Big little kitty

This cat is big! He’s the biggest cat we’ve ever had. And yet he’s gentle and much more loving than he was when we first took him in.

He was known as ‘the outside cat’ at first. But we gave him a name and gradually he touched our hearts. He had been abandoned by his previous owners and was thin and a bit standoffish at first. For a long time he was outside and my other two cats stayed inside, they were rescues and we didn’t want them to stray onto the main road. We were also concerned they might catch something from the new cat.

I can’t believe how long it’s been since we let him in the house, and the other two out. Basically I would lock the cat flap so he could come in to eat but I would have to let him out so the two couldn’t go. But even then he was getting bigger and he would push and push on the cat flap until he broke it! We glued the split cat flap back together with a layer of plastic and sellotape. But eventually I got another flap and cut it down so the door to it would fit into the original mechanism.

Since then, this cat has thrived. He jumps up between us when we ask, he’s gentle with the other two (he eats as much as both of them put together though!). I love them all, but he has a special place in my heart.

Hedgehog seen!

Last night my hubby went out in the garden to put some bird food out and almost tripped over a hedgehog! He said it seemed to be asleep at the base of the cherry tree. He went out again and took a bowl of cat food. This morning the bowl had been tipped over and the food was gone.

When we see hedgehogs I think of spring. It’s still pretty cold and we may get some snow, but they are coming out of hibernation.

DON’T FEED…. milk and bread, hedgehogs are lactose intolerant. They also don’t get enough calories from so called ‘hedgehog’ food. Apparently it’s just meal worms and pet food manufacturers are just trying to make money. You can feed them cat food. Ours seem to like fresh wet or dry cat food. Also nake gaps in wooden fences at their bases to allow hedgehogs through into your garden. .

Animated?

Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was animate. I tried to work out how a horse runs and if I could try and draw overlapping images of them. I know there are books you can get that show you how to do animations but I just did this quickly without any reference. I’ve always enjoyed trying to draw horses, I have a basic idea of how they look. X

A creature?

Twisting the pattern I drew as a doodle seems to create a strange creature reflected in a mirrored surface. There could be other alien creatures lurking in there. I enjoyed doing this. I had some fun with it. I could make three more versions, choosing different corners to match up in the middle. I think this is my favourite.

Swans protecting Cygnets

We saw this family of Swans on our walk round Westport today. The Cygnets are almost adult size now and are stretching their wings and legs and are starting to change from soft down to white plumage.

As we stood and took photos several people walked past with dogs. The male Swan reacted by hissing loudly. One woman and her friends had three small dogs with them. Her friends walked swiftly by but she was panicking and wouldn’t move so I asked her to hand me the dogs lead and I held it while I stood between the Swan and her dog. The Swan just hissed but didn’t attack. She got past and I carried on with my walk. X

Cat on a hot carpet

Even cats have to have vaccine booster shots. It was probably the hottest day this year and my two cats had got to go to the vets. Both had been out all day. They hate pet carriers so I got the female in a closed bag and took her to the vets. They inoculated her but warned me to get her home straight away as she was overheating in the bag.

I got home and she ran upstairs and flopped so I put her some cool water near her if she wanted a drink.

Then we explored the garden, where the boy cat was lying under a bush. We’d put a bag of frozen peas in the bag to make sure it was cooler. Back to the vets. They were happy that the second cat wasn’t overheating. We got home and let the boy out of the bag, he sprang out, but as you can see him flopped on the carpet. He has now gone back outside. X