Although we did not know The Cat’ age, she was adult when we first met her and therefore she must have been at least 11 years old by now.

Flora and Furrileesa were to be her final family, and she chose to have them out in the fields, probably in a farmer’s storeroom or shelter. They spent their time between the garden and the fields, and we had less interaction with them than with The Cat’s previous litter. Flora Fourpaws was a calico kitten…

…and Furrileesa Fourpaws was completely black.

The Cat herself was visibly aging and developing a few health problems. We treated her for mange (from which she recovered), but FOPS (feline orofacial pain syndrome) was something for which there was no treatment or cure, and we all had to learn to cope with its distressing symptoms. We also suspected she was hard-of-hearing, but then again she was very adept at ignoring humans as and when she felt like it, so it was hard to know for sure. But she was still the matriarch; her family would gather around her after meals and they would groom and nap together. There was a new generation of unrelated younger cats and kittens in the garden, and they all knew that The Cat was the boss.

And, just so we knew that The Cat’s life didn’t consist solely of napping under the fruit trees or relaxing with her adult family, she took a dislike to Phantom, one of the feral cats from the fields opposite, and proved to the humans that, despite her age and health problems, The Cat could still chase a younger female out of the garden at top speed, should she want to.