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We have spent the last two days looking after a cat. We are not cat people, but he turned up outside our front door shortly after 6pm on Friday, rubbing himself against my legs. I had just been on my daily walk and had finished talking to my mother, and I had noticed he had been following me down our street. I didn't think much more of this though, and after petting him for a while, he soon darted off and I went inside to cook my dinner.
This weekend, it would have been the Leeds International Beer Festival, but it was cancelled due to COVID. To compensate, we decided to join Brew York's monthly taproom tasting session, where the head brewers and owners take us through four of their most recent beers in a two hour live stream on YouTube. It's always a fun event, and you get to hear loads of interesting tidbits about running a brewery, with how collaborations work being the key theme this time. However, they also had exciting news - they are building a new brewery in Osbaldwick which will nearly treble their capacity. The beers were delicious, but as it was ongoing, we started to wonder about the cat. We had seen him meowing at other doors down the street and were thinking we should perhaps go find him. He had no collar and we assumed he was a stray, while he was also looking a little thin. We were a little concerned.
Wolfie has been painting the bathroom this past week, with the previous owner of the property failing to use water resistant paint, contributing to our mould problem. Taking ownership of this, we have been gutting the bathroom and at 8:50pm on Friday evening, just as the Brew York tasting was winding down, I heard tapping on the window of the office. Wolfie had gone out to get a paintbrush from the garage and I had assumed he was just being an arse, so I went to the door to berate him. It was at that point that the cat jumped into our house and made himself at home.
He is a black cat and we feared he would blend into the night sky - I certainly didn't see him before he entered. We kept the door open for a while but he didn't want to go back outside, preferring instead to lie on the carpet in our hallway. Being into pet play, I conveniently had some suitable bowls, but we didn't have any cat food. Fortunately, Wolfie's friend Adam lives down the road and has a cat of his own, so we could scrounge some kitty litter and kibble for our new friend.
He ended up staying the night. We gave him the option to leave but he didn't take it, so we laid down some fleeces in the office and let him sleep while we were listening to Gothicat's set. At a couple of points he jumped onto my lap for scritches and I was amazed by his placid nature and confidence around strangers. He was clearly an elderly cat, but incredibly friendly, and I have since grown quite connected to him. He spent all of Friday and Saturday night sleeping with me in the downstairs bedroom, was fully domesticated when it came to using the litter tray (apart from one slight accident where he missed the bowl) and apart from wanting feeding at 7am, left us to lie in as long as we liked. He just wanted company. He was the most dog-like cat I have ever met.
We were going to take him to the vet on Saturday, with Enteirah having done some research and told us the self same cat had been there the previous Monday, linking us to the vetenary practice's Facebook page. I had been posting pictures of the cat on Twitter and getting quite a reaction, while this new piece of information was a little concerning. If he had been at the vet four days previously, and his owner had taken him back, then why was he at ours? We had never seen him before, despite a tip off that the cat was local, and our fears have only increased over the last 48 hours. Indeed, one neighbour suggested that the cat's owner leaves him outside in a box and is a 'scumbag' while the Facebook page of the vet now has a link detailing images of a cat that looks remarkably like this one - and has the same name (Tim or Timothy) - who was stolen from Poole in Dorset back in January 2017. The cat is microchipped but we believe this is corrupted, so we thought taking him back to the vets would be the best thing to do.
Alas, I misread the opening times and with Adia and Taneli both coming around independently to see the cat, we ended up arriving at the vets after it had closed. It was great seeing Adia, who had walked an hour and a half from her house to see the feline, and it was an opportunity to give her her birthday presents from back in January. We sat outside with Adia, with the wind quite biting, but aside from a ten-minute explore of the neighbour's garden, the cat just sat and stared at us from our front door mat as if he owned the place. Taneli came around later in the day, kindly bringing me sugar as I had forgotten to get some at the supermarket earlier in the week, and we sat outside again for an hour as he purred over the kitty. His area of Bradford has just been eased from lockdown, so it was the first chance to see him since late July. He now has a goatee.
So we ended up having the cat again last night as we delved into the third Furry Brew Crew tasting session. Again acting as compensation for the cancelled Leeds International Beer Festival, in the end there were seven of us on the Zoom call including Evi and Namonium from the Netherlands, Mooie from Sweden (who had to leave pretty early), Vulpes, Stray, Wolfie and I along with Kojiro in Burlington, Vermont. We spent a lot of time talking about the craft beer scene there and finding out about the World's Tallest Filing Cabinet, one of the many sites to see in Vermont's largest city. The number of craft breweries in a city of such small population - that of the size of Pudsey - is incredible and we had an enjoyable four hours just chatting away. We tried the remaining Brew York beers that were in the nine-beer case we had bought (four of which were for the tasting session on the Friday) before moving to some of the real ales we had left over from our Leicestershire trip. The Red Rock ones were fabulous. Everyone else had a range of craft beers to share too, and we talked a lot about things in general. We are looking forward to the next one in early October.
