A couple of weeks ago I met a little black panther cat called Pepper. He was quite shy and ran away when I went over to say hello but he’s been watching me and mummy and following us when we go out on walkies. Bit by bit he’s become a bit more friendly and now when I go for walkies he follows me and mummy round. If he’s inside his home then he shouts at his mummy to let him come out to play. So now, mummy has me on the lead leading the way with mummy following along behind and Pepper bringing up the rear, “come on Pepper keep up”mummy says.

First of all he just followed us around at a distance, curious and timidly stalking, always there in the background. Every time mummy turned round there he was following us, curious about who we were, what we were doing and where we were going. Then he started getting closer and closer and eventually came over to say hello to me. He came up fairly close to me and we had a little nose to nose sniff but then I moved a muscle and he ran away, then came back, then ran away! Silly boy, I’m not going to hurt you, I’m a kitty cat just like you but a little different but it’s ok we can be furriends.

I can tell he’s just a youngster as everywhere he goes he runs at full speed and I can hear his paw steps whizzing around on the grass. Mummy says he was born at about the same time as my brofur Peppar crossed the rainbow bridge so maybe he was always destined to be my friend and playmate.

It turns out Pepper is an only cat and I don’t think he had met another cat before, let alone a blindie like me so I think he needs me to teach him some life lessons to get him ready for being part of our walkies and being able to have a fun playtime together. Because he’s so young he is full of energy and thinks it’s fun to whizz past me or hide in the bushes and jump out on me or come round in front of me and whack me on the head. We might be cats but we still need manners and to be respectful to each other, if he thinks I’ll just let him get away with that then he’s got another think coming! I might be blind but I can still teach you a lesson or two.

1. Behave! You’re a young boy and don’t just think that you can sneak up behind me and swipe my bottom without getting a telling off!

2. Just because I’m blind doesn’t mean I don’t know exactly where you are so don’t even think about trying to engage in a sneak attack from behind the bushes.

3. I’ll show you how to climb trees but hey paws off my favourite ones.

4. I’m the boss, these are my gardens and I’m just letting you use them – ok?

So now I’ve laid out the rules we’re ready to go little Pepper, it’s playtime.

If you think you can outwit me by hiding in the flowers, you can think again, my super blindie senses know exactly where you are. I’m ready and waiting for you, ready to bop you on the nose if you try anything. I can hear you breathing, smell your scent and hear your pawsteps.

Playing with Pepper is really fun, he’s got bundles of energy and loves to play chase and hide and seek. Everything he does is at full speed and I feel him whizzing past me as he runs about trying to get me to chase him. He reminds me of Millie when she goes into mental Millie mode and runs around the flat like a mentalist. He is just full of energy and mischief, we even stalked a bird together but then he climbed my tree! My tree! The cheek!

After all the playing outside in the fresh air by the time I get home I’m all tired out, it’s tiring keeping up with a youngster so full of energy and excitement. So I’m ready for a snack, bath time with meowmy followed by a nap. It’s really fun having a playmate but I also really enjoy having mummy all to myself when we’re outside, I do love that mummy and me time that we have together.

You might remember that a little while ago somebody contacted mummy to ask her about me and how I came to live with her and daddy.

I thought you might all like to see the film of me as it really does sum me up and hopefully goes to show show what us blindies can do, we’re not disabled we’re just a little different but that doesn’t mean we can’t do all the things ‘normal’ cats can do. I really hope you enjoy the video. As mummy says, the caption is just purrfect for me ‘Jenny is a real go getter who always says yes to adventure’ that’s just so true, I’m always up for going on a walk and climbing trees is just second nature for me. I’m always trying to find different ways to do things and exploring every little nook and cranny in our flat and I know every inch of our gardens. Nothing gets past me!

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To my dear Da, my biggest fan, the video is only on Instagram which mummy says you don’t have so you’ll have to ask Aunty Tracy to show it to you.

My whole aim in life is to show that purrfectly imperfect cats aren’t disabled but just different. As you can see we don’t need any special treatment, just love, food and playtime like any other kitty. Not all blind cats are adventure cats like me but neither are normal cats either and that’s ok, we’re all different and individual.

If you enjoy my stories and adventures and ever find yourself looking for a kitty companion please don’t overlook a blindie or a tripaws or other special needs cats because they are different. Just think of how special they are and what joy they could bring to your life like me and my sisfurs have to mummy and daddy.

