Saturday, April 29, 2006

Trouble with the lodger


Our little family has an interloper in it's midst. We have long had Napoleon living up the top of the garden and coming down for food when it suits him. This is a cat I have been monitoring for the RSPCA, they know who his real owner is; I don't. Latterly he been sitting under the garden table to get first pick of any food which might appear. Since the begining of this month however, he has been coming into the house on a regualr basis and has not been spitting and hissing at everything in sight. So long as he can eat he is happy. The other cats mostly have ignored him and just given him a wide berth until this last week or so with the exception of Misty who rattles the cat flap whenever he can see him, in the hopes of scaring him off.

Last week he got a little bolder and took root on the garden table when I was about to paint some skirting boards and slept in the warm in the sun only moving when the sun did, taking over Goggins's chair further up the garden.



This week has seen a subtle change, he is now ravenous and obsessed with food. He comes in every meal time and has fought with Misty and Goggins for their food. Nelson runs away and hides; he is terrified. We now have to forcibly evict Napoleon before each meal and shut the cat flap to stop him getting back in. He gets angry and bangs the flap for all his worth. Taking his food out to him he knocks the bowls from our hands, jumps up and paws our clothes , yowling all the while.

Yesterday I called the RSPCA, they are getting back to me, when I don't know. Meanwhile he was on short rations and I covered the cat flap for several hours so he could not see in. Eventually he gave up and cleared off, returning for a quick, well-behaved snack at bedtime.

He has had the last laugh though. This morning he was sound asleep on the floor beside WH's bed. He has obviously decided to move in full time.

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