Awake and up all night

My mum used to collect cats!

She always had some homeless cat move in! She loved them and took very great care of them (often costing a fortune in vets bills).  Some were a bit feral, obviously had a bad start in life but she was a cat whisperer and managed to win then round (after a lot of scratches on her arms!)

The oldest one she had, my sister found as a very young cat in the hotel carpark where she worked and took her to mum. She was a beautiful tortoiseshell and my sister named her Charlie.  Mum took care of her for 20+ years I think. We think she might have been 23/4 when she passed away...crazy age for a cat! 

Another one was Eric, who lived across the road from my parents with his brother Sid (as in Sid Vicious and Eric Idol). When the couple who were the cats' owners had their first child, Eric didn't like it some moved in with my parents! The couple and family eventually sold up and asked mum if she wanted to keep Eric, which of course she did! She looked after him for many years. 

She always had 3 or 4 cats on the go at any one time!! They all had a story and she loved them all 

Aww, that's lovely. What a good cat he was to the guineas too. I bet he gave you a lot of pleasure sweetheart xxx

What a wonderful story about your mum, Julie - a true cat lady and so very kind  

All our family are very fond of our feline friends - their playfulness and haughtiness amuse us no end, and some of their given names have been off the scale! OH and myself would really love to have one or two rescues, but we know we can't just yet. In the meantime, we're happy having neighbourhood cats wander into our garden and a bonus if they're up for a spot of pampering.

I bet your mum was a legend in her day, doing what she did for all those kitties xxx

If you want to encourage them, plant some cat mint (nepeta). I gave my sister a present for her cat today of a rainbow filled with catmint.  She just sent me a video of coco going bonkers with it

That sounds great. But cant see the where you wrote about the cats x

Is that like catnip Rose?

I've seen my daughter's cat go absolutely crazy when near her toys infused with the stuff, and it's hilarious to see! xxx

I think that’s another name for it

I think I might be going a little crazy at the moment….. maybe it’s mindy’s rainbow doing it to me.

i’m behaving as if I’m going on holiday, buying all sorts!

Found it, love the names !

Yes those are amazing ages. I want another cat, but l mostly got them from our vet, haven't gone to a rescue centre.

Cats find us too....

Also my neighbour was stopped at the traffic lights in the summer with all the windows open, when a man ran up to the car and threw a bin bag into the window and into her lap, her husband was driving and she screamed she thought it was a bag of trash. They pulled the car over and there was a puppy in the bag. They drove to the vet and left him there for tests and look for chip. And took him home the next day, its a sort of greyhound cross, can you even believe this !!!!

I thought for most of my life ginger cats are always male but have now been told some are female.

Ours was called Captain ginga and he was a nutter. I cant believe  there are such good cat stories here. Sounds like a possible story book for children xx

Thanks for sharing them have been a shaking wreck today and l feel a bit calmer reading these. There was a woman in the hospital crying on the way to hubby's ward so l stopped for a chat. She didn't want to say what was wrong but seemed to cheer up from just human contact. You can feel lost in the hospital  x