It’s not that we’re not like this anyway but this week we’ve been extra snuggly. Millies still been in her cone whilst her head heals but I did try to help her feel better by cuddling up with her in it! I think she even used my head to give hers a bit of a rub but it’s ok I don’t mind as long as she doesn’t get me in trouble with mummy and daddy for making her head worse!

Mummy had to go to work for a couple of days so I had to make sure that daddy wasn’t lonely and keep him motivated to get his work done whilst he was on his own. So I hopped up onto his lap and snuggled into the blankie that daddy had keeping his feet warm. Sometimes when I hop up I can feel some soft fur there already and Angelin or Millie have beaten me to it and are already there helping him. Oh well, two supervisors are sure to be better than one 😹

I would never dream of playing favourites and always treat my pawents equally so just to make sure mummy didn’t feel left out when she went to bed I crept up the bed and snuggled into her head on the pillow for a little bit, just like Peppar used to, she reached up and gave me a gentle rub and we drifted off to sleep together. Whilst the weather has been a bit chilly we’ve all been piling onto the bed in the night, cuddling in between mummy and daddy, the whole furramily all together. One night when I was creeping up the middle of the bed to get the best spot in between them I stepped on something a bit kind of squishy, the squishy thing didn’t like being stepped on and a very upset Millie came exploding, meowing and hissing out from under the covers. She woke up both mummy and daddy scaring them wide awake in an instant, she even managed to get out of her cone on the way out! How was I to know that Millie, cone and all had got under the covers to cuddle in with mummy and daddy, how she managed it I’m not sure but that was really taking snuggling to a whole new level.

I’ve even been warming up mummy and daddy’s towels for them, plus playing a little game of hide and seek which is one of my favourite games to play along with football of course.

We did find a bit of sun so Millie and I took turns in sunbathing, daddy even moved our scratching post and opened the blinds so we got the full effect of the warming rays coming through the window. I love just sitting there, feeling the gentle warmth on my fur, it’s like the sun is giving you a big cosy hug. I stay there as long as I can, getting every last drop of sun, until I can’t feel the warmth anymore and then it’s off to find the next cosy spot. Maybe the snuggle beds free…

Well, Millie is back in the cone of shame. Mummy always has to clean Millies ears as apparently they’re always gunky and yucky. Millie hates this though and always protests very loudly whenever mummy does it. It doesn’t hurt her when mummy does this but it’s a bit uncomfortable and not very nice for either Millie or mummy. Millies ears must have been particularly bad as she had been pawing at them, pawing at them so hard that she made all the skin go red and very sore, so sore that mummy and daddy got a bit worried about how much she was rubbing it that they had no choice but to put her into a cone of shame to stop her from making it any worse.

First they tried the floppy cone that Millie had before when she hurt her paw but naughty Millie found that if she pushed her paw hard enough she could rub her ear with the floppy cone! Poor mummy and daddy were trying to tell her that this was all for her own good and they were just trying to do what was best for her, now they had no choice but to use the plastic cone instead. A bit less comfortable but a bit more Millie proof.

Then mummy took Millie and Angelin to the v-e-t for their nasty vaccines and they took a look at Millies ear as well and gave mummy some cream and tablets for her which should help stop her feeling itchy and with the special putty mummy uses for the pills Millie gets a treat twice a day, she loves pill putty!

Millie is so good with the cone of shame, when I had to have one on I completely freaked out as it affected so many of my senses, hearing, touch and soo had no idea what I was doing and where I was going, I was scared but Millie really takes it all in her stride. She’s even managed to climb the tall scratching post and curl up in the high hammock bed to sleep but mostly she’s been snuggling on daddy’s lap.

Then just when mummy and daddy thought it was all healed and took off the cone so Millie could have a bit of a wash and feel better she washed all her fur and found a scab underneath and took that off and made herself all sore again, so on the cone went again, much to all our displeasure. “Millie what have you done?” said daddy, “you’ve got to stop pawing at it, you’re your own worst enemy, we’re trying to make it better for you.” Then we all got treats and a big, long playtime with mummy, playing football down the hallway, nobbly balls with Millie who even managed to catch a few in her cone and Angelin defending her box fort from the invasion of the purple ball (and Millie).

