MERLIN... Warning: kitten overload...

Click  HERE  to hear a spoken version...

So, now we come to Merlin...

First of all, some background:

For those of you who don't know him, I have had a cat - Benny - since I moved into my current home in 2009. He was a rescue, aged about two, who had had a bad accident and lost one of his front legs. He has coped excellently with this problem and now, twelve years later, could be said to be about fourteen years old. 

However, back in the summer he was having real problems with getting onto his favourite bench in the garden - even a low chair defeated him. My heart sank somewhat, as mechanical problems at the rear end for any animal usually end in euthanasia. SO... having decided I did not want to be without a cat, I started questing. A friend's daughter had a couple of farmyard rescues - one of which was a sort of silver tabby, which would have complemented Benny very nicely! 

In the end though, the family decided they wanted to keep him. Sad at the time, but silver-lined clouds were on the horizon when my ex-handyman mentioned his neighbour had a litter which included a ginger-and-white tom kitten. Perfect! I have always wanted a ginger cat - no doubt influenced by the 'Orlando the Marmalade Cat' books when I was young...

(There is probably copyright attached to that image, but I regret I cannot find it. Apologies Mr Publisher...)

Thus, on the evening of Tuesday 7th September, a little seven-week old ginger fluff-ball entered my life! I had not planned to have quite such a young animal, but his mother had been run over a few weeks earlier and he and his siblings were pretty much hand-reared. As a result of this (I assume) he is immensely affectionate.

Like most young animals, he divides his time between horrendous hyper-activity (tiring to observe!) and complete relaxation, usually spreadeagled on my chest...

Me after a few minutes watching one of his 'mad' bouts...

He's also taken to sitting on the window sill to watch the world go by...

I have to say, my phone's camera is chocca full of photos and videos (kittens being the photogenic little imps they are) but now that he's four months old - and weighs 2kg, incidentally, I find myself being less snap-happy 😊

So, the next blog will either just be more photos of Merlin, or perhaps a few notes on how he changes (for the better, both Benny and I hope!) now that he's been neutered... In the meantime, crochet calls...