Stray had hosted that and was around a while, but needed to do a stream with his parents for the first hour and a half, then Jackbox Games towards the end. We joined the usual crew around midnight and had a fun three hours playing, although we let Tim out at around 1:30am and he didn't come back for a while. I felt quite sad about this, fearing we had seen the last of him, so I was delighted to hear determined meowing outside our front door at around 3am. The fact he came back, and had clearly wanted to be out to do his business, did warm my heart and made handing him over to the vets early today an awful lot harder. Indeed, I am looking over my shoulder instinctively now wondering what he is up to and of course he's not there. There were some crass jokes from Stray, who was now calling himself StrayTim, and Wolfie about Tim being let out to die, which cut deeper than I let on, so I was particularly happy when he returned and spent the evening on the bed with me. We think he may have fleas though, so we are washing all the bedding, vaccing things up and have bought flea spray for the house, but we suspect they are more dead eggs than anything else.
We drove around to the vets this morning, with Tim in a Brew York box but curiosity meaning he was trying to clamber his way out of it. I was quite teary on saying goodbye to him, but we told the vet all of the above and left them our number in case they need further assistance. We have already looked at the possibility of friends rehoming him, or even taking him to Germany. He's an old cat, a little arthritic, but if the above story is true, then he doesn't deserve all this. He just wants company, love and a place to relax, and we could provide him that. The fact it was me he chose, by following me home, jumping on my lap, sleeping with me and coming back in the early hours of the morning after he had left him out has touched me terribly. Like with my mother's dog Wilma, I feel I have a connection, and I've never felt that way about a cat before.
So that has been the weekend so far - unpredcitable, odd but quite fulfilling. We have started to tell people about our move to Germany, and have been speaking with English-speaking furry groups there about what needs to be done. Later today, we should have our usual pony chat and musical live stream before we dive head-first into what will be one of the busiest weeks for my company so far - the website launch and a four-day online conference which is the biggest in the industry. Not a time to cut back on the drinking in an attempt to lose weight, but the next two months have to be focused on saving money, and I would feel happier without so much belly. We'll also see what happens with the cat as I suspect he may just turn back up again, particularly if he is placed with the same owners. At that point, we'll have a decision to make, but right now we can't predict. In some respects, it'll be easier if he doesn't come back, but I really do want to see him again. He's kinda gotten to me.
This weekend, it would have been the Leeds International Beer Festival, but it was cancelled due to COVID. To compensate, we decided to join Brew York's monthly taproom tasting session, where the head brewers and owners take us through four of their most recent beers in a two hour live stream on YouTube. It's always a fun event, and you get to hear loads of interesting tidbits about running a brewery, with how collaborations work being the key theme this time. However, they also had exciting news - they are building a new brewery in Osbaldwick which will nearly treble their capacity. The beers were delicious, but as it was ongoing, we started to wonder about the cat. We had seen him meowing at other doors down the street and were thinking we should perhaps go find him. He had no collar and we assumed he was a stray, while he was also looking a little thin. We were a little concerned.
Wolfie has been painting the bathroom this past week, with the previous owner of the property failing to use water resistant paint, contributing to our mould problem. Taking ownership of this, we have been gutting the bathroom and at 8:50pm on Friday evening, just as the Brew York tasting was winding down, I heard tapping on the window of the office. Wolfie had gone out to get a paintbrush from the garage and I had assumed he was just being an arse, so I went to the door to berate him. It was at that point that the cat jumped into our house and made himself at home.
He is a black cat and we feared he would blend into the night sky - I certainly didn't see him before he entered. We kept the door open for a while but he didn't want to go back outside, preferring instead to lie on the carpet in our hallway. Being into pet play, I conveniently had some suitable bowls, but we didn't have any cat food. Fortunately, Wolfie's friend Adam lives down the road and has a cat of his own, so we could scrounge some kitty litter and kibble for our new friend.
He ended up staying the night. We gave him the option to leave but he didn't take it, so we laid down some fleeces in the office and let him sleep while we were listening to Gothicat's set. At a couple of points he jumped onto my lap for scritches and I was amazed by his placid nature and confidence around strangers. He was clearly an elderly cat, but incredibly friendly, and I have since grown quite connected to him. He spent all of Friday and Saturday night sleeping with me in the downstairs bedroom, was fully domesticated when it came to using the litter tray (apart from one slight accident where he missed the bowl) and apart from wanting feeding at 7am, left us to lie in as long as we liked. He just wanted company. He was the most dog-like cat I have ever met.
