Arwen the gender bender….

Cat lovers will have already logged the arrival of Arwen a few weeks ago – so this is for them. Cat haters – turn away now….

Arwen has come to replace the late lamented Frodo and, although currently only a small fraction of Frodo’s size, is not doing a bad job!

For those who know about these things, she is a cross between a Siberian Forest cat and a Persian TeaCup!  Goodness only knows what this means she will grown into but it is certainly giving her character!

But, what am I saying – she…. A she we indeed thought she was – until she went off last week to the vet to be speyed before  the rampant toms of Belsize Park  could have their evil way with her. (And yes, apparently kittens can have more kittens at four months which, given her size, did not seem at all desirable!!) I got a very amused call from the vet about an hour later to say that my bill would be considerably lower than anticipated and that I could collect ‘him’ in an hour!! Well, cats do keep their belongings very tidily hidden except when needed so it it really quite hard to know!!

She (at that point she still was a she…) was introduced to everyone at the soggy summer party a few weeks ago when Ruth took this picture of her dismembering one of the judge’s chairs in the office! Since then she has been through the cork phase (great for chasing) and the apron string phase (best when left lying on the table with the strings hanging down); the destroying the newspaper phase, and the general ‘chasing the kitchen’ phase. Now she  (sorry, he) is working on how to use my computer….

Meanwhile, he has been making very strenuous efforts to make friends with Boris. These have not always been met with huge enthusiasm on Boris’ part, but, to do him justice he has been very tolerant of this small back and while bundle that keeps  jumping at him and disturbing his rest…. However, a bit of breakthrough happened in the garden yesterday and, as you can see, they did end up by having a conversation…

However, as you can imagine, all of this activity is quite exhausting so a kitten does need to get in some serious shut eye too. And where better than the comfy mat that you have already scrabbled up into a nice heap…

Indeed, just growing must be pretty exhausting as he has at least doubled in size in the month that he has been with us – which does make us rather wonder what size he will end up!! I certainly don’t think that he could squeeze down the front of Jonny’s shirt anymore – as he did when they first met three weeks ago! So, watch this space…..