Meet our almost adopted cat.

In early Autumn we kept seeing a cat on the back patio so OH put some dried food down. I don't think a Dyson hoover on full blast would have taken it up as fast! This carried on for a few weeks then it started coming into the house on the odd occasion to eat our cats' food. Ah! Since then we saw it both mornings and afternoons on a more regular basis so I sat down with it, talked quietly, and even managed to give it a little gentle stroke now and then. It seemed to like all this and became more and more confident, so it began to have a look upstairs, then would come down to sit under a chair in the main room to see what's going on and have the odd nap or two. I can now tickle under its ear which it enjoys and even stops eating while I do it. When its finished it likes to sit in the doorway to watch me on my PC (see attached pic), stays for a while then goes. It's very vocal and when it comes in it sounds just like its saying "hello" and on leaving it seems to say "Ta for my food. I'm going now." I'm pretty sure it's a tom but I named it Jessie after a name mentioned in Thora Hird's film "Lost for Words" in case it was a female. I never realised how similar it is to Postman Pat's cat! Two of our cats avoid it but Daphne the tortie tolerates it most of the time and has sometimes eaten side by side with it. To be able to communicate with a cat is so special and to gain its confidence is a wonderful thing.

Have you checked its microchip, a vet will do that for free if it has one, might be able to find where it has come from?

I wouldn't have dreamed of blaming him, Mrs B - he was a beautiful boy with a stunning coat and we loved him!

He was also the youngest cat in the world to get kidney failure, and went downhill very quickly after that...

My neighbour is pretty sure he comes from a farm down the lane because she and they shared a litter a while back (can't remember the full story) so he's obviously got at least two homes on the go. His coat is quite thick, soft and always beautifully clean. I doubt he'd be micro-chipped, and never having picked him up as yet, I don't think it's worth the scars or the upset it would cause him, but as long as he's ok that's fine. We'll shortly pop a worming tablet in his food to keep him fit and well.

He appeared again this morning for a good feed so I stroked him and actually got some purrs from him. It sounds like a squeaky bicycle but was so lovely to hear.