Poor Isabella!
One of my neighbours who hadn't seen Dougal for a few months saw him the other evening as he charged up the road yelling, to greet me. She said that he looks like "one of those animated cats" that you see in kid's films. He is all legs and eyes because of the fur loss, but still enjoying life.
When we had snow a couple of weeks ago, he would just dash out through the catflap, do what he needed, then charge in and stand on my legs to warm his paws. Don't mind me, Doog!
He spent most of his time wrapped up in a big microfleece blanket either in a large box that arrived just before the snow (you can take the cat out of the alley ...) or curled up in his hammock that is suspended from the radiator - with a small rug over him to keep the draughts out.
On the first morning of snow he had a little play on the lawn, but once he realised that parts were deeper than he thought he made a huge leap and landed on the path, all wild-eyed and scatty.
Hope all the cats are well, Isi. The latest cold snap will really get them dug in for the winter.
Matilda was really sweet when we had the hoar frost. She has a very thick, quite coarse, coat and when she fluffs it up to keep the cold out she almost doubles in size.
She managed to stay in for the best part of 24 hours but eventually nature won and she asked to be let out at about 8.00 in the evening. After about 10 minutes I heard her scrabbling at the front door and when I let her in she looked so pretty!
Her little pink nose was the colour of a raspberry and she had completely fluffed up, but every hair-tip had frosted, so she was all fluffy - and sparkly too.
That was the only occasion that she has ever let me wipe her down with a bit of kitchen towel.
Talk about cats having funny tastes ... I bought some ready-to-eat prunes last week. I opened the carton last night and she sat up in her bed and started to purr and lick her lips - which means that she likes whatever it is you have. Damme if she didn't immediately try to hook a prune out of the carton when I let her have a sniff (just to show her that she didn't really like them)! I let her have a very tiny piece - and she loved it.
Her previous owner (my sister-in-law) must have let her have some, because she definitely recognised the carton before I had even opened it.