Then I hopped up and chilled out with daddy on his lap and Millie jumped up too, it’s a bit difficult with her in her cone as she keeps doinking me on the head with it but it’s ok, she need a bit of comfort as she’s feeling poorly and a bit sad for herself. Then we swapped onto mummy’s lap, we like to share the cuddles. Hopefully soon Millie will get her cone off and we’ll all be back to normal again, poor Millie doesn’t have much luck – other than finding mummy and daddy to be part of our family.

Even in her cone shes still a great helper and supervisor and has been helping mummy and daddy as best she can. Even though she keeps doinking and bumping me and Angelin with her cone we’re still being very nice to her as good sisfurs should be, it’s not really her fault that she’s feeling poorly.

The other week, whilst we were out on walkies mummy said to me “You’ve spent a few days just kind of faffing about in the gardens, not really doing much. Are you bored with always doing the same walkies?” I meowed to mummy that I was fine as long as I’m outside with her and we’re together, I know the gardens really well and they’re comfortably familiar. I didn’t think much more about it until a few days later.

It was time for walkies and instead of letting me run out the door like normal mummy clipped my lead on. This was odd I thought but oh well, mummy’s probably just being weird. Then as I ran out, off in the normal directing mummy told me that we were going ‘the other way’ today. What other way? I thought, I heard the door open and so I cautiously followed mummy through, I know this way I meowed, this way leads to where the scary metal machines go up and down. I don’t like this way as much as our normal way. Still mummy was off down the stairs so I carried on after her. It had been a long time since I’d been this way. I wasn’t so sure about things but as I started to explore I realised that there was a whole world of new smells out this way and as we wandered along, with mummy telling me what a good, clever girl I was I relaxed a bit and started to enjoy myself.

As I wandered along exploring and sniffing, I could hear in the distance the sound of the metal monsters roaring along, with each paw step they were getting that little bit closer. I wondered why mummy wanted to go near to them. Then mummy said “Jenny, I just need to make a stop whilst we’re out, I need to pick up a package.” Ahh ok then mummy but we need to take it slow because the metal monsters are quite close now and I don’t like them at all. I was a bit scared and meowed at mummy she gave me a big stroke and I felt much better. Then after a little bit further she scooped me up and gave me a big cuddle, I heard another door open and then a voice. “Hello Jenny” he said, “have you got some parcels today?” Then I felt his hands give me a little stroke on the head and he told me how soft I was and what a good girl I was being. I remembered I had been here once before, it’s normally a noisy place and smells very busy, lots of different smells all in one place and when I meow it kind of bounces around making lots of little meows and making me sound like a huuuge kitty. MEOW-ow-ow it went.

Then when mummy had finished, we went back outside but instead of going back the way we came we went a different way. “Whilst we’re here Jen why don’t we explore somewhere new?” Ok I though, I’m always up for an adventure and as long as mummy’s with me I’ll be fine. So off I went up, up, up the grass, it was very steep and there were lots of new smells to explore. I could hear people way down in the distance and every time a big metal clanking noise happened more people would then appear. I remembered the noise from when I have been outside before, mummy had told me it was something called a train. Anyway, it wasn’t coming near me so I wasn’t too bothered.

I could smell all the same types of smells as in the gardens and I could hear the same noises in the park but this was new and exciting, I followed each scent as as I started to explore, my scent joined in with theirs as did mummy’s as she wandered along behind me. I even found a new tree and climbed up it! After all it’s not every day that I get a whole new tree to climb.

After a while mummy said “Come on Jen, it’s been quite a little adventure shall we go back now?” Good idea mummy I meowed and off we went, when we got closer to the metal monsters mummy picked me up so I didn’t get scared, and then once we were a little way away from them she put me down and we both walked back to home. Then I thought mummy must have been tired with all this adventure but when we got to our big downstairs door instead of going up the stairs, mummy went a different way. I followed her and it’s a route I know but we normally only go this way coming in from walkies – what’s mummy doing? This is a bit confusing. Then as we walked along the corridor mummy, we came to a very familiar spot, this is normally where mummy clips on my lead before we got through the outside door, then I heard the familiar sound of the outside door opening and here we were back in my regular garden walkies place.

I ran straight out full speed, I know this area so well that I know where everything is and can run around properly without thinking I might bump into something. We had a fun, relaxing walkies after all the excitement of our adventure before.

What a fun time, it was good to have a new adventure, try somewhere new, challenge the senses and remind me that the metal monsters won’t harm me. But it was also good to then be somewhere familiar to calm down and relax in. Thank you mummy for giving me a new challenge, for making me use my senses to get around and letting me remember that some scary things won’t hurt me.

