie. Obviously, as you can see from the name, we thought Blackie was completely black until photos revealed a little white patch on his/her chest.

The Cat’s early litters were born and raised in the fields, coming to the garden only when it was time for weaning. They were not friendly (as The Cat wasn’t at that time), and the closest we could get was to watch and photograph them from the first floor terrace. Blackie was one of the imaginatively-named litter of Ginge, Tabby, Blackie and Splodge, named by deluded humans who thought that maybe calling them by a name according to their colour would mean we didn’t get attached to them.

That plan was never going to work, and lessons were learned. It was not possible to look after cats without getting attached to them. Fact.

But I digress.

Getting back to our not-quite-all-black cats, the next were Visitor’s twin girls, Cheese and Cracker. As kittens, their white patches were really hard to see but as they grew, they became more evident. The girls were identical twins and tricky to tell apart, although these photos accentuate their differences, being taken at different times of the year and at different ages. This is Cheese (looking slightly more rounded)…

…and this is Cracker, looking a little leaner (and a fair bit younger). You can see a hint of white in the fur under her chin.

And finally, there was Madam Kiwi who came from the fields. It took come considerable time for Kiwi to become socialised, so it was quite a while before we knew that she had a little white bib and a white bikini patch.

Kiwi is also pictured in the header photo, showing that, with a little help, a not-quite-all-black cat could quite easily become an all-black cat.