Yesterday we spent the afternoon at the Cats Protection League looking for cats. We had initial criteria – confident cats that don’t mind being handled (all my parents cats used to ride our shoulders, and I like that). I wanted minimum 2, P stipulated maximimum 2.

Two sets of cats at the League were an option when we got there: Fudge and Smudge — brothers, both toms — and two unnamed, 10-week old kittens.

Fudge	Smudge	Kitten 1	Kitten 2
All the photos from the Cats Protection League

Although I went in really wanting kittens, it was the adult cats that really engaged with us at the shelter. The kittens were timid, and the only way to engage them was to get them to play with shoelaces, and the various toys. They weren’t keen on being picked up at all, made a dash for the door whenever they could. And, harsh though it sounds, whilst they’re adorable black and white kittens, it won’t be long before they’re just another set of black-and-white cats, like the five different various neighbour cats who already use our garden.

Fudge and Smudge were different. Don’t like the names much. Fudge is really leonine, up to and including a mane. As soon as we got near his cage, he was demanding attention, rolling over into tarty poses, and he had no problem with me picking him up within minutes of getting into the cage. Smudge, however, a grey colour cat with none of his litter-mate’s longhaired tendences, is really a frightened cat. Apparently the centre found a few days after they had him that he had a collar on under his fur– it had been put on him as a kitten and never loosened, and tightened progressively as he grew. They had to cut it off him. Hopefully he’ll come out of his shell with a bit of attention over a few weeks.

In the week they’ve been in the CPL’s care, they’ve been prodded, blood samples taken, and castrated. So it’s quite surprising that either cat was prepared to be friendly at all.

When we left the cage and looked around the other pens, Fudge was hollering after us — come back! It’s us! You’re taking us home!

We need to wait now for a home visit from the CPL to check that we are a suitable home for their cats, but hopefully, we should have our new friends living here within a week.

Of course, we’ve been planning this for some time. I bought cat-dishes, a scratching post and a cat-flap when they were sale items at Lidl November last year, before we even moved home!  We bought a litter-tray when we were playing host to Libby, and in the last few weeks, we’ve been buying cat food and cat treats whenever we’re at the supermarket.  P excelled himself and found “Thank you for feeding the cat” fudge when we were in Norfolk last month, and whilst at the laundrette yesterday popped over to Mapperly Pets and bought one of those cat-pyramid things to give Smudge a little privacy and somewhere to hide.

I think we’re ready.