Then the other night we were out on walkies when I stopped and sniffed the air, meowmy knows my ‘there’s something coming’ look and she followed my stare and there he was, another pussy cat off in the distance. It turns out that Bibi who used to watch us from his window had managed to purrsuade his mummy and daddy to take him out on walkies like me. Bibi told me that he had shown his mummy and daddy me running around and climbing trees and that because saw me doing this they bought him his own harness and lead and had started to take him outside too. We said hello and Bibi followed me around the gardens whilst his daddy talked to mummy. Isn’t it just amazing that I’ve helped another kitty become an adventure cat and that he will now be able to get some much extra fun exploring the outdoors and experiencing nature.

Then mummy and I went off to watch the sunset, Mummy described it to me and said just how beautiful it was, she would have enjoyed watching it anyway but having me there with her perched on her shoulder (and occasionally climbing on her head for a better ‘view’) made it extra special. She also told me that that it was nowhere near as beautiful as me – ahhh love you too mummy.

“Jenny” said mummy one day “have I ever told you about how you were adopted?”

“Yes mummy, it was because an old lady cat called Misty crossed over the rainbow bridge and made way for me to join your family”

“That’s right Jenny but have I ever told you why we though of adopting a purrfectly imperfect cat?” Mummy said

“Oh no mummy I don’t think you’ve told me that story before, can I hear that story?”

“OK then Jen, are you sitting comfortably? OK, then I’ll begin”

This is the story mummy told me.

Many years ago when mummy and daddy frst met, they didn’t have any pets, as much as they wanted them as they grew up with animals of their own, they only lived in one room in a house with lots of other people. They befriended a baby squirrel, who they called Gizmo and he used to come and visit them in their room and eat the food and nuts they left for him. Then mummy and daddy moved to their own place and they started to really miss having a furry friend around. Then mummy mentioned it to a friend who she worked with and he said he had two cats that he had rescued who only lived indoors and couldn’t go out because he lived by a very busy road, which was dangerous for them. Mummy said they had communal gardens which she could take them out into. Mummy and daddy then adopted Piper and Misty, two beautiful black cats. Misty, long haired, quiet, very proper and a true lady. Piper, short haired, mischevious, cheeky and a real character. Piper only had a little stumpy tail which just added to his personality.

One day mummy and daddy noticed that Piper wasn’t quite right, he struggled to jump onto the back of the sofa, they took him to the vet who thought he might have a problem with his eyes. “Oh mummy was he a blind cat like me too, was that why you adopted me?” I asked “No Jenny, we thought he might be going blind at first but it was something very different”. Mummy carried on her story, after a lot of trips to the vet, specialist doctors, scans, blood samples and tests the vets finally decided on what they thought might be wrong with Piper. During all this Piper had started to struggle to walk and his head bobbed when he ate. Mummy had done some research and though he migh have Cerebella Hyperplasia “wobbly cat syndrome” but the vets ruled that out as that is something that cats are born with and Piper was fine as a kitten and young cat. The vets thought Piper had the cat equivalent of mad cow disease – Feline spongiform encephalopathy, they gave him six months to live. Mummy and daddy were devestated but Piper was a fighter and so were mummy and daddy, they weren’t going to let this disease stop Piper from living the full and happy life he deserved. With lots of care, lots of support, changes to the litter tray, helping him to eat. He and mummy were inseperable and he tried to follow her everywhere she went, mummy said it wasn’t unusual to see her doing housework or chores with Piper tucked under her arm! All the love and care meant that Pipe stayed part of the family for another 6 years before he crossed over the rainbow bridge.

Then years later as Misty became older, she went from being a seniour to a geriatric to something completely off the scale as she was so elderly at 26, she needed some additional care as well, a revised litter tray, pee pads on the sofa in case she got caught short, mats to stop her slipping and just a bit of extra tlc and patience as she was a very old lady. So when Misty also crossed over the rainbow bridge mummy and daddy thought differently to how they would have many years ago. Mummy said to me “Without Piper and Misty we would never have thought of adopting a special needs cat, we had never thought about it before when we adopted any of our other cats but now we’re different, our experiences made us think differently. They taught us so much and we wanted to use that experience to help other cats” Thats when they started thinking differently, they thought they would be well equipped to give a special needs cat the extra care they thought it would need. When mummy told me this I meowed out loud “Seriously mummy, you thought I’d need extra care, me who climbs trees, explores the outdoors, who mapped the flat in three days?” “I know Jenny, it makes me laugh too but we were a bit naive then but you, Millie and Angelin have really shown that our initial thoughts were wrong, you might be ‘special needs’ but you don’t need special care”

