Cats

I grew up on one acre of land
with a cat and a dog as mandatory assistants with unwelcome
visitors and other vermin. Although we always had a dog as well
as a cat, I definitely had a preference for felines over
canines.
The only thing I did try to talk my mother
around, was to allow our cat to come inside the house.
Eventually she conceded but only in the kitchen on a special
mat in one corner - we trained the cat in the same manner we
trained the dog. It didn't take long for the cat to learn that
if it wandered out of the kitchen, it was picked up
and placed back outside. Our cats over the years, worked out
very quickly that it was better to be in the kitchen only than
not in the house at all.
I wanted our cat to come into my bedroom! My
mother would have none of that and nothing ever changed her
mind. Animals belonged outside in her mind and it was a victory
to have the cat inside at all, even restricted to the kitchen.
Thinking about it, we did have a mother cat in the old kitchen
of the old bungalow (before my father extended our house). When
our cat had kittens, my mum knew the kittens needed a dark,
warm spot and she placed some old blankets for the mother cat
and her babies to sleep on in the warmth of our Aga stove (in a
section that did not get too hot).
I had to wait until I got married and left
home before I had my own cat which WAS allowed to be inside. It
was a tortoiseshell kitten from my older sister's cat and she
was named Piccaninny.

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