Memories of Urban Cats - Part One
I have already written of my experiences of cats when I was young ("Memories of childhood cats").
When I left England and began travelling, there was of course no room in my life for such luxuries. But after about 8 years, I finally settled down and made a home in Copenhagen. It had been many years since I had been owned by a cat, but for me they have always been an essential part of any home.
One of my friends had seen some grey kittens in his back yard and offered to catch one of them. This became Mini, a tiny, confused little bundle of fur who developed into the most wonderfully sleek and loving house cat. Apparently there was a mother with 5 kittens living in a shed in their back yard, all entering and leaving through a tiny hole in the door. As soon as he saw them all out together, he rushed out and grabbed the slowest mite, who got squeezed out by the others in the rush. She was in actual fact probably way too young, perhaps 5-6 weeks old.
If it itches - scratch it!
She was a snarling, spitting little she-devil, and lived under our bed for a couple of weeks, never leaving her hide. For a long time we thought that we would never tame her, but after a few months a miracle had come to pass, and she soon became our close friend and companion.
She grew up to be the most beautiful, elegant and aristocratic creature, one would never have known that she had once been feral. She was graceful and refined, and had all the classic cats dexterity and acrobatic skills. She could stand on a table on one side of the room and hop up onto an open door on the other side of the room with the greatest of ease. She could also hop up from the floor onto the top of a high wardrobe with only 4 or 5 inches head room to the ceiling, being forced to land in a crouching position. Cats are such wonderful creatures.
Knowing little of cat breeds, we guessed that she was of Russian Blue origin, although, not being experts, this was only a guess. She certainly had a proud, regal bearing.
OK, I’ll be a good girl now!
When she came in heat she became completely impossible, screaming and howling day and night, and constantly sticking her rump into our faces or anything else that moved. We decided to let her have kittens before we got her sterilized. My brother in law at the time had a big orange tom cat that he offered to “lend” us, so he was brought round to see if he could ease the “itch”. He certainly could, there was instant understanding of the problem, and he got straight down to work. I would like to believe that the kittens were conceived while Mini was lying across my slippers! She had a habit of sitting on my feet while I sat and ate breakfast, but on this day old orange boy decided that there was no time like the present! What a commotion and caterwauling there was that morning!
We followed the pregnancy closely, and arranged a nest for her in the bottom drawer of a chest of drawers. She gave birth to 3 kittens, unfortunately one still-born. The remaining two were as different as chalk and cheese.
Look look, there’s a whole new world out there!
The female, Josephine, was a scatter-brained little tortie, always curious, always getting into scrapes. Batman, her brother, was quite a different kettle of fish. Black as the night, staid and ultra careful, he almost seemed a bit dim sometimes, but he grew up to be a very beautiful and intelligent cat.
… to be continued.
john
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I can't wait for part II. 
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