How old was I when we first had a cat? 11 or 12 I think, we had two cats, a tortoise shell and a grey tabby. I remember loving them. One was a kitten and we had a settee which had four legs so it would run underneath and pounce on my ankles. I had to sit cross legged on the seat to avoid getting scratched!

I went to college and my friend had two kittens which we took to the vets and we saw an old cat there which was due to be euthanized.  we asked to take it in and looked after it for a year until it died of old age. That cat was Jinx and I did a lovely painting of him.

The following year we took in an adult female cat. She was very clever and liked to ride on my shoulders.  She had kittens and we kept two of them. Once their mum died they were our cats for many years. The female lived to 21. As they got old we took in another two strays, one of these would sit on the white line in the middle of the road,  waiting for me to come home. He was knocked over in an accident with a car and was put to sleep. The other cat we think was killed by antifreeze or another poison. I was very sad when that happened, but we were later persuaded to taken in two more cats. They lived long lives . Finally last year we took in a brother and sister cat. They love chasing each other around the house, up and down stairs. Having fun trying to catch water from the bath tap and jumping up on top of the cupboards in the kitchen. They are a little shy when new people visit but they are loved and give love. I could write more but I don’t want to bore you.

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