“Who would’ve thought that one gesture all those years ago would bring us together with three gorgeous perfectly imperfect cats so many years later. If Piper hadn’t got poorly and Misty hadn’t lived to such a great age we wouldn’t have even thought that we could look after a purrfectly imperfect cat. Jenny I think your fate was sealed long before you were ever born, your path was laid out long before you even came into this world. You might of been born in a different country thousands of miles away but fate was already working it’s magic it already had a plan for you, Millie and Angelin you girls were never destined to stay street cats you were destined to be part of our forever home. However it happened or why it happened we will never know but daddy and I wouldn’t change a thing.”

“There hasn’t been a day go by since you came into our lives that we haven’t learnt something or that we haven’t wondered at something that you’ve done. As humans and guardians were supposed to be the ones that teach you but that’s just not the case with you. You’ve shown us how we can (and should) learn from you too, that being different is ok and it doesn’t stop you from doing everything you want to do. Thank you for being our teacher and showing us what special animals purrfectly imperfect cats are. We love you all.”

Thank you Piper and Misty for showing mummy and daddy what they were capable of doing and opening their minds and preparing them to find us. We are forever grateful to you. Love you furrever, Jenny, Millie and Angelin xxx

I decided that as it seems mummy and daddy will be working from home for ever and ever that we really should try to help them a bit more. I thought we should try a bit harder to earn our keep and help out where we can and as it’s getting a bit cold here they need a bit more motivation to get going and keep up the concentration all day.

Whilst it may look like I’m chilling out sleeping in either the snuggle or shark bed I’ve always got an ear open in case mummy needs my help. Sometimes, when she’s in her video meetings her voice sounds bored so I hop up onto her desk and give her a bit of a pep talk. She gives me a little stroke and a cuddle and then off I go again, flashing my tail to just let everyone know I’m here to help. If mummy has something very important or difficult to do as mummy doesn’t have a work person to help her or talk to her about it Millie will hop up onto the desk and check mummy’s work for her. Making sure as she’s typing that she doesn’t make any mistakes. Mummy also has a mouse 🐭 on her desk! I tried to catch it once but it was very hard and crunchy and not nice at all but Millie makes sure the mouse does what mummy wants it too and doesn’t run off. The mouse is no match for her bionic paw so it better behave.

Whilst I mostly help mummy out Angelin likes to keep daddy company, she’s such a sweetie that she can’t really crack the whip and get him motivated to work. She provides moral support and company instead, sitting on daddy’s lap to make sure he knows she’s there for him. She makes sure he takes regular breaks by insisting he plays crinkle balls or crinkle stick with her.

Millie likes to know everything that’s going on and be the centre of attention so she shares herself between both mummy and daddy. Also, as the only sighted kitty in the house she’s really the only one who is properly qualified to spot any mistakes mummy or daddy make with their work. She spends her day flitting between sitting on mummy’s lap or desk checking her work and then off to help daddy, back and forth for most of the day.

We each have big responsibilities and take our work very seriously and make sure we put in every effort that we can into helping mummy and daddy. We’re so good at our new jobs that mummy thinks that I secretly talked to her manager and got a job as mummy’s supervisor. “Are they paying you to watch me working?” she said one day. Don’t tell her, we’re doing it for free just because we love them, it’s hard work though and by the end of the day we are all completely exhausted.

Then all our hard work payed off and at the end of the week an exciting box arrived, it smelled very interesting and I claimed it right away by sitting on the top. I’m the box queen. Then, later in the evening mummy opened the box, it was full of goodies and we all piled right on in. It smelt just ameowzing and I headed straight for the source of the familiar heady smell of catnip. With my super blindie senses it was easy to find the new catnip lollipops that were tucked away in the corner. I was so excited that by the time mummy took them out of the box they were already fairly wet where I had been chewing on them! Angelin and I couldn’t even wait for mummy to take them out of the packet (she did eventually), we were right in there straight away! That’s nothing though compared to Millie who left a puddle of drool on the hallway floor. What a fantastic night we had, a cats purrfect Friday night, a box, catnip, toys and nibbles.

