While The Cat’s garden was on the whole a safe place, accidents can happen anywhere – falling off a wall (Dawn), being caught out on the road (even The Cat fell foul to that), coming off worse in a fight (Dinky), sliding down a thorny cactus (Big Bang) – and the list goes on.

And likewise in the fields, there were wells to fall down (luckily no one did), roaming into the wrong fields and being hunted by loose dogs (Visitor Cat), and walls with loose stones to get trapped under (Stardust). Not to mention empty properties, garages and storerooms where an inquisitive cat could be locked in (Raven).

These dangers did not automatically result in loss of life – mostly they didn’t – but they were a natural part of the feral cats’ everyday life and environment and, however much we would have liked to, we couldn’t protect the cats from everything.

These physical dangers aside, there were also what you might call ‘unforeseen circumstances’, accidents and losses of life which remained unexplained.

Ana, The Cat’s son, (pictured in the header photo) arrived for breakfast with a broken tail, most of which subsequently withered and dropped off.

And Gypsy, who had arrived with a plume of a tail, disappeared a few months later only to return with a damaged (and much shortened tail). We never found out what had happened, and Ana and Gypsy adapted and carried on with their lives.

There was also Flora’s daughter Calypso, (pictured in the header photo) who we found passed away in the middle of the drive, just as if she had jumped down from the wall to come for tea and fallen on the spot, and Flora’s son Checkers who we found passed away out in the fields, with Visiting Cat Izit guarding his body. Like Calypso, Checkers looked as though he had been walking along and just dropped on the spot.

So, while we could help injured cats recover, sadly there were times when nothing could be done except to mourn the losses and concentrate on looking after the other cats who remained.