And this one makes three-Feral Cat

many months ago I realised someone out there was hungry.. Ireland dumps cats and most do not spay or neuter

I have been feeding ferals all the years in Ireland..

But this one, ginger it seemed, started coming nearer and nearer and then in through the cat flap and the door.

An ankle winder so charming... He did not spray in the house and was utterly captivating although dangerous to my balance... Not altogther trustable either as he had to learn his manners where lashing a clawed paw in humger and impatience was concerned..

And oh dear! he and my two did not and do not get on.

So the training began of an outdoor cat and two indoor cats to prevent injury

It is at times a comedy act.. new lad chases my other cat up a tree and gets salpped in the face doing so. The two males have hissing matches on each side of the window glass ... Never a dull moment and wee dog gets her nose smacked for taking liberties...

One night I heard blood curdling screams outside when my two were abed with me.

Outside, new cat and a runty ginger feral were locked together screaming and yelling, rolling over and over.. they lit off across the fields and could be heard for quarter of an hour. Only my new boy returned and I have seen the runty one around but not here,

This may sound impossible, but we carefully relocated and rehomed a runty ginger feral last year as he was coming in through the cat flap and spraying the whole house. Took him a good sixty miles and it took weeks to get the stench out of the car...

Maybe him, maybe his twin. but he has been soundly routed from here thankfully

So now new lad has a nest in the shed; old knitteds etc in the flight module. In storms he goes missing. When I go to feed him he winds round my ankles and purrs so i suspect he has been dumped as this is not the behaviour of a true feral. he has been used to being handled..

I asked family what to call him.. "Iwant something pretty" I said so that is his full name, shortened to Sum Sum.

A wise cat who watches and knows the minute the dogs are put to bed and he can strut and swagger out for his food.

Hoping I can get the photo on...

Sumsum looks a lovely new addition to you menagerie Rosebud

Very pretty cat. Only ferals I've seen in the UK were Tabby or Tabbyish and very big.

Here although the island is in danger of sinking under the weight of the street cats, no one refers to them as ferals. They are just the cats of Cyprus. Almost all of them quite small too.

A very handsome looking cat

They are cared for there! here they are rife in rural areas and are definitely wild critters; the ginger runt was typical. I caught him with a borrowed humane trap and if he could have grabbed my fingers he would have taken them off. They are in rural areas so inbred too. He is big for a feral

Ireland is very rural and villages etc are isolated.

Many are trying with TNR but cats are almost vermin here. My first night in Ireland I gave my chicken stew to three cats at the door; old man in hospital and no one could be bothered feeding his cats. The next morning there was a cat behind every bush as the telegraph had spread.

SumSum must have been handled at some stage. he does not know about sitting on laps but has to have a good rub and pet before he will eat.

And now no other feral will get near the house as he is KING here. He has a lacy ear to prove it.. I pity any mouse also as my two are killers.

I lost a cat to a badger in Ireland so Ireland has owed me a cat and this is he.

Love Sum Sum quite beautiful and also useful if he is keeping other cats off your patch and as a bi-product protecting your other two. We have five on strength here all are rescue cats coming to us in diverse ways but all are spoilt rotten. Also love the view from your backdoor where I am (which you will know as a former Oldham lass) is the grey grim Saddleworth Moor. Bye fer now.

Sum Sum is a treasure indeed. He came in with a split ear one day but no damage done since so the other wannabbees seem to have taken the hint, I saw ginger runt last week a mile up the lane, sitting on a tree stump scowling at me. Had no idea they could home so far as that.

It was Wigan actually but I know Oldham well... Kerry totally and utterly lovely with huge wild bleak areas. Sea and lakes and forest...it has everything.

I'd much rather live in Kerry than Wigan as well. I'm not far from there.

I remember the cold there. Cold streets and hard pavements and then being so close to the coal fire you got scorched. We moved to Warrington when I was tiny but visited Wigan most weekends to a back street two up two down with the toilets all in a row in the back yard. Going to the loo was a heroic task.

All gone now those houses but the warmth of the relatives was a different matter. And the good food....

Kerry has its moments believe me but I am a solitary and country person and the mountains feed me. Folk are horrified at the isoaltion here but as I say it is people who cause trouble not solitude... safer here than on town streets

He has a voice that could cut glass too..never heard th e like from a cat