Penfold - The Accidental Smallholder

Posted: Monday 31 December, 2012

by Rosemary at 4:25pm in Cats Comments closed

When Dan asked me what I wanted for Christmas, there were two things on the list – new waterproof trousers and a cat.

We have two cats - Felix (13) and Bertie (nearly 4). Bertie’s brother, Harry, was killed on the road back in May. Of the six cats we’ve lived with, five have been black. Actually, five have been black toms – only Copper was different being a tortie female. We’re nothing if not predictable.

So about ten days before Christmas, we set off to the Cat Protection shelter in Dundee – “just for a look”. There were a couple of black females on the website that we quite fancied, but neither was suitable for us. Then the lady said “What about Pepsi?” – black tom, about 4 years old; was a stray being fed by a lady with four cats of her own; lady unfortunately died; husband kept two cats and the other three came into the shelter. We saw him, had a chat and said, “Yes, please”.

We had our home visit on the Monday and picked up the new boy on Tuesday 18^th December. We decided that Pepsi was a female name – remember Pepsi and Shirley? – so we settled on Penfold (Dan was / is a BIG Dangermouse fan).

Ten days on and Pen’s part of the family. He still hisses at the dogs if they get too close but they’ve seen so many cats come and go, they pretty much ignore him and carry on their way. Felix inhabits a world of his own anyway and Bertie’s just a nice cat, so they seem to rub along fine.

Penfold settling in.

For the first few days, Pen lived in the office but his enthusiastic use of the litter tray nearly did for Dan, so he was integrated a bit quicker than we had planned. He’s a big cat – very chunky, with a leg at each corner and the most amazing almost amber eyes. He makes Bertie look like a kitten, because Bertie is so long and slender with a pointed, slightly Oriental face although I guess they are much the same weight.

We’ve decided that the 2^nd January is the day we’ll let him out. He’s getting a wee bit stir crazy and spends quite a lot of time on various windowsills, staring out. He loves to play with his string and his wee furry mousie – let’s hope he’s as enthusiastic about the real thing next week. :-)