From Here to Maternity

There are a surprisingly large number of cats in our road. Many households now have two or three each. The area is not as concreted over as many in the locale but there are a few gardens both front and rear that boast hard surfaces. Our back garden is a fairly chaotic place with trees and shrubs in abundance and this attracts not only the local birds but also foxes and cats, making it an ideal vantage point to see wildlife in an urban setting. The house cats are not particularly fond of sharing their territory, although the younger ones do sometimes play tag with each other and their chosen neighbours. One of our visitors is called Angel, mostly because she is so dainty and really beautiful. She is a long-haired white and black cat with some grey tones. The effect with large saucer eyes is quite haunting. We have never been able to find where she came from but judging from her initial size, which has not changed that greatly she was approximately three to four months when she first appeared in our garden. She naturally shuns much of humanity and even other cats but she truly loves being in touch with nature.

It was early summer when we first became aware of her and as the season lengthened and finally dissolved into autumn she was still there, hiding from the others and looking at a world, that should have seemed natural through slightly fearful glasses. We tried to tempt her in but she evaded our efforts.

Eventually winter took hold and I felt that she would look on this askance and soon we could treat her as one of the family. This proved untrue and even when, with the help of the local Cat Rescue person I managed to trap her in the house she proved unco-operative and escaped during the night via the cat flap. That was not to say that she was averse to lying on the sofa, with me, and having her fur ruffled, because that she seemed to enjoy. To those with new cats this may seem strange as mostly kittens take between one to three weeks to engage with a cat flap. It was at this point that we were certain she had been a house kitten and chosen to live outside.

As the seasons turn so do female cats come in to their natural season and thus our small Angel became a rather hippy child that middle daughter referred to as suffering from gas. My youngest daughter and her partner were overjoyed as they saw her as the epitome of all that was desirable in a house pet. (Sometimes I wonder about the young and their perception of reality) Much speculation ensued and orders were placed for potential offspring. We waited. Easter turned and there was little response until the early hours of the Easter Monday. She displayed all the signs of a cat in the progress of labour. We were not allowed to leave her alone. Youngest daughter and I sat out in the dark until gone three am despite the heavy dew and the inevitable damage to our lungs. Eventually she climbed into the rabbit hutch, which we had streamlined for her comfort and went to sleep. We crawled off to bed. No kittens were forthcoming.

Life resumed some sense of normality for two days until she suddenly walked off into the sunset and no more was seen of her for some four days. By this time I had been back to the local hospital for more tests and was not in the mood or physical condition to follow small felines on a creative kitten search. Luckily she came back the next evening and for this we were delighted. Youngest daughter had by this time returned to Preston and I immediately telephoned her with the good news.

Meanwhile in the depths of Hungary and just returned from her Milan trip eldest daughter was also fretting about the state of kittendom. I had to email reassurance of her return. The next day I awoke to find Angel at my bedroom window looking starved. (I am sure that she took an acting course to achieve this look as it is so professionally carried out.) Although I was very tired I got up and stayed within her reach for the next six hours. She had numerous food pouches and lots of concentrated dried food, together with a tin of red salmon I had saved for my lunch and some evaporated milk that I had purchased in case I needed to hand rear kittens. She spent much of the morning close to the hutch and we were again excited. The kittens had obviously been born elsewhere and it is unusual for a mother cat to move too far away from them. We surmised that they had been moved during the night into the hutch. As if to prove this she then started a tour of my room and the kitchen area of the house seeking another place for her brood. Eventually she took off over my neighbour’s wall and I went outside and peered into the rabbit hutch. There were no kittens.


It was some twenty minutes later that Angel re-appeared. She ate some more and then she had a dust bath before taking over a sunny spot for a long sleep. If ever a cat was happy she was definitely it. She ate yet again and sauntered off with out a care in the world. I had spent by this time, twelve hours on Angel watch and I felt exhausted. It is now the next day and she has not yet shown her face.