READER LETTER OF THE WEEK

Dear Jude,

We have a darling little cat who lives next door. She is always over at our place and even spends the night sometimes. We try not to feed her, but she is usually quite hungry and is very skinny. Our neighbours may not be paying her much attention. We would love to take her on if the neighbour finds looking after her a bit too much. Should I say something and risk offending them? Elaine

Say something! Risk the offence. New Year, new home for the cat. Though let’s be honest, cats do what they like anyway. You can’t fence them in like a dog, so it might be that the status quo continues. But if she’s a skinny wee thing, maybe they aren’t giving her the care she needs and she’s simply asking to move to a new house, and waiting for you to provide the human translation services.

As a fellow animal lover, I wouldn’t be very happy to know she was hungry much of the time.

Why not simply say that she’s often at your house and you just love having her there? And, with a new year starting, you were reflecting on the fact that the thought of not having her visit would make you feel very sad. You really miss her when she’s not there for company, and you thought you’d be brave and ask whether they might possibly consider rehoming her with you, and just seeing how it went for a while?

They can only say, “No thanks.” Or they might say, “Okay, let’s see how it goes”, or even a blanket “yes”. Be careful not to paint them as bad owners (albeit they might be!), but rather yourself as a crazy cat lady who has fallen for their feline.

If they say yes, buy the food she loves, feed her up and get her a fluffy bed, and I’m pretty sure the love from you and the comforts of her new home will make it a permanent move.