The Cat and Sprocket were very different personalities and worked well together bringing up their kittens. Sadly, after such happy early weeks and months, most of the kittens were lost to a virus which hit the kitten population hard and, during the autumn, Sprocket lost her life on the road. The Cat grieved deeply; she became withdrawn and depressed and it was a good distraction for her to see different cats visiting and looking for food, bringing new life to the garden.

The Cat was cheered up by the arrival of Saturday, a strong, handsome orange alpha-male. With Ana Half-Tail gone, there was definitely a vacancy for an orange gentleman and The Cat’s interest was piqued.

Starting to feel more like her old self, The Cat chased Visitor out of the garden, making her feelings knows so strongly that Visitor took to eating on top of the garden wall and napping on a plant-ledge rather than set her paws on the hallowed soil of The Cat’s garden.

The Cat was starting to enjoy herself again and celebrated by chasing Dinky to the top branch of the olive tree on his first visit to the garden. He clung on with dogged determination while the branches swayed in the strong winds while The Cat sat grimly beneath. He ate in the drive for a while after that, but eventually picked up the courage to come back into the garden where The Cat roundly ignored him. She had had her fun.

Other Visiting Cats such as Mr Tiffin, Sniffly Cat and Sabiħa came to eat, spent some time in the garden and left. It was obvious that The Cat now viewed the garden as her territory, and she was adopting the role of matriarch.