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Work hard and play hard that’s how us purrfectly imperfect kitties roll around here! Hope you’ve all had as great a week as we did. If you need some expert supervision then just let me know, I don’t charge too much!

What a fun week I’ve been having, whilst it’s cold outside mummy and I still go out and enjoy our walkies together every day. It gets dark early according to mummy but that doesn’t make any difference to me! It might be cold on the paws and a bit muddy and squelchy but I don’t care I’m outside exploring, doing what I love to do, with my best buddy mummy by my side or sometimes underneath me.

Now I might have been a bit naughty and taken advantage of mummy letting me free climb and climbed a bit too high in the tree. Usually I stop and perch at a height that mummy is comfortable with and knows I can easily get down from but sometimes I just can’t help myself. We had gone out a bit earlier whilst it was still fairly light and there were plenty of birds flapping around getting ready for bed. This is the best time for me as there’s so many interesting noises to listen to and to practice my hunting skills with. The birds were flapping around the top of the tree teasing me and I can’t have that, I’m the queen of these trees and these are my gardens! I just had to show them that I’m the boss so I went a bit higher than I probably should have to get to those pesky pigeons. As I started to put my paws up to climb higher mummy said “Jenny. No. Don’t go any higher please” “Sorry mummy I can’t hear you from up here with all these birds” I meowed back and up I went, following the noise of the birds then across along the branch until it felt a bit wibbly wobbly and I had reached the limit of the branch holding me. I could hear mummy walking around underneath telling me to come down but I hadn’t finished with the birds and I could still hear them flapping around above my head.

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Mummy waited patiently and then finally I figured I had shown the birds that this was my tree and thought I’d best come down. “Mummy” I meowed, “I’m ready to come down now” and I started work out my way back down. The birds had got me twisted around in the tree top, following them this way and that way so it wasn’t as easy as just going back the way I came or following my paws scents as they were everywhere! It’s ok though I can figure it out and reach down to find a new branch to climb down onto and then I heard mummy’s voice calling to me, then I heard the sound of her hands tapping the tree.

Mummy and I have an amazing bond when we’re outside and we’ve built this up over years of daily walks. Little subtle movements of the lead or pressure to let me know to go around a tree or follow the lead back the right way out of a bush I’m exploring. When climbing with a lead on I can follow it back down and mummy can guide me a little bit if I go a different route to normal and haven’t practiced getting down as much. I’ve trained mummy well to be my climbing buddy and whilst we train this way mummy also taught me how to follow her voice to get down and also the sound of her tapping on a branch or tree trunk to guide me too. It was only after a long time of training that mummy ever let me free climb, she had to be sure that I could use techniques other than the lead to get down should I climb high up.

I trust mummy completely and follow the sound of her voice to help me figure out the way back down, then as I get lower and lower she turns to the tree tapping and I follow that noise to get all the way back down to mummy and then we have big cuddles and on goes the lead again. You absolutely can’t go walkies or climbing without trust in each other. Mummy trusts my climbing skills to know I will get down one way or another (she always stays calm, no matter how high I go) and I trust mummy’s navigation skills, even if it doesn’t feel quite right to me I’ll always follow her voice to get back to her. It might take a while but we always get there in the end.

After that little naughtiness I normally don’t get to free climb the bigger trees for a while, just so I get back into remembering the training basics again and do some easy climbs.

As it gets a bit darker and the birds go to sleep I can hear the foxes come out and sometimes when they’re out in the park I sit and listen to them from my lookout post. Recently I can smell a lot of new scents around, I know the foxes have been out playing the night before and there are also a few more cat scents that I’ve picked up on. I’ve met a couple of new cats recently and whilst these are my gardens and I was here exploring them first I don’t mind sharing them, maybe the other kitties might even want to play with me like my friend Dashain used to.

Recently though mummy got really excited by something, we were up right at the end of the gardens and I was exploring the bushes by the park and mummy suddenly said “Oh wow Jenny I think I’ve just seen a bat!” I thought mummy was going crazy, she’d finally lost the plot as I have super blindie hearing…I can hear things that mummy can’t, I can detect the smallest quietest bird in a bush, I can hear the rats running around under the buildings, I can hear the animals in the park and my doggie friends coming before mummy even knows they’re there and I didn’t hear anything, not a peep, no swish, no flap, nothing at all. In fact I really didn’t believe mummy at all but she stood there watching the nearly dark sky saying, there it is again, there’s another one. Well then I guess it comes back to trust, if mummy can trust that I can hear a bird deep in a bush then I guess I trust that mummy saw a completely silent bat flying around. Either way it made her happy to see them and if mummy’s happy then I’m happy.

