In came Tanya

A scrawny black cat walked through the narrow bars of the gate easily and nervously looked behind her before approaching the person who was cleaning the porch. With a barely audible mew, she called softly as she moved slowly towards the unaware person.

EJ turned round and could not believe that this was Tanya. Tanya looked very different. When younger, she was round and cute. And very, very haughty. Now she looked miserable, thin and sparsely furred. With a bulging rounded belly, EJ knew Tanya was pregnant. Tanya was promptly given food.

Having known that Tanya had owners, owners of Tommy who lived a few doors away, she was placed in cage with its door permanently opened at the porch. This was to allow her to walk back to her owners when she wanted to. But Tanya never went back and her owners never looked for her.

Two weeks later, on 16 April 2001, five cute kittens were born. With the help of EJ's niece and nephew, the kittens were given hilarious names - Wig, Rug, EyeShit, ForeHead and the last born, Tortie.