Tich

Tich is the brother of Pippa and Chia. He is a beautiful cat, and although he will let you stroke him through the window he will not let anyone get near him outside.

Tich and his brother and two sisters were born under our hedge in the spring of 2000. When we discovered them they were a few weeks old. We rang one of the rescue agencies, they said if we fed mother and kittens until the kittens were around six weeks old they would help to trap them, spay the mother and re home the kittens. When the kittens were six weeks old we rang the agency and they sent someone to help trap the mother, but said if they took the kittens they would all have to be destroyed as there were too many kittens already to find homes for. We decided to keep them all. The girls who were quite tame were caught and taken into the house but the two male cats who were totally wild were left outside with their mother, who had been returned after having been spayed. Tich and his brother, who we called Charlie, seemed very happy living together with their mother and although we did try to tame them we couldn't really get near them. When all the kittens were six months old we decided to have them neutered so as not to add to the cat population. With great difficulty we managed to catch Charlie and he was taken to the vet. When he came back his mother wouldn't have anything to do with him and took Tich to another part of the garden and kept chasing poor Charlie away. Two days later we manage to catch Tich and when he came back the mother abandoned both cats and went to live down the road. Oliver our Spanish neighbours cat turned up around about this time and all three male cats got along together. When the cats were about 18 months old there was a storm one night and the next morning Charlie had disappeared. Where he went, or what happened, we don't know. We did try to encourage Tich in after this but have never succeeded, he does, however, seem happy with his life.

Tommy who is another cat we feed turned up about two years ago. He is a very nervous cat and another one you can't get near outside. We do, however, make it a rule that they are stroked before they are fed on the window ledge. No stroke, no food. This is so if we have to catch them for any reason we stand a chance of getting them when they come to eat.