Introducing No 2

All cat groups have a hierarchy and our cats are no different, Socks is in command and Talisker is his second, not because she does as he tells her but because she can beat up all the others and not him. Socks is getting old and there will come a time when she is top cat but she has to keep her eye on one of the younger ones who is rocketing up the ranks.

Talisker joined the family as a companion for one of our older cats who seemed to be quite lonely after her best friend passed on. Talisker is a rather beautiful cat, she has a completely white body with a tabby tortoiseshell tail and a tabby tortoiseshell cap. She has lovely green eyes very similar to Socks although no relation. They come from different sides of the country. We have a name theme in our household and if I tell you that the other cats are called Oban, Jura and Tobermory you might guess where their names come from. No they are not named after Scottish name places but single malt whiskies. Guess what we like to drink, we did want to name her after our favourite whisky but we didn't think calling her Spring Bank sounded as good as some of the other whiskies. Despite her beautiful appearance and lovely name she is a grumpy so and so. She loves her humans but hates other cats, we think she is a ailurophobe.
As mentioned before we acquired her as a companion for one of our older cats. We went and got her when she was eight weeks old. It had been many years since we had had a kitten in the household and all was new and exciting. We introduced her to our older cat very carefully thinking that in a few weeks they would cuddle up together keeping the older one warm. No such luck it was hate on first sight. We had had this happen in the past and the cats had learned to live together and eventually became the best of friends so we had hope for these two. Tally used to shoot round the house having a whale of a time. She had us giggling and acting like youngsters ourselves. Bit by bit the hissing died down and the cats would tolerate each other, only telling each other how much they hated the other one when they came face to face.
Tally was devoted to her human dad and would cuddle up on his knee, any available t shirt or jumper would be suckled to death until dad would have to go and find a towel to dry himself off. Dad worked from home and was sat in front of the computer most of the time so lots of towels were needed. As she grew older she stopped suckling as much but could still be heard in the dead of the night slurping on the quilt until there was a large damp patch.
Tally was a hunter from the start. We had always trained our cats not to hunt birds but they were allowed mice and rats. With Tally this proved to be quite hard as she would eat whatever she had caught leaving no remains for us to teach her with. She learnt quickly that if she came into the house with them, mum and dad would chase her to pinch it. Cheeky humans they could go and catch their own lunch she wasn't letting them eat hers and stopped coming in with her latest takeaway.
At six months old she would be going to the vets to be neutralised. No little kitties, there are enough in the world without creating more. Unfortunately some cats develop quicker than others and we spotted the signs early on, strange males turning up and her being a complete tart and rolling around on her back batting her eyelashes at them. So she was grounded and warned about the dangers of boys. Much to her disgust she was locked in the upstairs office, she had everything she needed food water her bed and a litter tray. No matter how much, she begged and pleaded to be let out, promising she would be a good girl we did not give in. We were firm and told her that come pay day she would be going on a lovely trip to the local town and in the sight seeing tour we would be viewing the veterinary surgery.
We underestimated her determination. We had double glazed windows that could be opened a small bit for fresh air. being upvc they had to be pushed quite hard to be opened, fine she wouldn't be able to open it. The office was upstairs so even if she could get out she wouldn't be able to get down. We didn't realise what devotion the Mysterious Black Tom Cat cauterwauling below the window was offering her and how much her head was turned by such talk. She must have pushed and squeezed until finally she got through the gap and leaped out into his waiting paws. The first we knew of it was when a grey brown cat appeared out of the shrubbery rolling around in ecstasy it took a moment to realise that this was Tally completely covered in mud only the green of her eyes could be seen. She was unceremoniously put in the shower and cleaned off, it took a good half an hour to get it all off her. While this was going on she was being told she was a ruined woman and how she would be lucky to see him again now he had had his wicked way with her.
After this there was no fresh air gaps and no matter how much she told us she loved him and he had promised to marry her we would not let her out. We took her to the vets and explained our sorry tale to the vet who said at this stage he could not tell if she pregnant and to bring her back in a few weeks time when he would be able to tell one way or the other.
Guess what?
She was pregnant.
Since she had got out Mysterious black cat hung around constantly we assumed he could still smell her and in no way had any commitment to her. We lived in the Country and knew all of the local cats this was a stranger a wild cat and we had to be careful around him. Several times we had to chase him off as he squared up to Socks our old man. Blood was drawn and Socks became paranoid bopping anything that looked like it might challenge him.
Talisker was pregnant, there was no point in keeping her in anymore the deed was done. Her and Mysterious Black Cat were inseparable he had promised her the earth and he was keeping his promise they would laze in the sun together go hunting across at the farm together. He being big and tough introduced her to rat hunting and the rat population at the farm dropped dramatically.
Finally the time came when getting through the cat flap was a problem and she started to nest. We set up a box as a nursery all lined and comfortable but she turned her nose up at this her she kept trying to nest under the bed which was inaccessible to us. Finally she compromised and had them in the cat basket. Three kittens two unusual coloured ones and a black and white one. After two weeks of total devotion to them she went out and spent some time with her Mysterious Black Cat. When the kittens were big enough to get through the cat flap Tally proudly introduced them to him and he was great with them. We decided to keep one of the kittens more about him in the next blog.
Talisker spent more and more time with the mysterious black cat, she would be out in the morning with him and back again late at night. She could often be seen across at the farm hunting in the barns with the Mysterious Black Cat. So much for thinking that he was a ne'er do well who would be off after having his wicked way with her.