The New (Cat) Neighbour

When the new neighbours moved in, next door on the ground floor like us, with their kitchen door opening onto the garden, my husband rang me with some fear in his voice; "they have a cat". Well, Ginger is a smart boy. He wasn't going to mess around with a neighbour, was he? But little scrapper that he is, maybe we had a situation on our hands.

He hasn't scrapped. It's been a few weeks now, and Mitzi seems to have settled in.

That is one furry puss. Again my husband, worrying that we might alienate Ginger (and knowing my propensity for making friends with pretty much any and every cat) suggested that I don't get too close to her.

Close to her? With that hair? Remember, I am still technically allergic to cats. I know, hahahahaha, that isn't going on with Ginger, or Big Bro for that matter. Orange Tabbies seem to rule ok. But such a furry thing, hmmm. My eyes kinda tear up just looking at her.

Well, she hasn't let me get to close to her, but there don't seem to have been any fights.

Last weekend when Ginger made himself comfy in the shed

Mitzi seemed rather jealous. She was perched at the bottom of the path, and when Mr. G was sitting nearby, I heard that guttural cat noise. A kind of, cat "f*** you". Ginger wasn't bothered. I watched curiously, ready to intervene, but nothing transpired. She even had a nose around the shed herself, at one point.

It's all a bit of a damp squib, and cats will rub along together. As will neighbours. Besides, Ginger seems to have pushed out every other cat that ever came wandering by our garden, whether they ever made friends with me or not:

Whitey, Blackie, where are they now? Surely still around, just not in our garden.

Just as well. I didn't mean to become "Cat Woman of Hither Green". No, I still meet them on the street, on the way home from the train (other cats, not the ones who used to inhabit this wild space) and they still lie down in front of me and say "pet me". Sometimes I think, "umm...give me a break?" Is "I Love Cats" tattooed on my forehead, for every cat to read? I do love cats, but I love dogs, too.

Mind you, dogs look at me in the same way. Not in a "take me home, feed me" kind of way, but a kind of "hey, you're a dog lover, cool man" way.

Or am I just anthropomorphising too much?

Apparently Shakespeare said, "people impute great cleverness to cats".

Well, so do I.

I am now rethinking the cat-flap situation though. If we're going to stay here another year, I feel it's only fair on Ginger. I mean after all, we are his people.

And Mitzi has one, so he might feel a little jealous ...