Choosing Lily.

by Martin
(England)

Hi Dad,

Well all your nagging has paid off. At last I am posting the story of how we came to choose Lily our latest feline addition.

My partner Suzie's mum had a very pretty and friendly white cat. This cat was always well behaved and enjoyed going outside, never wandered far, but spent most of her time in the house.

One day Suzie's mum and dad came home to an awful smell, Lily had peed in the house, or so they thought. This was completely out of character for Lily, and as she was acting more nervous than she normally did, they thought she must be unwell.

The next day they caught the real culprit almost in the act. A big Tom cat was actually in their house and poor Lily was hiding herself away.

Suzie's mum and dad were surprised that a Tom was taking such an interest and spraying, as Lily has been spayed. But you tell me that Tom cats can still chase after spayed females, I did not know that either.

Suzie's parents tried everything they could think of to keep the Tom away but with no luck. Even though the Tom could no longer get in their house, he still made a pest of himself and was spraying outside their door.

At the end of her tether, Suzie's mum asked Suzie if she wanted to take Lily from her. Well, Suzie is big hearted and when it comes to animals she just can't say no. That's why our house is more like a small zoo most of the time :-) We already had two cats, Marble and Bluebell, two dogs Princess and Milo, two geese Wills and Kate, not forgetting two kids Jacob and Isobel. It can be crowded here, but it certainly is fun! And now we have another cat.

Lily was a little timid and nervous at first, can't say I blame her. I came home from work on the day she arrived and asked where she was. I was told that she was hiding.

Well our house is rather compact, not to say small, but she did not seem to be anywhere. I eventually found her hiding under the bed. Lily was OK but did not want to know about coming out from her hiding place.

It took about a week for Lily to start to settle in and get used to her new life. Princess is a big soppy dog that will chase cats when she is out, but makes friends with any cat that is brought into the home, she likes to mother them. She and Lily get on like a house on fire. Milo is younger and a bit more boisterous, he likes to play and so tries to tease Lily a bit but she stands up to him alright. Just like the other animals, Lily knows to leave the geese alone, if they get bothered they can give a nasty peck! Our other two cats have accepted Lily and don't take a lot of notice of her. Bluebell, the old girl, is usually curled up asleep somewhere and Marble is usually prowling around in the woods next to our house.

I'm very glad that Suzie chose Lily, well not choose her exactly, but chose to accept her. By the way, Lily looks a little aggressive in her photo, she's not at all it's just that she had her mouth open when the photo was taken. She is a sweetheart.