DIARY OF A FARM CAT
Cookie is a cat with a hidden talent. Farmer Donya Donger tells you about the secret skill.
Cookie is a farm cat with a hidden talent…
While last month’s diary told of how Cookie’s hunting skills see her live up to the traditional idea of a farm cat, one thing is clear, she’s a cat who loves her home comforts. I think from her point of view, her true calling in life is finding warm spots to have a snooze in — I am sure many of you can relate to your own feline friends!
Cookie doesn’t have a favourite place to doze though. She will wander around the farm, sampling different spots to rest her paws — many of them are locations that will be here today, gone tomorrow! Her criteria for a good sleeping spot comes down to two things: how warm it is and having a good view.
As we live in an old, stone farmhouse it can often be quite drafty and cold so we have a large log burner in our kitchen that gets lit most days in winter. There isn’t really room for a permanent dog or cat bed in front of the fire, but I sometimes put a fluffy rug or blanket down for the dog. Cookie, however, will happily create her own spot on the nearest chair, box, or basket to bask in the heat.
If the log burner isn’t lit, she often sits tight up next to the radiator on a small bench. We did try a heated cat bed for her but she didn’t seem bothered by that and prefers to seek out her own hot spots. In the summer months, she loves lounging around in the warmth. I have found that if I leave the greenhouse door open, she is particularly fond of lying in one of my seedling trays in the full sun. This causes a couple of problems; the first being it often kills my seedlings and secondly, she camouflages so well that I don’t always see her straight away and she scares the living daylights out of me!
Cookie once fell asleep in the washing basket and we only found her as one of the children threw their dirty clothes in and suddenly they moved! She does have a knack for finding a strange spot, like a discarded item of clothing just against the wall is somewhere she can turn into a napping location. I wonder how unique this talent is. I have friends with feline companions who have their favourite beds and spots to the extent that no one else is allowed to sit in the cat’s space! Cookie is more of a creative cat.
What I love most about this habit of Cookie’s is the look on her face when you first spy her — it’s an expression as if to say
‘I found this spot and
I know you’re jealous!’ Most of the time, I am jealous as she looks so cosy!