On the whole, The Cat was a solitary creature. She sometimes sought out the company of other members of her family (as per the header photo where The Cat and her granddaughter Calypso are napping together), but rarely the company of Visiting Cats, or members of The Garden Family who were not directly related to her. So it was unusual to see her napping close to non-family cats, cats in whose company she must have felt sufficiently relaxed to let her guard down and sleep. For a cat who took three years to accept human contact, this must have meant that The Cat had some degree of trust in these other cats – she could easily have chased them away or just walked away herself.

So today, from The Cat’s photo archive, five photos of her napping in the company of other cats.

1. Mr Tiffin, a neighbourhood alpha-male. This was surprising as The Cat was well known for her love of orange gentlemen, and by no stretch of the imagination did Mr Tiffin fall into that category. In fact he had been The Cat’s daughter Sprocket’s first boyfriend, so maybe The Cat viewed him as a member of her extended family.

    2. Saturday, another neighbourhood alpha-male. This came as no surprise at all as The Cat had a soft spot for Saturday who was a handsome orange gentlemen, well-used to patrolling the garden and fields and passing the time of day with The Cat.

    3. Dinky, a member of The Garden Family. This was unexpected as The Cat was very averse to Dinky’s presence in the garden when he first arrived. He was a Bengal cat who had been dumped in the fields and The Cat was quite sure that the fields were exactly where Dinky should stay. His persistence and sheer volume, however, wore her down and they eventually coexisted happily.

    4. Lychee, daughter of She-ba. Lychee was brought to the garden by her mother as a seriously ill kitten requiring nursing. Lychee felt a bond to The Cat and would spend the night snuggled up with her runny nose buried in The Cat’s fur. The Cat could easily have walked away, but she chose not to. We made sure to clean The Cat’s fur each morning, and then they would do it all over again the next evening.

    5. The Cat and Visiting Cat, Gypsy. Not only did Gypsy snuggle up to The Cat, but she managed to cram herself into the same box. It was a touching sight, two solitary older ladies, both in the twilight of their years, sharing a box and napping together.