Spot the Cat!

Can you see the cat in this photo?

Look carefully.

No? How about now?

Now you see him!

It's our Dopey pretending to be a rock. Waiting for 'take-aways'!

The 'last in' of our three ferals, and obviously remembering the days when he had to fend for himself, he still has that awful killer instinct and enjoys catching whatever happens to run past him, usually a little stripey field mouse. Or two. Whenever he comes into the house in a rush, we look to see if he is carrying anything!! Often in the morning we come downstairs and find a tiny, cold body, stiff on the floor.

However, sometimes he manages to sneak a mouse into the house and then lose it! Rob and I then leap into mouse-catching mode and grab our gear. The two of us then corner the mouse and carefully trap it in a plastic container while we slide a piece of cardboard underneath and carry it outside to release it. Our success rate is pretty good, especially when we use the fishing net that I bought for Mateo (my gorgeous grandson). That seems to be the most efficient way, and with a quick twist of the bamboo handle to prevent any chance of escape, we have got it down to a fine art!

Alfie is a great help. Really. Because sometimes the mouse manages to dodge our efforts and ends up under or behind something, usually in the 'office', where there are wires and radios and lots of things to hide behind! Then Alfie stands and stares in the general direction of where he saw it last, and shows us where it is! If he didn't see, he sniffs in all the nooks and crannies until he tracks it down. But, talking of sniffing, sometimes the unfortunate mouse ends up crawling away from the cat and expiring unseen and unknown to us........until a few days later we end up looking sideways at each other and checking under our shoes to see if we have walked in anything! And when the smell becomes too strong to ignore or blame on Seal Island, we have to turn the place upside down until we find the decomposing body!

Butter wouldn't melt on his paws!

And the cat sleeps innocently on!

Talking of cats, we had to take our big boy Dilly to the vet on Monday. He is one of those cats that comes in most days, usually at feeding time, but sometimes stays away for a couple of days. We have learnt not to worry, he arrives sooner or later! Well, on Sunday he looked as though he had a golf ball in his cheek!! Abscess! We lured him in on Monday morning, did the scruff-n-grab-n-bundle-into-catbox routine, and had him singing all the way to town! When we fetched him, he was still woozy, so we decided to keep him in for the night. Now, for most cats that is not a problem, but Dilly has always had a thing about closed doors and windows and being IN!! So, easy, I put him in the downstairs shower cubicle which is huge, and added food, water, blankets and litter tray!! The shower door closes onto a magnet (I think) and you have to give it quite a tug to open it. The evening passed fairly quietly, we had the odd mutter now and then but he slept most of the time.

At 5 on Tuesday morning a loud noise from the bathroom woke us! And then there was another loud noise. And then silence! This is what I saw when I opened the door! 

Carnage and destruction!

He must have been desperate to have managed to push the shower door open! The toilet roll holder was upside down on the floor. And he had made a serious bid to escape!

Now to get the antibiotics down! For 10 days!

Dilly was fine, a little lopsided with a shaved cheek and no whiskers, but he fared a lot better than the curtain!!