While chatting with my daughter about the entertaining behaviour of my cats, she remarked what a perfect pairing they were. Considering how they came to be living together, I agree.
My Alleycat was a replacement for a little black kitten, one of my grand-daughter's Georgia's cat's first litter which she begged me to take. She had been told that she should allow her cat to have one litter before having her neutered. I think that idea has been debunked now and took no risk of letting the same fate befall the little black cat. I was heartbroken when she died.
When my grandchildren felt I needed to replace her, I took two of them with me to the SPCA to help me choose but one glimpse of one kitten in particular and they had no say. When I'd visited Istanbul in 2015 I'd taken a photo of a stray kitten in an alley near a restaurant where I was having lunch and there, in my local SPCA was its doubleganger. So Alleycat came home with us. The staff at the SPCA didn't know her back story, only that she was scared of adults, particularly men. Oh, how true! Thankfully, she loves children. While not at all keen on being stroked she likes to rub up against those she knows and recently even had a quick rub against my son's legs. With children she's entirely different, will come running when she hears my g-g-daughter's voice and allows herself to be lifted and carted around in the most unbecoming fashion.
She avoids people. The first time my neighbour fed the cats while I was away, she didn't lay eyes on Alley until the 14th day. She's skittish and nervous. Even after 6 years of gentle handling she will still scoot away from me if she hears a loud noise or there is a sudden movement. But at other times she stretches out and is totally relaxed.
She will choose a favourite sleeping spot and stick to it religiously for a few weeks, then choose somewhere else. Sometimes it's a place where she can hide herself, other times it's very public. She avoided the spot in the photo above for weeks after I put a small towel down there to protect the couch cover. Took her a while to come back to it.
She sometimes visits me during the night, jumps on to the bedside table and reaches over to touch my face with her nose. If I move, she takes off like a rocket. A couple of times when I've been asleep she's woken me by rubbing her face against my hand and has allowed me to very, very slowly lift my hand and tickle under her chin. It has taken six years to get that far. Any progress is progress, right?
When I was sick last year she'd sit on my bedroom dressing table for hours on end just looking at me.
She's a talker. The loudest, most
talkative cat I've ever come across. If she hears my voice she assumes it's her I'm talking to and usually she is right but when I'm on the phone it is a proper nuisance. When I'm talking to my oldest daughter she hears her voice and really goes bananas. Leone has probably come closer than anyone to actually stroking her.
So, she sleeps a lot, she talks a lot - and she likes to open doors or drawers. She knows which doors she can bat with her paws and eventually they will open a little and then there's no stopping her.
This drawer in the bathroom often doesn't close completely and is proving an ongoing challenge. I always have a laugh when she gives up and walks away, I swear she shoulders are slumped because once again there was nothing to see.
Her crazy companion is Korbi who came into Leone's family as her daughter, Jami's cat. When Jami went to Wellington to university and Leone couldn't keep him he came to me "for the time being". That was about 3 years ago. He had been a city cat and settling into life on the farm was difficult for him. I think he's much happier now we are living in the village. On the other hand Alley has taken a long time to adjust to life here.
For the most part they ignore each other but have a little social time together around 7 pm each night when they have a little play fight and chase each other around for 5 - 10 minutes. Alley always tires of it before Korbi does. Korbi often tries a bit of male dominance although he should know by now that idea doesn't go down well with Alley.
He's a handsome, very friendly fellow known to all the neighbours. He walks like he owns the world, a real confident strut. But he runs like an old plodder, if there is such a thing. You can hear him coming when he's running, my hearing is not the sharpest but I can hear him coming up the steps. And he's clumbsy, almost uncoordinated. He gives the impression of being a thinker. You can see what he's going to do next because he seems to be assessing the situation before he acts. He'll look at the table, then look at me to see if I'm watching, I never catch him jumping up there but many times I come into the room and there he is.
When he wants affection or brushing he stands beside my chair and looks steadily at me and the minute my hand moves to pat my knee he is there. My g-g-daughter has learnt to pick up his brush and he will come to her. He loves to be brushed which is just as well because that long hair can get untamed in no time. He doesn't like to be picked up or carried by little ones like Alley does but will tolerate hours of gentle handling and stroking.
He sleeps on the floor at the foot of my bed - or in the bath or bathroom handbasin, depending on the weather. He likes to be up high, keeping a look out. I don't think he has many other cat instincts. He's a hopeless hunter. I've seen him with a mouse that Alley caught and honestly, he had no idea what to do with it.
Recently he has taken to jumping out windows. The first time he did it I thought he had lost his balance while sitting on the window frame watching the world go by and I was very concerned as, like I said before, he is clumsy. He doesn't like using the cat flap in the door, will stand beside it and scratch the door to get my attention to let him in or out. I put that down to him making sure I know who is the servant around here. I know my place, thank you, Mr Korbi.
Lately, even with two doors wide open he has been using an open window to go out. It just must be something he enjoys doing.
The four children in the Junior Section waiting patiently and watching the Junior Calf entrants in the competition ring. Lexis in the black raincoat. There was drizzly rain but it wasn't heavy enough to halt proceedings. Look at that little boy with a calf almost as tall as he is, and a lot heavier. His dad is standing by in case he is needed but the lad was well and truly in charge and a competent handler.
