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Also this tale of passed experiences with cats in France by one of our fosterers

 

We lived in a large rambling French country house in need of much TLC.  We had some 2 acres of garden or rather abandoned field with some very high hedges.  One hot summers day we noticed our old dogs (all female) sat quietly together by one of these hedges gazing intently into it and keeping their distance!  This went on for a few days and eventually our curiosity had to be satisfied.  We sat down quietly with the dogs and peered into the hedge.  We were pleasantly surprised! six little blue eyes were peering right back at us. We'd acquired three kittens. We assumed they were feral and kept the old girls away for a few days, but still no sign of Mum.  The kittens got braver each day, venturing further and further from their refuge in the hedge, but always returning to the hedge each night. Obviously Mum had had a word.

 

A week or so later we were closing up for the night with the light just fading when we heard a scruffing sound outside the front door.  We looked out to see and sat quite fearlessly on our top step, the largest roughest looking cat we had ever seen.  This had to be mum.  She proceeded to stare at us unflinching for a good two minutes and we were under the distinct impression that we were being scrutinized. Eventually Mum softened her stare and we felt we'd passed the test.  She turned suddenly, gave us one more glance and then was off into the night never to return.  The following day we realized that we had passed the "looking after my babies test" the night before when three little heads looked around the open front door.  We had acquired three more mouths to feed and the old dogs had acquired three more bosses!