... and nothing but the truth

'Crunch' The Cat

THE CAT

This is the tale about a cat called 'Crunch.' He is a ginger Tom (male) cat, I always thought ginger cats were always male, but I don't think that is strictly true.  I believe some people would call them 'Marmalade' cats.

Perhaps he was called Crunch as there is a Crunchie chocolate bar with the inside orange coloured honeycomb filling, not sure really.

As I have a feeding station for the wild birds in my small outside space, I always chase cats away. As you know, they are notorious for catching birds, but they are not going to do this on my watch! You either make friends with the birds or the cats, but not both as the two don't mix. I have made friends with the birds. Cats also have a habit of digging up plants now and then and leaving their calling cards on the soil – no thank you!

I do like cats, but I did not warm to Crunch at all. He always seemed too pushy to me, always stalking around 'meaowing' and wanting to push himself onto people.

I didn't realise at the time that this means a cat is not happy where he lives and he is trying to find somewhere else to live. It transpired that he did not belong originally to the people who house him, he was left behind when the previous house owners moved. Whether this was deliberate or whether the new owners knew he came with the house, I am not sure, but it was obvious that Crunch was unhappy and I am sure his surrogate owners knew this.

Because of the way the cat behaved, people were always thinking that he was hungry, he probably wasn't, but perhaps he was hungry for affection. I am sorry to say he didn't get any from me, but I did feel for him when he wandered around at night or in the snow and did not seem to want to go home.

Three of the flats here are tenanted out and a tenant upstairs in our block left and in his place came a young woman who was a teacher. As time went by she fed Crunch and later on, took him up into her flat. They formed a strong bond, so much so that she went to the owners of the cat and asked if she could adopt him. They refused. I felt this was wrong of them as they did not want the cat, as they told this to a neighbour of mine later on. They already owned two cats and a dog, no wonder Crunch was not happy!

Time went on and the young woman left her job as a teacher and returned back to Cornwall where her home was. She told some of the neighbours here that she would miss Crunch when she went. They told her to take him with her when she moved! Perhaps if she had offered to pay for the cat, they would have let her have him? I am not sure whether she did, but when she moved out she did take the cat with her.

I was glad to see the back of him, myself! One time when I was cooking Sunday lunch, he appeared 'meaowing' on my window ledge and trying to climb in the window. I found this extremely annoying!

Well, the owners of the cat were not happy (remember here, they did not want the cat) and they got the Police involved. The cat was returned to their previous owners and we had the wretched cat back, prowling around making a nuisance of himself once more.

My neighbours, who knew the owners of the cat, said they felt it was a matter of principle. She had stolen the cat and had to bring him back, although THEY DID NOT WANT HIM! Principle? What about the well being of the poor cat, does he not matter in all of this? I was most annoyed about the whole affair and I made my feelings clear on the matter.

My neighbours had a budgie, a beautiful white budgie with red eyes called Ruby.  I have fed and watered her a couple of times when my neighbours went on a holiday. One day they were decorating with the budgie flying around (a silly thing to do and my neighbour did own up it was her fault), and Crunch sneaked in the door and pounced on the budgie and fled with her. They chased after him, but they never found the budgie. Well, they had befriended the cat and stroked him a few times and they should not have done this, I felt. Anyway, they hated the cat afterwards, although he was only doing what comes natural to a cat!

The house on the corner is a home for disabled persons who live independently with helpers coming in on a daily basis. It is a well run establishment. One day in the car park one of the helpers came up to me and asked 'What is the situation with this ginger cat, is he a stray?' Obviously, people thought he was a stray as he acted like one. 'No' I replied 'He lives in the house opposite yours, but he's not happy there.' 'He's been calling in to our house and the residents have been feeding him' she said. 'They are very fond of him.'

So Crunch has found a new home and I have not heard him 'meaowing' since!  It seems he has found the affection he deserves and which he was craving for, right on his doorstep.

Who would think one cat could cause so much trouble? Ha, ha.

UPDATE:

The family who owned Crunch had to leave their house at the end of 2022 and they left the cat behind.  Which goes to show how little they thought of him.  I assume they knew the house opposite would look after him.