These past few days Abbie has been irritable. She has been irritable because Charlie has again been hanging around her garden. Charlie is the little cat who turned up here some weeks ago as an un-neutered tom. Ten days ago, I found out that he had an owner and returned him to her once he had been neutered. Unfortunately, Charlie is attracted to Abbie and her friends and continues to prefer to spend most of his time with them rather then with his human family. I often see him partially hidden in the hedge that separates our garden from our next door neighbour's watching them, or running across our lawns to say hello to one of them. I also sometimes find him curled up on the mat outside our patio doors in the evening after everyone has come in for the night and first thing in the morning before everyone gets let out. Abbie wishes that Charlie was not attracted to her and her friends. When she sees him outside on the mat or hears him trying to use her cat flap to come indoors, she charges, screaming, at whichever door Charlie is at and leaps at it with outstretched front legs to cushion her impact on landing.. As she crashes against the door, Charlie leaps backwards, then dashes away to find a temporary haven. Abbie guards the door until she thinks he is not going to return. But he always does.

Last night, Charlie's re-appearance at her cat flap was, for Abbie, one appearance too many. When I opened the front door to see how far he gone in search of sanctuary, she slipped past me and went in search of him. She found him hiding in bushes in one of our neighbour's front gardens and screaming, chased him out of them and down our road. I called after her to let him go but her blood was up and she did not heed my cry. She continued to pursue Charlie and they disappeared into gardens further down the road. Two hours later she returned looking very pleased. Today, there has been no sign of Charlie. Abbie won't say why.

Copyright © Sheenah Large
March 16, 2003