My Garden, My Box

In the early years, the cats spent most of their time in the fields, coming to the garden and the drive only to eat. But as the time passed and coming to eat became part of their routine, The Cat started to realise that the humans posed no threat, and that the garden represented a safe place for her kittens while they were weaning – it was certainly a lot less effort than having to bring them from the fields for each meal and then return afterwards.

With The Cat and her young family based in the garden, the humans observed how much fun the kittens got out of throwaway garden items – an old tin, a pile of branches, the head of a brush – and decided that some boxes might provide places for napping and playing, climbing and exploring. Luckily, finding boxes was easy, thanks to a neighbour who was a greengrocer and disposed of quantities of empty fruit and vegetable boxes (both wooden and plastic) on a daily basis.

The first boxes arrived in the garden, and naturally The Cat was the first to sit in one.

This is the very first photo of The Cat in a box. It was a wooden peach box with a hardboard base and was no doubt more comfortable than sitting on the stony ground (there was less padding than you might think underneath all that fur).

Having given it her approval, more boxes were acquired. The humans were starting to become more imaginative; The Cat liked upside-down boxes as they afforded her the elevated position commensurate with her position as matriarch of the garden.

This next box was important enough to be given a name. The Fourposter consisted of an apple box with its sides removed, placed on top of an inverted double-height box. It was The Cat’s exclusive dining area and no one except for the occasional kitten was brave enough to try to join her. As The Cat suffered from FOPS in her later years, it was important that mealtimes were as stress-free as possible, and that her bowl could be swiftly removed if she suffered an attack.

Plastic boxes (like this carrot box on the terrace) were practical. They did not degrade in the rain or damp weather, and The Cat soon discovered that they were better than her regular boxes for summer siestas, as the sides were ventilated.

Here, The Cat is pictured striding purposefully towards her favourite box. Sadly, no photo exists of her actually sitting on it, but suffice to say its superior elevation and sturdy wooden construction ensured that it remained The Cat’s favourite throughout her life. Such an important box warranted a name, and that name reflected its origins. Mrs Herringbottom had started life as a salt-cod box and arrived cloaked in an aroma of old fish which lingered for some considerable time. The Cat spent many a happy hour perched on Mrs Herringbottom, watching the comings and goings in the garden and observing her domain.

These photos are the first photos on record of The Cat in each of these different types of boxes. None were exclusively hers (because you can’t stop a cat or kitten from sitting in an empty box), but two were important enough to be given names, which pretty much sums up the enduring relationship between cats and boxes.