Cats in the Kitchen, Flora in the Garden

Today I would like to tell you about a sad incident that has been ongoing over the past month, but before I begin I will say this tale has a happy ending.

A month ago today a neighbour of mine with five cats told me she was moving away to start a new life. She had packed and was gone by that Friday evening, saying she would return to pick up a few items she had left. The next morning I noticed all her cats were hanging around her kitchen door, on investigating I saw she had left a small container of dried food in her outbuilding. By the next Wednesday the cats were still there, I had been feeding them hoping she would come back. Whilst I was out that day she returned and as far as I could see had taken the oldest cat back with her, leaving behind four. They were all just hanging around the outbuilding. I gave them as much of my cat's sachets of food as I could, but that was not enough to feed four adult cats. I decided I would have to phone the nearest animal home and get them to take them, the trouble would be catching them as they were getting very distressed. The animal home gave me a humane cat trap which I put in her outhouse. Three days later we had caught three of the cats and they were taken away. The fourth cat a beautiful long haired ginger tom was a wiley character. He would not go near the trap. I had to think of something and I decided to start putting just a little food in a bowl on the backdoor step every night and try to gain his confidence. Eventually late at night I got him to venture into my kitchen for the bowl of food, and he began to let me sit in the kitchen whilst he ate. Last night, a month after he had been abandoned I managed to entice him so far that I could close the kitchen door behind him. This morning he was collected by the animal home and will join his friends.

The animal home take the cats in make them healthy and fit again and then offers them up for a new home, and they stay there until homes are found. I saw my neighbour's ex partner who lives in a nearby town, he had a cell phone number for her and texted her to say her cats were being taken care of no thanks to her. I cannot believe that a so-called cat lover as she said she was could be so callous, if she could not take them with her and her children, she could have taken them to the animal home herself. What story did she tell her children about not taking four of the cats? I feel very angry with her because I just can not abide people who are cruel to animals. The girl who collected the fourth cat this morning said that the others were not as distressed now, were all cleaned up and were gaining weight and the cat she took away today will eventually be in the same compound as them. At first the other three cats would not come out of the sleeping section of the compound but are now venturing out into the runs. I told her that my neighbour does know that her cats are at the animal home and she said that no one had been in touch about them. I wish I could ban my neighbour wherever she is from owning cats again.