Mad dogs and croft cats

We’ve been dog sitting Tigger again for a few days, a lab-spaniel cross belonging to friends. He’s a mad, crazy bundle of energy and love who rarely stops and wants to be involved in everything.

This little black dog makes me laugh, and I’d almost forgotten how much joy animals bring to us every day with their quirkiness and character. Tigger is so much fun.

We’re used to animals of course, and had our own dog Bertie up until two years ago when he died. The place was very empty for a long time without his pattering little footsteps following us everywhere. We still miss him.

We agreed that we would wait until the house build was over before we took any more animals into our lives on a permanent basis. A build site is chaotic enough without worrying about a dog getting caught up in the debris, plasterboard, metal offcuts and detritus that inevitably fills every inch of space.

However we’re nearly there with the build now. With the second skip being filled with the worst of the site rubbish, and scheduled to be taken away by the weekend, it suddenly feels a much less dangerous place for animals to be. And if the walls aren’t decorated yet or the terrace built, I’m sure animals won’t worry too much about that.

I tentatively contacted Inverness Cat Rescue a week ago just to see what they had, and by sheer chance a young litter of kittens had just been born a week previously. The cat mother was being re-homed, but the kittens would be available in June once fully weaned and inoculated. Would we like to reserve one?

We reserved two! A tabby male and a tabby female, both shown here on the left of the picture from the rescue centre.

So, soon we will have croft cats who can enjoy the space and hopefully keep the rodents down. Voles have recently taken up residence in my polycrub and have already started eating my vegetable seedlings so it’s not a moment too soon.

We’re hoping that these little creatures will develop into hunter-killer class mousers that will keep things in check. The buzzards, sparrow hawks and other birds of prey do a good job of keeping things in balance generally, but they can’t get into the polycrub to hunt, which is where the voles are sheltering. Sorry guys, but the Desirable Residence with on-tap salad bar is about to come to an end!

We’re so very excited to have cats in our lives again. Then dogs again next!