Intruder alert, Intruder alert. Stranger danger

One day mummy and I were out on walkies and I heard a rather unusual chirruping bird sound from inside the hedge, it wasn’t a bird noise that I recognised but it did sound a bit like Millie when she’s talking to the birds in the garden. Anyway, I though it must be some kind of new type of bird that only lives up here in the North and doesn’t travel down to the big cities. Well, I thought I’ve gotta catch…I mean…befriend one of these so I engaged my stealth mode and crawled over towards the hedge with my tummy as close to the ground as I could so so I didn’t scare it away. I crawled closer and closer and then, just as I was about to jump up to say hello, my blindie senses started to tingle and…wait a minute…I smell kitty cat, those noises weren’t a bird at all but an intruder cat, in my garden, hiding in my hedge, hunting my birdies and trying to fool me! The cheek of it!

Still mummy said I should be polite and say hello so I cautiously went over to introduce myself. Well the intruder cat wasn’t very polite and growled at me, when I tried to get closer to say hello it ran away! Well, I’m not one for confrontation so I backed off over to the other hedge to give it a bit of space, after all I’m a lover not a fighter. He didn’t go very far, just past the gate, watching us from, hopefully, a respectful distance. Mummy was talking to the intruder cat but it wasn’t very friendly towards her and it wouldn’t come very close, so we carried on our walkies and left the intruder cat to carry on with the rest of its day. Come on then mummy, stop paying attention to the stranger and let’s get on with our walkies and playing with the birdies. This way, follow me.

So off we went but there was a strange feeling that I couldn’t shake, like I was being watched and sure enough when I stopped and listened I could hear the patter of paw steps in the distance. When mummy turned round there was the intruder cat following along behind us, this time at a respectful distance. I reckon he was just trying to suss out mummy and I on our walkies. I don’t think it’s a normal thing for a cat to see another cat on a lead going for walkies, let alone a blind cat. Sometimes other cats don’t quite get me, as a blind cat I don’t always react the same way to meeting another cat as sighted cats would. I don’t react when they fluff themselves up to try to look bigger nor do I pick up those small body movements that most cats use to show how they are feeling. That confuses most other cats but I pick up on other more subtle things, the tiniest of sounds that another cat makes, their smell and how that can change with their mood, how they walk, the movement of their paws, I can pretty much hear what they’re going to do before they do it!

I’ve got my own technique for pinpointing where sounds come from, no matter how quiet they might be. Mummy says it’s like I’m scanning the area in front of me and she’s right, I move my head very slowly from side to side, with each sweep of my head, getting the best angle I can to hone in on my target. Mummy says that my ears are like two radar dishes helping me pinpoint the exact source of any sound no matter how quiet the noise or how loud the surroundings are. When I’m really listening, really listening hard, I’m completely focussed, everything else fades around me, the surrounding noises disappear into nothing, all I can hear is what I’m intent on, nothing else matters, it’s like the blindie version of tunnel vision. Then all of a sudden, once I’m done, everything comes whooshing back and I can hear all the surrounding noises again and “oh, hello mummy I’m back.”

Anyway, back to my story, then I think it decided it liked me, it was still wary of mummy but he came up onto the patio and rolled around. “Oh look Jenny, I think it wants to play with you” said mummy happily, “I don’t think so mummy I think it’s trying to tell me that it thinks this is it’s patio and it’s trying to show me it’s da boss cat. Well I’m not having it, this is my patch and I’m the queen of this garden” and I let out a little growl to show him I wasn’t having any of it. Then off he ran behind the wall and I meowed quietly “yeah! You’d better run, don’t mess with a blind kitty on a lead!” I’m not sure he heard me but I was proud of myself for standing up to the intruder kitty. I hope one day though it might want to be friends with me, as long as it knows I’m da boss cat in my garden but I don’t mind sharing with a polite kitty once in a while.

With all that excitement there was nothing else for it….come on mummy I’m starving is it time to go in for dinner and a nap yet?