Do shorter days and colder nights cramp an adventure cats lifestyle?

As the days get shorter and the nights get longer and the suns warmth fades and is replaced by wind and rain which seems to last forever you know that autumn is here and winter is on the way.

Autumn means crisp mornings and crinkly leaves to play with along with the birdies who are flitting about getting themselves ready for the cold weather to come. I love playing with the birdies in the hedges, they flit this way and I follow them then just as I arrive and settle in to play they fly back to where they were before, off I trot to finds them and then they fly off again! Mummy says they’re teasing me but I don’t mind it’s a fun game to play and every so often one comes just close enough for me to almost touch it with my paw. This kind of game keeps my senses well trained, they might have small wings and timy feathers but I can hear them, I can even hear the sound of their claws as they land and grip onto the branches and fidget this way and that, it seems like they never keep still for more than a second, always on the move, always chatting to each other and all trying to get the best spot to queue for the food mummy puts out for them.

This is the kind of weather I like, not too warm and not too cold, enough wind to get zoomies but not too much that it squiggles my senses. I’ll happily sit outside in the catio all day, sitting on my log pile to get the best vantage point, just listening to the world go by. Then taking mummy out for her evening walkies when she gets home. This time of year also means mummy starts to have baths to warm up after being out with me and so that means I get to be mummy’s bath buddy and keep her company as she lazes in the warm water until she’s (in her words) cooked through and through and has turned all wrinkly.

I love mummy and me time but it’s being interrupted recently by Mona Lisa who follows mummy round everywhere and is still trying to get to know us in her own over excited way. I’ve never met a Werecat before but im pretty sure that’s what she is really. She howls at us and chases us and really doesn’t seem to know how to just be polite. Mummy says it’s coz she’s scared of us and I know us three are very close in our little clowder and that we’re all lovers not fighters but I don’t think she realises that just yet. It doesn’t help blindie relationships when thunder paws is having mad, mad zoomies around the house at top speed, up and down the corridors, through the living room and cons club, out into the catio and back round and through the kitchen and dining room. She really does sound like a whole heard of mini elephants but mummy says that she runs differently to us, mummy and daddy think it’s because she doesn’t have a tail to balance her as she runs so she runs with her front paws wider apart than we do which makes her look much more stocky as she runs and sounds much firmer.

It seems that there wasn’t much autumn this year, not so much time to play in the leaves before the cold of winter turned up. Winter sounds different, the noises of the cars driving past are much noisier, there’s no leaves left to soak up the noise and they sound cold and harsh and their sound seems to carry further. The grass is cold and crunchy underfoot and as I run around I make little paw prints everywhere. The scents of the other animals are much clearer and I know winter is really coming when I hear the snuffle and rustle of the leaves under then hedge when I’m on walkies and get to say good evening to Quilliam and as we know now Mrs. Quilliam 🦔 as they come for their evening meal.

Normally they come along when we’re all tucked up in bed but as the cold night come, I get to meet them again. I love our hedgehogs and sit and listen to them as they come through the hedge, I make sure they’re ok, say hello and then let them carry on. Mummy is always watching to make sure I don’t scare them but I find them quite fascinating. For such small creatures they make a lot of noise huffing and puffing as they walk around and then such loud crunching noises as they munch on the dinner mummy puts out for them every evening.

As the days get colder our walkies get shorter but I always get to go out and it doesn’t matter if it’s not for long, there’s no hard and fast rules for walkies time. It’s just a bit sad that I don’t get to go to the woods at this time of year as I love the woods but mummy says it’s not safe to go there now as it’s too dark for her to see everything that’s going on and spot any creatures that might come out to play when it gets dark. . “It’s ok mummy, I can’t see and I do ok, I always know what’s coming before you do anyway, you can just follow me!” Mummy just laughed and said I know Jen, I always rely on you to know when something’s coming but I need to make sure you’re safe and we don’t get hurt. It’s bad enough that when we go out in our garden that I (the sighted human) have to be guided by you (the blind cat) as it’s dark and we’ve got very little light in the village. I meowed as I hadn’t thought of it like that before, normally I follow mummy’s guidance on the lead so I know which way to get back to her but I’d never realised she did the same thing! What a pair we are!

Just coz there’s less walkies it doesn’t mean I’m not getting my exercise, it just means I get to do more workouts on my wheel covering many, many miles from the comfort of home. Run, run, run, faster and faster and faster, meowing with excitement and to encourage myself to keep going, meow – look at me mummy, meow – look at me daddy. Mummy and daddy always tell me what a good and clever girl I am and when mummy sits next to my wheel and says Go! Go! Go! I run as fast as my little legs will go and then jump off with a purrfect dismount and meow ta da! Then I get cuddles and scratchies and a big fuss made and off we go again. Normally I just run really fast but don’t get up to proper full speed but the other day I went all out and for the very first time broke into a full on full speed proper all out run with both back paws going at the same time for extra momentum. It was like I was super charged! I was excited, mummy was excited, daddy was excited, we were all excited and I got extra hugs, scratchies, bum pats and lifted into the air like a true champion.

After such a thrilling, energetic run it was time for a few cool down laps on the wheel, then a little snack to fill my tummy before relaxing by the fire and snuggling up on mummy’s lap. Whilst it’s colder outside and we’re not able to explore as much one advantage of these shorter, colder days is the warm, cosy fire. We all gather round and spend the evening together napping, snuggling and watching tv.

One happy purrfectly imperfect furramily. That is until Mona Lisa decides Millie shouldn’t use ‘her’ litter tray and briefly turns into a mini werecat again, then mummy and daddy calm us all back down and we’re back to happy nap time.