Rumour had it that The Cat had come from another village, probably gifted to the landlord with the purpose carrying out of rodent control around the property. If we had not been aware of that, we might well have thought that The Cat and Visitor Cat were related as there were certain similarities in appearance.

But it seemed that Visitor Cat came from another garden across the fields where cats were also fed, so it seemed unlikely that there was any familial link.

Visitor Cat was a feisty lady, one of only two cats to bite a human, and, although she became friendly and would demand to be stroked, if the human dared to blink or look away for even a split second, the claws were out and human skin was always the victim.

Her coat changed with the seasons – fluffy in the winter with a plume for a tail, and clinging to her bony frame in the summer months, her eyes large in her head giving her the appearance of a cat much younger than her years (whatever they were). These photos tell the story…

The luxurious coat and fluffy tail…

…starting to moult, fur a little shorter and darker but tail still fluffy…

…big-eyed and slender, looking more like a young adult than an experienced feral mother…

…a reminder that, under all that fur, there was a fine-boned, narrow-bodied cat…

…getting flatter and flatter in the height of the summer months…

…lean and mean and ready to strike, paw raised, head inclined and tail looking compact.

The Cat managed to get her own way with a minimum of effort; it was her garden and everyone knew. Visitor Cat thought she had a point to prove, but everyone knew that The Cat was the boss.