We were going to take him to the vet on Saturday, with Enteirah having done some research and told us the self same cat had been there the previous Monday, linking us to the vetenary practice's Facebook page. I had been posting pictures of the cat on Twitter and getting quite a reaction, while this new piece of information was a little concerning. If he had been at the vet four days previously, and his owner had taken him back, then why was he at ours? We had never seen him before, despite a tip off that the cat was local, and our fears have only increased over the last 48 hours. Indeed, one neighbour suggested that the cat's owner leaves him outside in a box and is a 'scumbag' while the Facebook page of the vet now has a link detailing images of a cat that looks remarkably like this one - and has the same name (Tim or Timothy) - who was stolen from Poole in Dorset back in January 2017. The cat is microchipped but we believe this is corrupted, so we thought taking him back to the vets would be the best thing to do.
Alas, I misread the opening times and with Adia and Taneli both coming around independently to see the cat, we ended up arriving at the vets after it had closed. It was great seeing Adia, who had walked an hour and a half from her house to see the feline, and it was an opportunity to give her her birthday presents from back in January. We sat outside with Adia, with the wind quite biting, but aside from a ten-minute explore of the neighbour's garden, the cat just sat and stared at us from our front door mat as if he owned the place. Taneli came around later in the day, kindly bringing me sugar as I had forgotten to get some at the supermarket earlier in the week, and we sat outside again for an hour as he purred over the kitty. His area of Bradford has just been eased from lockdown, so it was the first chance to see him since late July. He now has a goatee.
So we ended up having the cat again last night as we delved into the third Furry Brew Crew tasting session. Again acting as compensation for the cancelled Leeds International Beer Festival, in the end there were seven of us on the Zoom call including Evi and Namonium from the Netherlands, Mooie from Sweden (who had to leave pretty early), Vulpes, Stray, Wolfie and I along with Kojiro in Burlington, Vermont. We spent a lot of time talking about the craft beer scene there and finding out about the World's Tallest Filing Cabinet, one of the many sites to see in Vermont's largest city. The number of craft breweries in a city of such small population - that of the size of Pudsey - is incredible and we had an enjoyable four hours just chatting away. We tried the remaining Brew York beers that were in the nine-beer case we had bought (four of which were for the tasting session on the Friday) before moving to some of the real ales we had left over from our Leicestershire trip. The Red Rock ones were fabulous. Everyone else had a range of craft beers to share too, and we talked a lot about things in general. We are looking forward to the next one in early October.
Stray had hosted that and was around a while, but needed to do a stream with his parents for the first hour and a half, then Jackbox Games towards the end. We joined the usual crew around midnight and had a fun three hours playing, although we let Tim out at around 1:30am and he didn't come back for a while. I felt quite sad about this, fearing we had seen the last of him, so I was delighted to hear determined meowing outside our front door at around 3am. The fact he came back, and had clearly wanted to be out to do his business, did warm my heart and made handing him over to the vets early today an awful lot harder. Indeed, I am looking over my shoulder instinctively now wondering what he is up to and of course he's not there. There were some crass jokes from Stray, who was now calling himself StrayTim, and Wolfie about Tim being let out to die, which cut deeper than I let on, so I was particularly happy when he returned and spent the evening on the bed with me. We think he may have fleas though, so we are washing all the bedding, vaccing things up and have bought flea spray for the house, but we suspect they are more dead eggs than anything else.
We drove around to the vets this morning, with Tim in a Brew York box but curiosity meaning he was trying to clamber his way out of it. I was quite teary on saying goodbye to him, but we told the vet all of the above and left them our number in case they need further assistance. We have already looked at the possibility of friends rehoming him, or even taking him to Germany. He's an old cat, a little arthritic, but if the above story is true, then he doesn't deserve all this. He just wants company, love and a place to relax, and we could provide him that. The fact it was me he chose, by following me home, jumping on my lap, sleeping with me and coming back in the early hours of the morning after he had left him out has touched me terribly. Like with my mother's dog Wilma, I feel I have a connection, and I've never felt that way about a cat before.
So that has been the weekend so far - unpredcitable, odd but quite fulfilling. We have started to tell people about our move to Germany, and have been speaking with English-speaking furry groups there about what needs to be done. Later today, we should have our usual pony chat and musical live stream before we dive head-first into what will be one of the busiest weeks for my company so far - the website launch and a four-day online conference which is the biggest in the industry. Not a time to cut back on the drinking in an attempt to lose weight, but the next two months have to be focused on saving money, and I would feel happier without so much belly. We'll also see what happens with the cat as I suspect he may just turn back up again, particularly if he is placed with the same owners. At that point, we'll have a decision to make, but right now we can't predict. In some respects, it'll be easier if he doesn't come back, but I really do want to see him again. He's kinda gotten to me.
