The cat wot I hate

Up to a point, at least. We had two cats. I didn't want the responsibility. I had a plan to restart my life on the other side of the world. Now I can only dream of what might have been and mourn what I've no longer got. He bought them any way. I fell in love. They were the only living things in the house I could tolerate. Then she came along but I still loved the cats. The grew older. One was injured by a car. He was never the same afterwards and one day he was killed by next door neighbor's dog which broke into our back yard to get him. The other never quite came to terms with the absence of his brother. He faded away slowly.

No sooner had the second died than we drew the attention of a small odd-ball that had begun to appear in the block.

One morning he decided to come in. He eschewed the standard feline approach of popping through the cat flap and flung himself and the door handle. Repeatedly.

I could either ignore this little black and white body flinging itself at the door handle or I could let him in. While I was deciding what to do His Lordship and my baby let him in. And fed him.

They decided to take him under their wing about three years ago now. We've forked out a small fortune in vet's fees: he got himself cut up all over his legs fleeing fight or a car. He wanders in and out as he pleases, sleeps where ever he wants (he has a very low tolerance of closed doors and will fling himself at internal doors until we give in). He brings in muddy paws, fleas and an an assortment of birds and rodents (usually not dead). He scratches the furniture and regards the dining room table as His Perch.

It is like living with a stroppy adolescent. Time hasn't bred affection. Sympathy has failed to fill me. I don't care that he regards this as his home. I don't care that his previous owners abandoned him. I don't care that he was injured when still a kitten and has a strange walk as a result. I don't care that he was removed from his mother too early. They probably abandoned him because he's unloveable. The physical injuries are healed and in no way inhibit his ability to catch wildlife. I do care that he has a teddy bear fetish (regarding them as mother substitutes) and leaves drool puddles on my daughter's collection.