The Runt of the Litter

Almost 15 years ago, a friend gave me the chance to add a cat to my little family - self and two cats. The cats had been with me for a long time, having lived with me for several years in London until we moved to the North in 1993, when I retired on medical grounds.

The friend's daughter looked after her then boyfriend's cats and one had given birth to 3 kittens. A grey and white queen went to live with my friend. I saw a photo of the two remaining kittens - large white and black queen who I called Juniper, and  a small tom cat, black and white, who I decided to adopt as well, called him Bracken. Within the first 30 minutes I checked the relevant body parts with my existing cats and discovered that Juniper was a tom, and Bracken a queen - wrongly sexed but the names suited them better! By accident they had the correct names!!
Since then there have sadly been losses, February 2012 saw Juniper on a one-way trip to the vets. The grey and white cat had already done that a few years earlier. Now, Bracken is the sole survivor of the triplets - yet she was the runt of the litter!

Bracken posing

Bracken loves to roll on her back inside and outside - and is camera-mad. She is a cheeky and spoiled companion. Very loving - especially if she sees me eating something she wants - and a bit of a bossy cat at times. I think she missed her brother when he went to the Rainbow Bridge, but didn't pine as some animals do. She probably knew long before I did that he was ailing.

Juniper

I noticed recently that Bracken rarely looks into my eyes, unlike her brother, Juniper, she looks at my lips.