Cat Mother

I have 3 cats, I feel that's quite enough. However the local neighborhood waifs and strays don't agree and we often find ourself with some spares.

I've had my little terraced house in central Blackpool for nearly 10 years. It's a lovely house but not such a lovely area, it's quite socially deprived with a lot of people living in housing association property. Growing up in a small rural village, I've always found it quite amusing to live in a place that has regular visits from the police - there's always something going on outside of the window (who needs Eastenders!).

But the only problem with living in a socially deprived area is the throwaway attitude - there's always piles of junk outside certain houses, litter strewn streets and unfortunately this attitude crosses over into pet ownership. Once the kittens are no longer cute bundles of fluff they are thrown out into the street and left to fend for themselves.

All of our cats have come to us from previous homes. The first was Sox who turned up our first summer in the house. She arrived as a tiny kitten, complete with collar and name tag. Now I wouldn't let a kitten out on their own till they were at least 6 months old so when she arrived in our garden I promptly took her round to her owners house (a few streets away) and guess what - they weren't in! Sox became a regular visitor - she'd often sneak into our house about 4pm (kids home from school time) and we'd find her asleep on a bed upstairs! She became a permanent resident when we'd been away on holiday in January 2001 - we came back to find her skin and bone on our doorstep, we went round to her owners house to find they'd moved out!

When we went to Australia in 2003, Sox went to live with mum and dad but when we got back to the house there were 2 cats living underneath our shed. Skinny terrified little things we named them Bobby and Pixie. Turned out that Pixie was pregnant - she gave birth to a premature kitten baby and was so horrified by the whole thing as she was only a kitten herself. We took the kitten in, fed it with a dropper through the night and kept it warm and dry. We managed to re-unite mother and baby and contacted cat rescue who took them to be re-homed.

Bobby was tamed, neutered and became a lovely cat but unfortunately he had not had sufficient early injections and we sadly had to put him to sleep as he became quite poorly with a liver infection. Almost as soon as he had gone from our house, Ralph moved in. His owner used to live in the flats across the road but had obviously got a new girlfriend as had been spending less and less time there. I think he must have moved in with her as we no longer saw his car!

So for quite some time it was just Sox and Ralph apart from the cat that came for a day and another stray that went to Cat Rescue. We had a visiting Tom cat we named Jackie as he was like a little old man. With a meal once a day he became a healthy thriving cat, we haven't seen him for some time but I'd like to think he has found a fire to curl up by. That was until Jilly appeared....

A tiny little thing with a dodgy eye, Jilly appeared last winter and she just melted our hearts. She was so tiny and seemed to get on with the other cats so well - we just couldn't resist taking her in! Always a worry with female cats as to whether they have been 'seen to' but even the vet couldn't tell us, so we got her innoculated and kept an eye on her - no kitten babies for 12 months means she's definately been neutered!

And so to the latest cat saga.....we've had a stray black & white tom for some time. Cat rescue don't always have room for male cats - they prioritise for young females and nursing mothers. So anyway "Clancy" got a name as he looked quite like an old cat of mine but he's been reluctant to enter the house and been cautious of the other cats. To some extent the male cats seem to be able to fend for themselves a bit more so we've not worried too much about him. But 2 weeks ago a tiny little tricolour cat turned up - desperate for food (we nicknamed her skinny cat) and even more desperate for attention. Gordon picked her up and she started sucking his jumper!

She was absolutely desperate to get in the house, so we caved in and yesterday she spend most of the day on my lap and all night in the linen cupboard in the bathroom. She still has no name. I don't really want another cat, the others are disgusted by her and look at me as if to say "How could you"

What do I do! Aaaargh! I'm a mad cat lady! How did this happen?

My plan is to try and find her a new home as I suspect she's been kicked out of her old one - I've already checked online for missing cats, and checked in the local shop but will scour the streets for any posters. Cat rescue is a last resort for such a lovely cat as alas they can't re-home every cat and euthanasia is sometimes their only option.

I sometimes think that i have a big sign across my doorway "Cats Home" free B&B for all!