Allies

Mo the tabby tomcat decided to move in with us during the snow in January. We gave him the same customary welcome we give to all strange cats approaching our house; a few well-aimed pebbles, but this didn't seem to put him off. After a while we decided that his tenacity was really rather admirable and so we adopted him.

It didn't take very long for Homer the dog to realise we had had a change of heart and that this new little fella was another character deserving of canine protection. The other cats; Heidi, Google and Nanouk have still not really accepted that Mo is part of the family.

Mo is a very fast learner. He knows just what to do to make me love him, and Spousie, and most definitely Homer. He also knows it's best to just steer clear of the other three. He is learning to be playful with his claws retracted, but most of all he is learning how to share treats with Homer.

If we have any meat with bones in for our evening meal we leave the bones to one side and Homer gets them for breakfast, but now that summer is here and doors and windows are open it means that animals are in the house day or night. It only took the one experience of our dinner bowls being sent crashing from the work-surface to the floor in the middle of the night for us to realise we had better devise a new Mo-proof system as well as buying some replacement crockery.

We have learnt not to leave sausages to defrost on the draining board, and mince. We tried leaving chops in the slow cooker to defrost, not switched on, but simply because it's too heavy to push to the floor, but since its original lid fell to pieces and we replaced it with a smaller glass lid, which works brilliantly for slow cooking but is as easy for a cat to get into as a flip-top bin, we have decided that is not a safe place either.

So after a long learning curve we now know that milk can be left to defrost on the draining board, meat must be left on top of the open window and freshly baked bread must be shut in the microwave to cool down. Aubergine purée? You'd think that would be as safe as a carton of milk wouldn't you? Apparently not. I do not believe for a moment that a small cat can devour 500g of puréed aubergines. He must have knocked it to the floor as he does with everything else and then shared his midnight feast with Homer. Thank goodness we have a surfeit! But I am pleased they are friends, albeit very naughty ones.