Happy New Year my friends and thank you for following my adventures for another year. I hope you carry on enjoying my stories and they keep bringing you entertainment, joy, fun and smiles whilst also showing what us perfectly imperfect blindies and tripaws are really capable of doing. Here’s to another year of being an adventure cat.

It’s been a nervous couple of weeks for us as we really weren’t sure if we’d been good enough to make it onto Santas good list. We know Millie would have to work extra hard to get on the nice list after her accident but she just can’t resist being mischievous.

We’re pretty sure that the Catmas tree is put for the sole purpose of tormenting us kitties. This year was the first year mummy and daddy had a tree since Millie and Angelin arrived so this is the first time they have experienced such festive fun. There’s so many things on there which make such interesting noises, tinsel that sounds just like Angelin’s crinkle balls, dangling balls that make fun sounds when you paw at then and even little paper tubes that are just like our kicker toys. Plus Millie says it lights up and twinkles, just to make everything that bit more tempting.

Of course as a last ditch attempt to make sure we were on the nice list we helped mummy decorate the tree and she did say that everything on the bottom half was ‘unbreakable’ and so it was ok if we played with those toys…I mean decorations a bit. The top half was out of bounds though as that’s where mummy put all her special decorations. Well Millie took mummy’s words very seriously and made sure she tested every bauble, every piece of tinsel, every paper tube and anything else she could find. The baubles were the most fun for me as once Millie had managed to get them off the branches they made fun noises as we batted them round the floor, a bit like our toy ping pong balls. We also found out that at night after mummy and daddy had gone to bed that’s when they sound best bouncing and rolling around the floor. Then once Millie had explored the bottom of the tree it was Angelin’s turn to be naughty, she climbed up the scratching pole next to the tree, crossed over into the radiator bed and started trying, well chewing the tinsel and lights at the very top of the tree! Then I heard mummy say to daddy “your little girl is destroying the good part of the tree” daddy went over and plucked her away from the good decorations, I heard him whisper to her “that’s naughty Angelin but you’re a clever girl for figuring out how to get up there.” Of course not to be outdone a few days later mummy caught Millie eyeing up the shiny star at the very top of the tree – “No Millie, that’s not for playing with, leave it alone” when Millie kept reaching for the star she too got plucked down but mummy was also proud that for the first time ever Millie had climbed the big scratching pole, it’s no easy thing for a tripaws.

We also helped mummy wrap all the presents, this is always great fun, crinkly paper to pounce on and mummy let us chose which paper we should wrap each present in. For some reason mummy said the wrapping took extra long this year with all us girls helping, I take that as a sign that we did a great job helping her. Either way we all had fun together but I think mummy missed having Peppar around to help keep us girls under control. He never helped wrapping presents and decorating the tree like we do but he was always there to make sure we didn’t get into too much trouble and told us off if we got too naughty before mummy and daddy found out what we were up to. It will be a very different Catmas without him by our sides but whenever I feel slightly naughty I can almost feel his paw giving me a gentle tap to keep me on the playful side of naughty.

When we woke on Catmas day mummy was really excited and before long there was a knock on the door and mummy’s brother came in to see us. Mummy was really happy as she hasn’t seen him for a really long time. We all checked him out from a distance and he smelt of cats so we figured he must be ok. As mummy cooked dinner we all decided we should also have some of their special dinner so we all sneaked out and tried our very best to join in at the dining table. Normally we’re allowed to go up on the table but mummy and daddy were very mean and said that whilst they were eating the table was off limits! The cheek of it, where are we supposed to eat our special dinner? They always say we’re part of the family so we really should be allowed up there to share their dinner. Daddy said that we would always get some special dinner and that he had save a bit specially for us to have later.

Then they all chilled out in front of the TV and laughed and chatted and drank and, then daddy gave us our special dinners but then they gave each other presents. Hang on! Where’s ours? Oh no, maybe we didn’t make it onto the good list after all! We felt sad at this thought so we all went off into the spare room and went to sleep until we heard mummy’s brother leave. Then mummy put her shoes on, what’s going on? “It’s ok Jen” mummy said “I’ve just got to go off and give some special dinner to your friends Jimmy and Habsi as their mummy and daddy have gone away, I’ll be back soon” Well this is all to confusing and I waited impatiently for mummy to come back.

