‘Two eyes, two ears, a tail, and a leg in each corner’ used to be the humans’ lighthearted first report on new kittens when they took their first steps in the garden. There were certainly cats and kittens who were partially sighted, and some who had stumps for tails, but everyone had the basics on that list.

And that was where the similarities stopped.

When we first saw The Cat, the first impression was of a particularly long and lean cat – this is one of our first photos.

Maybe in retrospect she was not quite as long as she first appeared; maybe she just needed to put on a pound or two in weight, which she did – this photo was a few years later, and by now she was friendly and her ribs were better covered – but she was still a long cat!

One thing The Cat was not was a ‘compact’ cat, and there were plenty of those – shorter in body, with shorter tails and rounder bellies. She was athletic and graceful, fleet of paw and an excellent jumper. Here, she is pictured taking her siesta on the terrace with son Greyfur, both stretched out in the heat of the summer.

And having some mother-and-daughter time with Flora in the garden.

It was easier to see the length of The Cat when her coat was shorter, so these photos are a mix of the early days, and summer photos when she had moulted her longer coat in favour of a lighter summer covering of fur with more clearly defined patterns.