Sadly, our big white cat, Sid, disappeared six months ago – he stayed out one night and we never saw him again.  We have no idea what happened to him, and it was (and still is) very distressing to lose him.  Naturally, we’ve been keeping a good eye on the other six cats, but they’ve all been as good as gold, staying around the farm all day, and they come home regular as clockwork each evening (although Isis and Toots usually stay out later than the others, but they’re always back well before dark, note that here in the summertime it gets darkish just before midnight!)

Over the weekend our neighbours up the lane dropped by and showed us a photograph of a lovely little calico kitten that turned up and stayed for a day or so with them.  No one knows where she came from and she doesn’t seem to belong to anyone in the village.  Our neighbours were about to go on holiday and needed a home for her – people in the village said that we were likely candidates.  So, off Peter went with one of our cat carriers, some cat food and one of my small quilts – he came back with the most adorable little calico, about 8 to 10 weeks old.

She was very weak and quiet, so catching her was easy.  Peter cleaned her up, checked her over and fed and watered her.  The only problems were that she was dirty, very hungry, dehydrated, had a watery eye and some sheep/deer ticks (a real problem here in the country).  After a bit of a clean up, some food and attention (and removal of the ticks), she settled down quietly in a basket in our bedroom, with the door locked to keep the other (very curious) kitties out.

Peter spent most of the weekend quietly with her and now she is lively, playful, eating well, using her litter tray and seems very happy.  We took her to the vet to get a check up, her pet passport and her first shots and tablets, so now we have another little mouth to feed and we’re back to the “Magnificent Seven”.

Her name?  Well, we both thought about it and came up with some suggestions, but none seemed quite right and we couldn’t agree on a name that we both liked.  At the last moment, just before going to the vet, I said “you know, she looks like Zorro with that black mask”.  Peter liked the name, so, that was it – Zorro it is.

The next challenge will be to introduce her to our other cats – they don’t seem bothered at being shut out of the bedroom and they seem to know that a new cat is in there, so, fingers crossed, it will go well next week.  I’ll keep you all posted on progress.