I’ve been searching for it all around our finca in rural Mallorca, but I can’t find it. I’m talking about the sign that says ‘Homeless and hungry cats, this way’, with an arrow pointing towards our place. There must be one somewhere . . .

In my last post I wrote about Shorty – who arrived at our finca as a tiny starving kitten in August 2012, but is now a thriving (in this case, a euphemism for slightly overweight) ginger cat. Although he was very small and frail when he first turned up, he was determined to become part of our feral feline family and resisted all attempts by the other cats to dissuade him. His tenacity paid off: he now has a bunch of adopted ‘siblings’ who are as close to him as they are to each other.

The Ginge with a Whinge

After completing that last blog post, I went outside to the front of the house and stood on the terrace in the unusually warm October sunshine to gaze over our land. Which is when I heard a persistent mewling coming from some shrubs. Minutes later I saw the source: a pale ginger kitten, probably a couple of months old. When I called The Boss out to see it, he said that earlier he’d heard a stationary car, with its engine idling, further up the lane. By the time he’d been out to have a look (we don’t get many unfamiliar cars using our lane), the vehicle had gone. We both suspect that whoever was in the car probably dumped the kitten on our land.

We’ve been feeding it since then and it lets us know when it’s hungry by means of a loud and persistent squealing outside. So loud that we no longer need to set an alarm to wake us up in the mornings.

Our other cats are not at all impressed, hissing at the kitten when it attempts to approach any of them. Ironically, the cat that has most taken against the newcomer is Shorty – who only 14 months ago was doing much the same thing as this latest little interloper.

We’re hoping that the kitten – which could be a female (and will therefore need to be sterilized at an appropriate time) – won’t upset the happy dynamics of our adopted cat family. Only time will tell.

Making itself at home – despite the less than warm welcome from the other cats

Jan Edwards Copyright 2013