Replenishing the numbers part 1
As if it is within my control anyway...........
The summer brought a bad injury and another two losses .
Nelson disappeared and days later reappeared with a damaged hip which will never mend properly. He spent the rest of the summer being spoilt rotten and turning into a right bully as he now thinks he is really special. He's got his come-uppance in small grey furry shape but more on that later.
Marmalade disappeared and was never seen again and much though I wanted to believe she had buggered off in disgust at the fuss going on in my absence, she didn't come back when I did. I brought back with me an amusing solar light in the shape of a ginger cat whose big eyes light up at night and it sits on the stairs to the roof terrace. I have to look twice at times when I catch a glimpse of ginger, the roof was one of her favourite places. She was an easy, placid, undemanding cat but affectionate to me, did her own thing most of the time but slept on my bed with Titch, doing the mutual washing thing nobody else ever would.
Titch died in the garage and wasn't found for several days which is not ideal in a hot country. I don't know how old she was, or if she was ill, or if she just gave up because Marmalade was her only friend and ally, mostly because Titch wasn't nice to the others so they never liked her much. I know she'd have been dead 5 years ago if I hadn't taken her in and got her teeth sorted thanks to Gaynor the official mad cat lady and superhero to the campo and street cats in Nerja, she also made sure poor little Titch didn't have to suffer being pregnant any more thus reducing her chances of survival being such a little skinny thing with barely enough resources for her own body. Her trademark was the bitch slap which was freely administered on the many occasions she was cross with anyone, human or feline. She didn't have enough teeth to bite.
Meanwhile Patch the itinerant who first snuck in the door last November, a whole year ago now, turned out to have been pregnant and some kittens were seen but disappeared and I wasn't here so I don't want to think about that too much. Then before I got back I heard she was bulging again, oh no, still not been trapped and neutered, and she disappeared the day after I got back, returning two days later starving as ever and slim again. Oh no again. She continued to trot doggedly (can you say that about a cat?) up the track and to the door for food several times a day and on occasion made herself at home on a specific chair on the terrace, must need a break then............and her appetite was still enormous so I took it she was feeding kittens well hidden down the road. Sooner or later they will follow when they are big enough........no doubt........
So while I was waiting to see what turned up on the kitten front with Patch, we turned our attention indoors to trying to stop Nelson being such a bully to the girls and encouraging my formerly ever present Squeaky puss to come in and cuddle up as she used to. Somehow she has turned into a jumpy, twitchy girl who grumbles and hisses and especially where His Nibs is concerned. Bad news. They got back into rodent and bird killing including a poor shrew who yelled its head off, so when I heard a lot of squeaking in the living room at 7.30 one morning I leapt out of bed and to the rescue.
Imagine my surprise to find a small grey kitten in the middle of the floor yelling defiance at my bemused mob standing around looking at it. I supposed it must be Patch's, as she was one of the curious crowd, but they didn't seem to like each other and the kitten made no move to go to her then or since. Very strange. It scarpered outside and when I did manage to corner it and grab it, got a full set of needle sharp teeth for my trouble, plus it got away again and went back to hiding under the pallets round the back.
However by chance or fate I know not, it decided to latch onto Mr Big Shot himself, Nelson, and pursued him with a vengeance. This was rather funny as he'd also had Teddy following him adoringly the couple of weeks he moved in with us in the spring, although he disappeared just as abruptly as he arrived and was not been since before or since. And he was the same grey.
Now all my Spanish cats have found me, and all I've done is feed them and let them stay. I've had enough problems with that lot and far too many losses to want to do it all again but every time I see a cat or kitten needing a home here I want to take it in. What stops me apart from self protection is taking deliberate responsibility for anyone when history says I can't keep the buggers safe and I don't feel I can start to mourn for Titch even because the floodgates will open for all the others again. So I've been resisting anyone new coming in and the worry over whether my lot will accept them (no or certainly not quickly) as well as all the other stuff. And 7 is actually a number nearer a move back to the UK being possible and since who knows when that might be the sensible option...........but Kitten Monster just turned up, as Teddy had (temporarily) so what was I going to do?
Couple of days is all it took, Kitten attached itself to Nelson and that was that, he became responsible for it and had no say. It also decided I might not be the enemy either and within days could be handled. I did the right thing and bought it kitten food but it mostly preferred the adult stuff whereas anyone who could nicked the kitten food. SIgh. She, because that's what it turned out to be, was mostly referred to as Monster as that is what she was, totally determined and completely oblivious to being less than half the size of an adult male she chose to attack and fight as often as possible and as yet the only way he escapes is to go downstairs as she still hasn't mastered those. My lot are not the most patient and they obviously think I don't remember THEM tearing around the place like loonies and wanting toys, so she gets a few slaps for tormenting them but it doesn't stop her. She decided she sleeps with me at first quite frequently on top of my head which allows a soft paw to pat my face. Or scratch when she got a bit bolder. She is no respecter of space and pushes harder than you would think something so small could manage. She's also decided it's fun to run around at 90 mph and jump with all four feet, round the house and on and off the bed but mostly at bedtime. She burrows her way under the duvet and heads downwards, while I clench my teeth and wait to see if she's going to curl up and sleep or bite me. Last night she bit me on the nose for no reason, and the night before I feared for my sight when the little sod poked me in the eye with a small but sharp claw. She looks twice the size she was when she arrived. She's still grey, like Smokie, with made me think to call her Misty, but she's so naughty it's more like hyphenated to Misty-Mischief. She knows that. Nobody appears to have missed her, how she arrived in my living room I have no idea, she's never offered to take herself off again either so I guess that's eight again and we'll see about Patch.