When I won the title I was very excited as I had a special behind the scenes tour at my local PDSA PetAid hospital and met all the animal patients. When I found out I was also goiWhen Tinka (my cat, that readers ‘met’ in the last issue of OUR CATS) was two and a half we moved to a small pretty villa with a wonderful enclosed garden with a lime and a mango tree.
That first year the lime constantly bore fruit but the mango tree didn’t produce any at all. I asked a local friend’s mother what could be wrong. She told me to take an iron nail and knock it into the tree. Some weeks later when at the Municipality garden centre which gave away free plants I checked about the same thing.
They told me to buy an expensive boron/iron spray as it was probably lacking in minerals, particularly iron!
The nail did the trick and the next year we had 100 mangoes! Tinka loved the garden and went out in the morning when we set off to work, usually draped on the wall, sitting so elegantly, just like a French model. She’d always come inside once we returned in the afternoon or early evening. Once, when I was at home for a few days (it must have been a special holiday) - she went off for a short while. Suddenly, the landlord appeared from next door, shouting and raising his fist. “Devil, shoo, go away” he was saying. I asked what had happened and he told me that she’d caught one of his special little birds. It seems he had a bit of a farmyard next door with goats, chickens and lovebirds.
I took her inside and told her off and thought no more about it until the next morning when a similar incident occurred. It seems this time she had gone back for the bird’s mate. “You must take her away”, he told me. I replied saying, “if you have special birds why don’t you keep them in a cage?” “They were” he replied, “She has pushed the door and got in!”
The reason why it is instinctive and natural for cats to try to catch birds is that birds actually contain a source of taurine, which is essential for the cat’s nervous system and vision.
The next day I was doing some gardening - it was really early - maybe half past six in the morning, before the heat started and Tinka was by my side, outside the front gate, where I was planting some flowerbeds. She couldn’t have been gone more than a few minutes when the landlord was back, once again chastising her and brandishing his fist. “What did she do this time?” It must have been serious as he told me to take her away, far away.
This time however, Tinka had excelled herself and the landlord, although slightly incredulous, did genuinely seem cross! “There was a chicken sitting on some eggs, your cat pushed her off and smashed all fourteen.” His wife was furious, as she had evidently been counting her chickens before they were hatched…. Sorry I couldn’t resist that one!
From that day onwards Tinka has remained inside…It just took a bit of adjusting for the first couple of weeks. Indoor cats are safe from all the dangers outside cats face. Other cats, cruel children, cars and parasites. When someone mentions they’ve lost a cat in an accident in the street, I must admit that’s when I reassure myself I am absolutely correct to protect mine by keeping them indoors.
We have ensured that Tinka always has a place to sit by the window and look out. She used to have a shelf she shared with her sister, Cutey Pie and her adopted brother, Snuggy, both of whom have sadly passed on.
Currently she has five special places, her favourite being on two mats, on top of a box, overlooking a field at the side of the house. Tinka’s vocabulary has three strange primeval noises - when she spots a lizard or gecko on the window ledge, a bird or another cat in or near what she considers her domain. My husband complains she has more comfy places than he has!
As a result of sunbathing inside, next to a closed window she has changed from being a completely black cat to turning a lovely chestnut colour, although her tail remains black.
Tinka once counselled a friend, whose wife had tragically died very young. This chap was still distraught over his bereavement, when he arrived to move into our villa in order to take care of the cats and garden while we were on holiday. Tinka sat on his lap every evening, on his return from work, after a hard day, driving a taxi. When we returned, six weeks later, he told us that she had helped him tremendously in recovering from his loss.
This smart cat is incredibly astute and really aware of everything going on around her. When I am watching a sad film, she comes over and puts her paws over my hand, almost gripping me – as if to tell me everything will be OK. Observing her in her wonderful sleeping positions makes us smile and just stroking her beautifully glossy and silky coat is a calming and stress-busting feature in itself!
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