The feral cats circulating around the neighbourhood visited The Cat’s Garden, drive and path, also the farmers in the fields, some nearby stables, and other local gardens. We knew the ‘regular’ faces and always noticed when a new cat arrived; maybe they were guided by the The Cat Distribution System (famously renowned for guiding felines in need to places where there might be an opening for a new cat), or maybe they happened upon the food bowls just by chance.

However, there was one notable instance when The Cat Distribution System surpassed itself.

It was late summer and The Cat’s offspring Flora and Furrileesa were living in the garden. Flora was thriving but sadly Furrileesa had never been as strong as his sister and, despite our best efforts, he passed away.

Flora had always been close to her mother and there was no doubt that she would continue to thrive without her brother, so we had no worries on that score. All the same, it was a sad time.

Cats came from the fields on three sides of the garden and drive at feeding time and, before clearing the dishes away, the fields were always checked for any latecomers. And it came as a big surprise to look over the wall into the field one morning and see local feral cat Twilight with five kittens in tow, waiting for the humans to disappear before bringing she brought her family to the drive to start the weaning process. It was less than 48 hours since Furrileesa had passed away so the kittens were given a family name in his honour – The Furriquins. ‘Furri’ named for Furrileesa, and ‘quins’ because the kittens numbered five.

The Cat Distribution System had delivered Mist, Cloud, Storm, Dawn and Dusk; they were the first of the Furriquins line, a name which was passed down to Storm and Dawn’s future families.

The first photo shows mother Twilight and Storm Furriquin, one of her daughters. Storm was grey and would later pass her colouring on to her son. Twilight was a tortoiseshell cat (although it’s not obvious from this photo) with black, white and orange fur.

Kitten Dawn Furriquin grew up into a traditional calico cat, later passing her fur-colour on to her daughter.

Dusk Furriquin was very like Twilight in appearance – maybe Dusk had a little more white, but the colours themselves were identical.

Sadly there are hardly any photos of Cloud Furriquin (front right with the white nose and paws) as he lost his life on the road as a young kitten. His colouring was predominantly grey with some white.

After we sadly lost Cloud, Mist carried on as the only male of the litter. His colours were the same as his brother’s but he had a lot more white than Cloud. He had a big personality and was a typical big brother.

So Furrileesa’s name (or half of it, in any case) carried on to future generations, and all thanks to The Cat Distribution System.