I should have known that raising the matter of the our squirrel infestation was a mistake.  Yesterday we spotted an even less welcome rodent visitor in the garden (or to be more precise my mother in law, recently arrived from the antipodes for an extended visit, spotted it.  Cue a certain amount of fuss) ....



A fine specimen of rattus norvegicus, helping itself to the husks underneath the bird feeders. 

 Now as some readers may know, Brighton is the rat capital of the South, so this isn't altogether surprising.  No sign, thankfully, of an infestation, but disturbing nonetheless.  So, the bird feeders are now out of commission for the next few days, to remove its food source, and our next door neighbours' cat, which is currently on a diet following a recent obesity scare, is now being welcomed into the garden in the hope that, in its lean and hungry state, it might act as a deterrent (it's still too slow and fat to trouble the birds).

Did.nt the Riverside Cottage chef, Hugh double barrel , do a series on living on food from the forest. I think, he cooked a squirrel, if I rmember???

'female dog'?

Oh, right.  Funny, in the context, 'female dog' sounded far more offensive to my ears.

I don't know if I do actually...

Hmm, that's the reason why I didn't write the word in the first place.

I'm not sure why this has been brought up again.

My mother is in hospital at the moment, having had a fall. While she's been there, her brother and sister have apparently persuaded her that she won't be able to look after Pixie, her cat, when she comes out, so she'll have to have it put down ie killed

I had an email from my uncle saying that I'd have to take the cat into the vets to have this done, which I've told my mother I'm not prepared to do. Any ideas how I can save Pixie? She's quite solitary but a nice grey cat. This picture was taken at the end of 2004 - she's 11 years old now.



[cotitsalv]

Andy,

I'd have thought the last thing that your mother would actually want is an empty house to come back to: cats don't usually take that much looking after, after all. Is she some distance from you? If not, then perhaps you could cat-sit until she's ready to cope again, and help with feeding and litter trays (if Pixie doesn't usually go out). Otherwise, contact your mum's local Cats' Protection League and ask them to help rehouse her. Eleven's not old for a cat: we've had a couple that reached all but twenty, so there may be a deal of life left in her yet, and older folk who've just lost a cat are often happy to have a mature, more sedate replacement than a kitten endlessly galloping round the premises....

My mother is c140 miles away so I can't pop down to do cat sitting. I spoke to her today and she's worried that she won't be able to look after herself, much less the cat, when she comes out of hospital. And she's never seemed that fond of Pixie, often saying she'd be glad if she disappeared.

I have the number of the Cats Protection place in Haslemere which is quite close to her so I'm planning to ring them tomorrow. There's also one in Brum which I could try. I'm going down on Wednesday so if Haslemere can't take Pixie, I'll have to bring her back with me.