Jasper (the cat) doesn’t realise how much of a threat he is to the environment and he wouldn’t care if he did. In fact, he enjoys the best of all possible worlds: living in a comfortable, warm home with regular meals and doting owners, while following his own natural instincts without any conscience or – it has to be said – thought. He’s sweet-natured and very beautiful, but not the brightest cat I’ve ever come across. For instance, he stands and stares at the radiator for long periods of time. Perhaps he’s marvelling at the technology that can keep a house warm in the winter or maybe he thinks there’s some sort of little creature inside that he could snack on. Or he might be collecting his thoughts with a view to writing his memoirs – I couldn’t say.
I have to be honest, though, cats are an environmental disaster. Jasper is an intrepid hunter and very fond of birds, mice and insects, which he loves to bring home so that we can admire them too. He even captured a squirrel once, although how he managed to catch such a fast and nimble little creature I have no idea. Fortunately, we saw him approaching with his prize and managed to lock the cat flap in time; so although we’ve had birds flying about the house and mice scrabbling behind the sofa, we’ve been spared squirrels swinging from the light fixtures. Naturally, he thinks we’re most unreasonable and I bet his memoirs will have a lot to say about cruel owners trying to stem his creativity.
As we know, youthful vigour doesn’t last forever and now that Jasper is 15 he’s not quite the great orange hunter he once was, although I still don’t understand how a stripy orange cat manages to catch anything – he’s hardly camouflaged in our green and leafy surroundings, is he? He really should be slinking through the desert. Still, this didn’t stop him from bringing in a pigeon the other night, which had sadly lost the battle despite being nearly the same size as its attacker. (I swear that pigeons are growing bigger all the time. I’m sure they never used to be so enormous. I think it might be partly my fault because when I feed the sweet little robins and dunnocks in the morning, I know that the second their backs are turned the pigeons waddle over and hoover up the lot.) Jasper still managed to triumph this time, however, and now I’m feeling really guilty because, although I’m no fan of greedy pooping pigeons, I know that they mate for life and I’m convinced that Jasper has left an inconsolable, weeping pigeon to carry on alone.
And don’t get me started on the environmental impact of a cat’s diet. It’s very odd that even though dogs (and people) can thrive on a vegetarian diet, cats cannot. So, now those charming purring little creatures have widened their destructive net to take in fish, poultry, sheep, pigs and cows as well. They’re just so cute that we forgive them everything. At least I do. I’m not sure about the neighbours. Or that grieving pigeon.
Brilliant as ever. And, yes, those pesky pigeons swoop down to clean up the seeds that the little birds drop from the feeders. I say clean up but I spend my time cleaning up the pigeon poo. Toby, 21 next month, also stands up and looks at nothing. I think it is just old age, the cat version of me going into the kitchen and wondering what I went in for!
But as you know, I definitely feel Jasper is more dog like than your average cat. I don’t believe in reincarnation, but I’m willing to ignore that when I say maybe he was a dog in a former life. He may catch pigeons etc but he makes up for that with the devoted love and companionship he gives in bucket loads.
I think Jasper should start his own blog about the unreasonable behaviour of his servants. That would be an eye opener. Perhaps you could suggest it to him.
Is that main picture the view over Fingest from the steep path up?
I think he deserves his own Instagram account at the very least. Yes, it is the view over Fingest.