This month is her (and brother Tiger's) 7th homing anniversary, for in 2008, when we first came to live here, those two strays were wandering the neighbourhood in search of food and warmth. Because all those years ago temperatures plummeted to minus 14 C, we could not let them starve, so we provided a selfmade shelter and gave them dryfood. Inside, our three cats were watching with great interest.
Patches was quick to trust, but Tiger kept his distance for a long time. When we suddenly noticed Patches's tummy grow bigger, we were anxious she was pregnant - we managed to grab her, which was not that difficilt, since she trusted us already, and took her to the vet. Examination made clear she had bloated intestines, and she was spayed right there and then. She had to be kept inside for over a week, to allow the wound to heal. We emptied a small room next to our bedroom, gave her blankies, a litter box and a scratching post, but being a feisty semi-feral kitten (est. 4 months), she tore the place apart. Sort of. Our three other cats were not too happy about that, but in the end, all ended well. She stayed inside for the rest of that winter - while we figured out how to capture Tiger, who needed that spaying treatment as well. Even if we could not keep him indoors, we felt it was necessary to do so, to avoid future kitty-bombshells.
But catching Tiger was quite a different story ...
