Story page............................. have you a cat story to share..................we'd love to read it here. If you have a small definition picture to share please email it to us and for email address click on : editor

For starters..................Here is Oliver's story:

The Story of Oliver ...................... watch this space, for when I can scan a picture............

Oliver came from a long line of black and white ferals who spent the past few decades in a remote drove way out in the fens near Ely. A kindly lady called Kath, fed them tirelessly for many years out in all kinds of weather and would never sit down to her own lunch until she knew they were fed. There are just a few houses in the drove and the various kittens who have survived have mercifully been rescued and homed throughout the village, giving the place a distinctive black and white touch. Shortly after Maureen moved to the village in 1991, Oliver, as she called him - because of his very round head - and his Mum, Little Mo turned up on her doorstep. These were the last of the Isleham ferals and they continued to turn up each day, realising that the new owner was a likely bet for a good meal. They would lope up the drove together with their tails entwined and their heads rubbing together.

A cat flap was fixed to the outer door of Maureen's house, and with the help of clothes pegs, holding the door open, the two rather bedraggled little bundles would appear, and every morning would wait for breakfast. With the help of a makeshift cat-trap borrowed from the local CPL, both cats were caught and whisked off the the local vet for neutering and spaying, worming and fleaing. Their appearances soon began to change - fluffy and bonny, instead of flea-ridden and thin. They were still very frightened, as all ferals are at first, but their daily visits continued, until one day 'Mum' or 'Little Mo', as we called her, failed to turn up. After several days she returned and it was obviously she was desperately ill and she had returned to die - goodness knows how many kittens she had given birth to in her life. Oliver was pretty distraught and we wondered what he would do, but his visits increased and he became more tame and another cat-flap was fixed to the inner door. It tooks months for him to learn how to 'work' the cat flap, but having done so, the clothes pegs were despensed with and he came into the kitchen for his food, and two cat flaps were especially fitted for him through to the garden. The breakthrough came when he allowed his head to be stroked - he buzzed and buzzed and gradually became very tame.

Maureen moved to Kentford, near Newmarket, in 1998 and Oliver came too. She had cat-proof fencing put up to keep him from wandering far - although so great was his devotion to her, that I don't think he would consider doing this. He lived until August 25th 1999, when he faded away and died. Inspite of fairly bad health, from all the years in the wild, he had spent some wonderful years as a domesticated cat, and Maureen always remembers the words of a dog walker in the drove in Isleham one day, as Oliver stretched himself resplendently over the garage roof. Remembering what a bedraggled little cat Oliver was in the years before Maureen came along, he said, 'You've certainly done a lovely job with that cat.' - JANCIS HARVEY

click here to return to home page