Our neighbor's cat is a bit of a sad case...
It does not help that her ( former ) owner, an Italian farmer in his mid to late eighties does not visit his land any longer. And - in fact - hasn't done so in months, since falling ill early Winter.
He has recovered from his illness but decided to retire from chicken farming and maintaining his orto ( veggie garden ).
His chickens have been taken away months ago and his vegetable garden has been left to return to its natural state.
In case you missed it, I shared more on this anziano/old man in one of the first posts written on our land, last Summer: Countryside Life Diary.
To segue into 'mamma gatta', she was one of a number of cats that the old geezer kept to either guard his chicken or - more likely - to deal with mice and other rodents.
'Mamma Gatta' ( a name @clareartista and I came up with ) was the O.G. of the cats. The eldest and arguably the wildest.
But as soon as we started feeding her a bit, as we live right next to her and she always seemed hungry, her wildness ( hissing ) disappeared like water in the sunshine and she turned into a pretty sweet cat.
Let's be honest, becoming a dog or a cat's best friend is not the hardest thing in the world. Feed them regularly and they start to adore you, in most cases.
We are friends now but she is a bit of a meower ( in fact, she meows a lot and the sound of it is pretty annoying and repetitive ). Aside from that, she always seems to want to eat.
We haven't officially adopted her yet though, as we have a cat of our own: 'Fridha' and one cat in the house ( at night ) is already enough for me.
I did not grow up with cats and am a light sleeper.
Also, M.G. isn't really ready to live indoors. She can not entirely be trusted - which is an understatement - and she also isn't the cleanest.
Besides, we like her to catch mice too - as we don't want these little fellows inside our house, waking us up at night and eating our food or damaging our things - and cats who get fed enough stop doing that.
Funny enough, our cat Fridha seems to be better at catching mice. We have even seen her feed a mouse to Mamma Gatta, possibly because she senses that the 'sad' cat needs some extra protein.
Long story short, whether we want it or not, M.G. has become part of our daily routine.
Her meowing starts as soon as we get up and she tends to hang out on our doorstep until sunset.
Being a bit of a desperate case, she even wants to eat our compost ( see the first photo ).
She enjoys going on walks with us on our land..
Loves to sharpen her nails on trees...
And - when we don't want her on our terrazzo - she moves two metres away from our house and settles near the old rusty cages in front of our neighbor's building.
Or, sometimes, on the roof to get a sun tan.
No matter how annoying she can be - at times - Clare and I do love her. She's a special case and has a big heart. It's impossible not to like her.
In case you enjoyed this post, this might be a fun read too:
I think I could make a good stab at it:)
What about 'impossible'? Corrected my typo ;^)
P.S. You're the funniest!
Oh, I feel sorry for Mama Gatta. What’s life like for a country cat? I hope it’s less difficult than for kittens in the city—at least there are trees and grass out there. Thanks for feeding her and looking after her 🐱 🌱
Life for a country cat isn't too bad. A lot of sleeping and enjoying nature and fresh air. And - more importantly - a lot calmer/less stressful than in the city.
You guys are so kind. But then people have a different relationship with wild cats than we do in Australia.
Mostly thanks to Clare. She empathizes with any animal she sees, especially cats and dogs.
I am a bit more discerning.
If she's actually old she might not be having as much luck hunting as she used to so it's good that you're looking after her :)
What happened to the other cats?!
Fair point. She might be a bit older than we thought she was.
The other cats either disapeared or have been taken away by our neighbor.
@ewkaw Your support is much appreciated :^)
!PIMP