Eventually after what seemed like ages she came home and then daddy said “Come on then girls shall we open all the presents?” Presents! For us? I meowed excitedly “of course” said daddy, “ they’re under the tree, mummy’s going to get them out for you to open.” Well that was it I was relieved and excited all at the same time. Hurry up mummy we all shouted and one by one mummy brought out the presents. We each got something just for us but there was a joint present for us to share too.

Not only did I get sent some great Catmas cards from all my furriends around the world before the big day but for my present I got some beautiful new bandanas to wear out on my walkies. Angelin got a ‘grass’ crinkle mat to play with, mummy said luckily there were two as it took us about 5 minutes to rip it into pieces. That was great fun and we all joined in playing with that together, mummy didn’t even seem to mind all the bits being shredded all over the floor! Angelin did get told off for trying to eat the grass though. Millie got a snake toy which zooms all over the floor for her to chase and then we opened our joint present…we got a ball pit – complete with a ton of balls to play with. The balls can’t escape us either and as mummy swooshed them around I couldn’t help myself and jumped straight in. I love playing with balls and I think this is gonna be a fun toy.

At this time of year I can’t help but think just how lucky we all are compared to our lives on the street before we were rescued. Not all kitties are as lucky as us which is why as a thank you for all the cards I received mummy and daddy made a donation to the Christmas fundraiser run by the charity that rescued me – World Animal Friends. This helps the kitties in the rescue centres they support around the world have enough food so the kitties can have full tummies like we did so they can get fit and healthy and hopefully find their own forever homes.

I hope you all had as fun a time as we did and that you too were on the nice list and got some lovely presents to enjoy like we did.

Well, I really hope I’m on the nice list again this year, I think I’ve been pretty good so I’m pretty hopeful but I’m not sure about Millie. She was very naughty when she hurt her paw so I think that might put her on the naughty list as that was a whopper and I don’t think there’s been enough time for good her good deeds and sweetness to balance that out. She’s just so mischievous but if we all try together we might just make up for it.

We’ve been helping mummy as much as we can to try to earn some extra nice points just in case Santa Paws is watching us. It’s a bit late in the year but I said to both Angelin and Millie we would have one last effort to be extra good, extra helpful, extra snuggly. So to get started we all helped build a new scratching post, we’ve used it so much weve pulled all the fabric off so mummy and daddy bought us a lovely new one. I love all our scratchers but this one is my favourite as it has lots of levels and it’s challenging to get down from so, for me, it makes it more fun.

Needless to say I was the first one up there to give it a go but something wasn’t quite right so I continued my quality control checks and reported back to daddy. It turned out mummy and daddy had put the shelves the wrong way round compared to the old one! So there was nothing else for it down it came and daddy rebuild it properly. I’m really not sure what they would do without me, how do they get through life?

Of course I’ve still been taking mummy out on her daily walks to make sure she gets some exercise and fresh air and I give both mummy and daddy snuggles to show them how much I love them and we all take turns sleeping on the bed with them at night to protect them just in case. Millies been helping mummy with her work which is a pretty big responsibility so really should get her some extra brownie points as mummy called them. Well, only if she gets mummy’s work right of course!

I’ve helped mummy round the house, like a good girl, helping her to do some of the chores such as making the bed. Then of course Millie comes along and makes it look like I was just there to play rather than help but I’m sure mummy knows what a good, helpful girl I am.

I also helped her put up the Catmas tree, I told mummy where to put it and chose which decorations for her to put on the tree to make it look pretty, they smell all glittery and special and magical. Millie and Angelin haven’t had a tree before so Angelin was busy checking it out from the bottom up, she was looking around to see if she had any presents under there. I had to explain to her that Santa Paws only comes in the middle of the night when we’re all sleeping, it’s all part of the magic that is Catmas. Millie then checked out the lights and the baubles, she was so excited by all the shiny, glittering, sparkling things tantalisingly within paw reach, oh how on earth is she gonna be good with all this temptation around?

There was so much going on and Angelin was so excited about Santa Paws coming and that Catmas is nearly here that it was all just a bit much for her so she went to dream of Santa, presents and magical days in the quiet of one of her favourite boxes.

Paws crossed that we’ve been good enough again this year for Santa to come, do you think we have?

Either way we all wish you a very Merry Christmas and hope that you enjoy this magical time of the year.