The Covid Cat a furry feline tale.

Hello to all.

With so much doom and gloom that seems to be hanging over us, like the Sword of Damocles, time for an update, that hopefully will bring a smile to your day.

Now is everybody sitting comfortably? Yes? Good then I shall begin.

The story begins like all good tales with a line to grab your attention and hook you in, so you want to know more.

The world was gripped by a devastating virus, the likes of which had not been seen before.
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The majority of whom were told to stay at home, not go out, and “Definitely Not Party” (people from the UK will know exactly what I am referring to). Well, why this was all going on and the people of the UK were being told to stay in and not go out, unless it was necessary to go out, then you could go out, but if you did go out don’t go out and work from home, unless you need to go to work but don’t go out and meet no one when you do go out but don’t go out………

At this moment we are drawn to (think drone footage and big blockbuster films) a large town in Essex the scene dropping to magnify selected streets, dropping more to highlight one street, then a terrace then one particular house. Flying over the roof and dropping down to the garden where something can be seen in a large flower pot, well yes, a large shrub but under the shrub is an animal stretched out catching the rays of the sun on its back. Finally moving a bit closer we can see what it is, it’s a cat. The Covid Cat to be precise. 

Now those of you that have been with us on Facebook etc. may remember the Covid Cat. Do you remember? Just in case you don’t or you are new to us here is a reminder.

Here is the poem that went with the picture:

This is a cat that sits in our garden
Boy or girl, we don’t even know
If you try to get too close
It just gets up and will go
We call it a Covid cat as it always keeps a distance
We offer a smile and a hand to stroke, but we are always met with resistance.
So this is the cat that sits in our garden
It is not our cat did we say
But if you don’t get too close, it seems quite happy to stay.

This was all back in 2020 (still seems like yesterday). But the story didn’t end there (if you have read this far, I am assuming that you may have guessed this already. It is not a good idea in general to assume anything though, don’t forget it will only make an ASS out of U and ME. If you didn’t guess “Surprise”.) how miffed would you be if it had? Hopefully your invested by now, so I will reveal all.
Well from 2020 onwards the cat in question kept visiting our garden so we would leave out appropriate leftovers for him or her. He or she would pop in regularly stay in the garden and eat the food. The leftovers turned into tins of cat food and treats, oh yes and two cat bowls. Eventually over time he or she got closer to the house eventually beginning to venture in albeit with great caution. The in-home visits started almost a year ago to the day, the cat creating a close bond with my wife and tolerating me every now and again. We started to think of the cat as a she. We had had a look and could, not knowing much about cats, see any dangly bits hence she. Affectionately now known as “hey cat” and constantly being called a good girl all was fine. At the beginning she didn’t come to the garden or come in every day but again over time this got more and more until she was happy to sleep inside most nights insisting on breakfast before going back out. Still tolerating me and loving my wife! 

Then one day this February she came down the garden very low and very slowly obviously in pain. She seemed to have hurt her back leg. That day she came in and slept all day inside. Concerned we made an appointment with a local vet and borrowed a cat basket thingy. The day of the appointment we thought we would have trouble getting “hey cat” (my wife had taken to calling her muffin. I wasn’t so sure) in the basket thingy. However, with a few strategically placed cat treats we had no problem. It was only a short journey to the vets and “hey cat” was unsure, but very affectionate to us inside her little barred cat basket thingy, meowing occasionally, she must have been very scared. 

The vet explained to us that she thought “hey cat” had been in a fight and although a bit sore would be fine, great news. We then found out that “hey cat” (muffin) was not a girl but was in fact a Boy who had been neutered previously. “Who knew”? Apparently even if he hadn’t been neutered you still wouldn’t see no dangly bits. I say again “Who Knew”? Lastly after checking, the vet confirmed that “HE” was not chipped.

Bringing us right up to date we got him chipped and called him Neo which has Greek origins and means “New” also we have to mention The Matrix (see still managed to get a sci fi reference in). So Neo is officially a new member of our family, fully insured and everything. He has more places around the house to sleep than you could imagine, has toys and treats galore. He also gets told off less than me. We also bought a cat basket thingy of our own but he won’t go near it now. 

As you can imagine there are already photos up. He is oblivious to the change still goes out as and when he wants and returns to eat and sleep although he is here every night now. He is still cautious though and doesn’t like other people in the house. I think he thinks of it as a nice B&B where the staff are a bit slow but mean well. He is “Lord and Master” of all he surveys.

So a new verse to the poem has been added:

Three years on the covid cat is still here
and to us, has become quite dear.
We know it’s a he and Neo is his name
he’s a bit less cautious now and a bit more tame.
Don’t get me wrong he still likes to roam
but now he comes back to his new home.
He allows us to tend to him, cute little thing
No longer the covid cat more like the King.

The End
or
Just the beginning.

NB. Although this is a light hearted look at a terrible time please do not think that we do not care. We are very aware that many people lost loved ones during this time. We now know we didn’t always get told the truth and that others who should have known better, thought it was fine to flout the rules and waste huge amounts of money. We all clapped for the NHS but now those same people that should have known better don’t think they should have a decent wage. Our own personal view is, we think it is disgusting.

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