Crooked House

A country life in France

Crooked Cat

When we moved into our little crooked house, we acquired a little crooked cat. When I say “acquired” I actually mean that she muscled in and asserted this as her home. She wouldn’t go away.

It turned out that she used to live next door, having been rescued as an abandoned kitten. The elderly couple that cared for her went into care and the cat was simply left with nobody to look after it. She has decided that she lives here and that is apparently the end of it.

We feed her (outside) and we have wormed her, etcetera. She wanders in the house at will and goes to sleep on our bed and then wanders off again, usually coming in during the course of the evening to sit on a lap or two. Her house-training status is unknown but there have been no accidents yet and she chooses to spend the night outdoors.

Why is she a Crooked Cat? Well, in addition to a little emotional wonkiness after being twice abandoned, she also lacks a tail from having suffered an altercation with a motor vehicle. She is, even without a tail, a very sweet and affectionate beast and we are very happy to have been adopted.

We don’t know the cat’s name and have not been struck by any naming inspirations so for now at least, she remains simply Cat. She is never far away, always on the doorstep for morning and evening feeding times. Though not apparent when we arrive home in the car, we alight to find her rolling on her back behind the vehicle and have to ask “how do you do that?” When we sit outside to eat dinner she comes to sit with us or sites herself on top of one of the walls of the old grange  (seemingly the French term for a byre).

Relationships with Nell have been guarded. Cat hissed and spat at the poor dog, who defers in all matters feline but still is abused. That behaviour has lessened over the time that we have been here until now, going on four months later, Cat seems to accept Nell and even goes on the morning walk with her, pouncing and playing. They are not yet best buddies but who knows, time will tell.

UPDATE: 13th July 2018 – We now have a kitten. Not so very crooked, though in its own way I suppose that it is. A wee foundling runt.

UPDATE: 5th August 2018 Cat no longer wishes to come in the house and we miss her but she always comes to sit with us when we eat our dinner in the garden. Could just be cupboard love, though she never strays far from home and always runs to greet us when we have been out for the day. She goes walking with Nell and Mr L every morning but still spits and hisses at Dusty.

We are working on the socialisation and hope that eventually we will be able to take both cats away in the motorhome together.

Cat’s Gallery