We all know that The Cat’s favourite colour was orange. Number One Son Ana Half-Tail was himself an orange-and-white cat, and there have not been many of the ‘Life With The Cat’ posts without a photo of an orange cat somewhere.

Throughout The Cat’s life, orange cats passed through the garden. The only orange family member to become a neighbourhood alpha-male was Ana; the other males passed through, coming to eat or on their patrols of the neighbourhood (checking up on what they each considered to be their own territory).

We looked after The Cat for just over ten years and here are five of orange males who were spotted over that time. Maybe some of these cats were related, maybe not – we have no way of knowing.

Firstly, Saturday, a powerful alpha-male who was more than happy to fight his adversaries but also had a well-practised line in bullying. He would stand over the hapless minor male, staring down and wailing, keeping the other cat in suspense as to whether Saturday would attack or not, before walking away very, very slowly, hackles up, keeping the other cat in his sights at all times. And yes, he does look less than fearsome in this photo…

Next is G4 aka Durante who was an up-and-coming alpha-male; despite his fur colour, The Cat was quite indifferent to his presence. Durante was clever and was content to shadow the other males, trailing behind and always taking second, third or fourth place in their pecking order. He was patient and knew his time would come eventually. G4 was originally names Durante as he used to carry out a forensic-level sniff-test of absolutely everything which he came across.

G5 was an occasional visitor to the garden – or maybe he came at night or when there were no humans around. He was completely feral (as you can see from his expression).

G7, on the other hand, came from the direction of another garden over the fields where cats were also fed, and, although not friendly, was not unaccustomed to humans. It’s possible that he was Lightning’s father as he was very patient with him, and Lightning was playful around G7.

The last big, chunky alpha-male orange cat to arrive on the scene was Mr Bright (named as there was an advertising strapline ‘The Future Is Bright, The Future Is Orange’). His reign was a long one, rivalled only by NVQ (who was black-and-white) and even after Mr Bright damaged his front leg and walked with a limp, his reputation remained intact. As far as the younger and up-and-coming males were concerned, Mr Bright was definitely one to avoid.

(Life With The Cat continues tomorrow)