Our Life in Burgundy

 As Chris could not bear to part with any of the kittens we still have all four of them. And White Cat, their mother, still has us. She thinks the kittens should be long gone so she hisses at them if they come within spitting distance. The kittens take no notice of this and like to see her.  White Cat sleeps peacefully on our bed during the day. Do you remember Chris saying Don’t feed that cat, and She’s not coming in the house…? When it gets dark she goes out for the night shift and the kittens stay in.

White Cat

The kittens still have their distinctive personalities. Benedict is the rather greedy adventurous one and is usually called Oy! Benedict!. Benedict is dapper, like an old-fashioned gent with moustache and beard, dressed up in a sleek grey frockcoat with white waistcoat.

Benedict and Claude

You might think he would be the boss but it is little Blanche who rules the roost. Blanche is petite and pretty with big dark green eyes and she gets what she wants by batting her siblings on the nose or, with Chris, being cute.

Blanche with Benedict

Smudge is easygoing and rather plain but just like her mum. From her we can guess how amiable White Cat might have been had we had her from birth.

Smudge

Claude is a rangy bag of bones covered by a skin that is two sizes too big. He is rather clumsy with his outsized feet and somewhat simple, but he is beside himself with pleasure when he is offered a lap.  Claude is by far the biggest cat but he is the last in the pecking order and will just sit and watch while the others eat his dinner.

We do have more than the one chair

So, there you have it. We have gone from an ordered household with a no pets policy to living with five cats within the space of a year. The moral of this tale is don’t feed any stray cats!

You can look back to previous kitten blogs on  http://www.cormatin.eu/blog/?tag=kittens

I’ve just discovered it’s quite difficult to take photos of the cats at 4 months because they are either asleep or dashing about. We are surprised to have got them to this age without them being run over on the road, eaten by our neighbour’s mastiff or lost in the drainage tunnels.

Benedict is still the clever one. Quiet but cunning. He’s the one who is fitted with the battery which keeps going when the others have stopped.

Benedict

Blanche is the pretty one. Petite like her mother with a tiny miaow. She has dark almond shaped eyes and, although independent, has started seeking out Chris’s lap.

Blanche

Smudge is the big one, quite thick set and fluffy. She is the domestic one. She finds the dustpan and brush fascinating, and always comes to help with cleaning or gardening. She has a very loud purr and throws herself down in front of you to be stroked.

Smudge

Claude is the nice but dim one. He has an incredibly loud miaow. If you shut the kittens outside he will sit on the terrasse looking pathetic and howl to be let in. When you open the door a crack the other three rush out of hiding and force their way in.

Claude

I had always wondered how they could all be so different until I read that when the female cat is in season she will go round every tomcat she can find. With each she will release an egg so by the time she has finished  she might have a litter of kittens that each have a different father. This genetic variety helps their survival. I have seen a tom that looks like Benedict, and another like Claude. And a local feral cat which is black has also produced two white kittens so there must be a white tom around.

Chris with Smudge and Claude

The kittens continue to thrive. They have the well defined characters that were apparent from their earliest days. Benedict is still the leader of the gang. Like his mother he is thin and wiry and streetwise. He has a sleek grey coat like polished pewter. Blanche is the absolute clone of her mother, small and slim and independent.  Both would rather stay out and play than come in for food.

Blanche, Benedict and Claude at 12 weeks

Smudge lives up to her name and is often more a dirty yellow than white as she likes to roll around in the dust. Claude is still very much the baby of the family. He has the loudest voice and yells when he is stuck up a tree or has lost sight of his mother. Smudge and Claude are fond of their food and are rounder, fluffier, more domestic cats. They are very friendly and like being at home.

White Cat trying to keep Smudge clean

We had a setback with White Cat who went to be sterilised last Tuesday. We had meant to take her three weeks ago but the grandkids had come and on the day, with all the pandemonium, White Cat could not be captured. So unfortunately she was well pregnant when we eventually got her to the vet’s and it turned out to be a major operation rather than just a simple speying. When she came home she had to be kept away from the kittens for a couple of days as they were hostile to each other. Then one night White Cat felt strong enough to lick them and all was back to normal. The kittens have had to grow up a bit as she is not well enough to supervise them closely and, despite them trying, they have had to stop their occasional suckling because she’s covered with a huge plaster underneath.

I’m totally impressed with Jèrôme, the vet who operated on White Cat. He treats her as if  she is the most precious cat on earth rather than just a skinny stray cat without a proper name. The nurse calls her Mimi which is just ‘puss’ in French but I think that rather suits her.