A chance feline encounter
A recent trip to look at flats in the East End with a friend reminded me of the joy of cats. As you know I have been on a journey to find myself the perfect pooch to share my life with but after a chance meeting with a ginger and white moggy I may have reconsidered.
Don’t get me wrong I love dogs and would love to pamper a four legged friend but what about a feline friend?
Friend for life?
Usually people are either a cat or a dog person – I’m lucky enough to be both but there is something to be said about a feline friend. They say a cat chooses you and I’m sure that’s true. They are much more likely to wander off never to be seen again but when they stay you know it’s because they want to.
Take Sugar as an example. This posh Persian took 14 months and travelled 1,500 miles to find her family when they moved from California to Oklahoma. Such loyalty is usually associated with dogs but Sugar proves cats can also be a friend for life.
Favourite felines
From Felix and Garfield to Puss in Boots and Bugpuss we all have a favourite cat. They’ve graced history and our stages with Cats – the musical running for well over a decade.
Not only was Sir Winston Churchill a history-making wartime leader he was also an avid cat lover and the proud owner of Nelson, a big grey cat, who was famously reported to attend Cabinet meetings. Rumour has it that Nelson was held in such high esteem by the Churchill family that even meals couldn’t begin without his presence at the table.
Smart cookies
Cats are also smart. Recently I heard about Macavity, the mystery cat who lives on Churchill Road (a happy coincidence maybe?)in Walsall near Birmingham and stunned locals with his antics.
Every few days over several months Macavity jumped on the local bus to travel a few stops to his local fish and chips shop. What a clever kitty. If he was mine I’d make sure he could bring back a treat for me too!
But back to my new ginger and white friend who daintily zigzagged along the street minding his own business, checking out all the smells and bravely trying to run through sets of legs to get through the security doors of a block of flats.
Not being successful but trying to hide it he happily sat and started to give himself a bath. I was instantly in love. He tried, he failed, and he didn’t care – what a cool customer. I called out to him and obviously he ignored me. Why would he waste his time with me when he had business to attend to?
Finally he graced me with a look and waltzed over for a quick rub against my legs. I used to think this was a term of endearment from a cat until someone told me they do that to mark their territory – but I was his and I couldn’t be happier.
As soon as our brief love affair started it was over and ginger bolted off to grace another street with his presence.
But he left me with a lingering thought – should this belle get a cat?
