The day is nearly here when the four London cats emigrate to Spain. With their humans.
One (cat, not human) is currently incarcerated in a cattery in south east London because she is a flight risk. I am not kidding, this particular 11 year old female tabby (old enough to know better), ‘Mizuki’, is constantly AWOL and had been off on her travels for ten days, when she sauntered in on 28 December as if nothing at all was amiss. And she returned because it was suddenly very cold. If it had been going to stay really cold from then on we would have been more confident of her hanging around (making herself available for imminent departure), but it was not to be and the weather was increasingly mild. So, what to do? We locked her in with us for 48 hours. First in a cage for the purpose and then ‘loose’ in the loungeroom, with cat-flap blocked.
This would be fine, and manageable with a normal cat, but Mizuki is not. She is a madam, highly independent and very, er … expressive. Her vocal repertoire ranges from sweet mewing entreaties (“oh go on, let me out”), through low growls including while she’s eating (“now I’m getting really pissed off”), to blood-curdling bellows emanating from her throat that communicate extreme displeasure and pierce your very soul, creating instant guilt (“Help me, for the love of god! These people are trying to kill me!”).
So, I found a cattery that had a space. On our arrival they asked if she was any particular breed and we answered that she was half Bengal, at which point the owner said they don’t normally take Bengals because they are so disruptive. Yikes!
Anyway, Mizuki is now there, incarcerated, awaiting deportation on Saturday 6 January 2018.
Her three housemates are doing their usual thing and we don’t expect trouble, even though we are living in an increasingly chaotic setting with boxes and packing stuff everywhere and the house becoming empty and echo-ey.
Here’s Mizuki. Don’t be taken in by the seemingly relaxed demeanour on the sofa. There is always one eye open ready for escape.
One (cat, not human) is currently incarcerated in a cattery in south east London because she is a flight risk. I am not kidding, this particular 11 year old female tabby (old enough to know better), ‘Mizuki’, is constantly AWOL and had been off on her travels for ten days, when she sauntered in on 28 December as if nothing at all was amiss. And she returned because it was suddenly very cold. If it had been going to stay really cold from then on we would have been more confident of her hanging around (making herself available for imminent departure), but it was not to be and the weather was increasingly mild. So, what to do? We locked her in with us for 48 hours. First in a cage for the purpose and then ‘loose’ in the loungeroom, with cat-flap blocked.
This would be fine, and manageable with a normal cat, but Mizuki is not. She is a madam, highly independent and very, er … expressive. Her vocal repertoire ranges from sweet mewing entreaties (“oh go on, let me out”), through low growls including while she’s eating (“now I’m getting really pissed off”), to blood-curdling bellows emanating from her throat that communicate extreme displeasure and pierce your very soul, creating instant guilt (“Help me, for the love of god! These people are trying to kill me!”).
So, I found a cattery that had a space. On our arrival they asked if she was any particular breed and we answered that she was half Bengal, at which point the owner said they don’t normally take Bengals because they are so disruptive. Yikes!
Anyway, Mizuki is now there, incarcerated, awaiting deportation on Saturday 6 January 2018.
Her three housemates are doing their usual thing and we don’t expect trouble, even though we are living in an increasingly chaotic setting with boxes and packing stuff everywhere and the house becoming empty and echo-ey.
Here’s Mizuki. Don’t be taken in by the seemingly relaxed demeanour on the sofa. There is always one eye open ready for escape.
News of the London Homeys and the Butterfly Cat and her friends coming soon!
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