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2nd November
We walked into their pen and saw a furry bundle
of spots, stripes, swirls, legs, ears, and tails. Mum was prowling around and fussing over
them. I couldn’t count them - I
couldn’t even work out which bits belonged to which body - they were so
intertwined. They were tiny, and
they were gorgeous - with that ‘wild’ look that everybody reads about.
With some helpful advice from Jill Fyfe, her
breeder, we decided which one we wanted and reserved her. We then went away for a while to let her
grow a little more in the loving paws of her mum.
29th November
Today we went back to pick her up.
 We already used
the same moist food but we bought some of the dried food she was used to,
and a gigantic bag of the litter she had always used. We wanted to make her feel at home
quickly, by giving her the things she was familiar with.
We had got her bowl and bed, some toys, and all
the things that she needed.
As soon as the car started, the yowling
started. I’d read that Bengal’s
voices were ‘different’ - but did not realise how LOUD they were. It sounded as if we were trying to
strangle the poor thing. Eventually
she calmed down.
With my hands in the basket, gently stroking her,
and talking to her quietly, she settled and eventually went to sleep for
the drive back from Peterborough
to Sheffield.
30th November
She has her own litter tray, with her own cat
litter in it - the stuff she is used to.
Will she use it - No, of course not!
The other cats’ tray is much better.
She much prefers it to the litter in that gigantic bag we have just
bought.
She has her own food - the food she is used
to. Will she eat it - No! The other cats’ food is much better -
even though it gives her awful wind (Phew - what a smell). I guess we will be feeding her separately
from tomorrow.
1st December
Today, eating the other cats’ food resulted in
her not getting to the litter tray in time.
So she found a nice little place behind the television- that place
where all the cables from the video, TV, stereo etc, are all wound round
one another - a bit like spaghetti junction.
Lovely runny, smelly cat poo everywhere - up the
walls, all over the cables. I’ve
cleared up many a mess - but this was awful. From now own she’s definitely being fed
separately.
2nd December
We had some friends over today. They thought Wennie was gorgeous, but
wondered why we had cling-film wrapped round the TV stand.
3rd December
She’s now decided to help me clean the litter
tray. As soon as I go towards it
with the scooper she’s in there. As
I try to scoop the litter up one end of the tray, she scratches the dirty
litter from the other end into the clean bit I’ve done. So I change ends ….. and so does she.
I take her out of the litter tray - she jumps back
in. It turns into a battle of
wills...........from now on she’s locked out of the room when I clean the
litter trays.
4th December
She can now get half way up the cat climbing
frame. Gandalf sits on the top with
his tail over the edge, waving it backwards and forwards for Wennie to try
to catch. Those two have become the
best of friends.
The other two cats are still a bit ‘cautious’
about her. I think that being older
cats, they find her energy a bit daunting.
We’ve allocated the conservatory as their ‘retreat’.
 7th December
She has now discovered the garden. We have a transparent cat flap in the
back door, and she sits for hours looking out. The flap is locked so that the other cats
can get in but she can’t get out.
14th December
She’s growing.
She can now reach the edges of the tablecloth on the dining room
table. She leaps up, swings from the
cloth, and drags it, and everything on it, onto the floor. The tablecloth will be removed. I must keep the table tidier!
17th December
I knew Wennie was in the lounge, but just could
not find her. I looked behind every
bit of furniture, made sure she hadn’t got through the cling-film to the
back of the TV. I hunted everywhere.
Then I heard a noise - from high up by the
window. And there she was - right at
the top of the window, hanging precariously from the net curtains. She got her first ‘telling off’ - only a
little one - but enough to tell her not to do that again - but of course
she did - again.....and again.....and again.
21st December
Now I know it really was foolish of me to put the
Christmas tree up in the lounge, and I should have already learned from the
escapade with the net curtains that kittens like climbing. But I really did not expect to come in and
find the tree swinging from side to side with Wennie clinging to the top.
The tree is now in the conservatory.
25th December
Wennie had been quiet for a while and I wondered
where she was. I guessed it was one
of those rare moments of peace when she was sleeping. I went to the loo - and discovered why.
I think she decided to copy the Andrex
puppy. There she was curled up
asleep in a bundled of loo paper on the bathroom floor. The empty cardboard toilet roll was still
sitting in the holder.
The loo roll is now kept out of reach, and
visitors look at me a bit strange when I tell them where to find it.
31st December
Andrew and I never bother shutting the doors
anywhere - there’s only the two of us humans - and we’re not shy. Today, Andrew was standing at the loo doing
his ‘business’.
Wennie loves the sound of water.
She rushed up the stairs at full speed - rushed
into the bathroom, leaped at the loo seat (or was it the trickle of
‘water’) - and landed head-first in to loo pan.
Wennie had her first bath today.
2nd January
She has now found that she can jump up onto the
loo seat (now always down), then reach the wash-basin from there. 
It's now taking 10 minutes longer to get washed -
trying to wash my face and brush my teeth with a cat walking around and in
the wash-basin!
12th January
I have an ‘office’ - the back bedroom. As I am a smoker and Andrew has given up,
this room is my retreat, and I always have a window cracked open to keep it
fresh - just a small fanlight window at the top.
Today I came into my office to find Wennie
clinging to the top of the window - front legs outside, backs legs and head
inside (thank goodness!). She was
promptly removed. The window is now
closed, and I put up with a smoky room.
Perhaps I’ll have to give up smoking too! Not such a bad idea.
17th January
I could not find Wennie anywhere. I searched high and low for her. Eventually I looked outside - and there
she was in the back garden. She was
looking very nervous, and was only a few feet from the back door.
How on earth did she get out? The cat flap was locked.
27th January
I could hear this banging noise from the kitchen
door. There was Wennie, banging her
head against the cat flap. As she
head-bashed the flap it bounced a little - and she had a dainty little paw
ready - claws extended. As soon as
the flap bounced high enough - up came the paw and out she went.
The flap is now permanently locked both ways.
30th January
I changed the litter tray filters today. I should have known it was a mistake
doing it with Wennie watching. As
soon as I turned my back, she pulled the grill out with her claws, pulled
out the filter, and ran round the house with it.
I chased her round the house, got the filter
back, put it back with it’s grill firmly latched in place. This was repeated several times
throughout the day, and for several days afterwards.
5th February
Andrew - where have all the pens gone that were
in the pot in the kitchen?
7th February
Where did I leave my mascara?
9th January
Where is my eye shadow and my blusher brush?
17th January
We have a range in the kitchen with one of those
big drawers in the bottom. I went to
get a pan out and the drawer caught on something. Took out the drawer and found 3 toy mice,
2 ping-pong balls, 2 make-up brushes, 1 eye shadow, 3 pens, and 1 necklace
(didn’t know I’d lost that!).
7th February
Went upstairs to the bathroom and found the light
was on. I turned it off. I didn’t think any more off it - just
assumed Andrew had left it on.
Went upstairs again later, and noticed the
bathroom light was on. Strange -
sure I’d turned it off.
Went to bed - bathroom light was on - must have a
word with Andrew about leaving lights on.
I sat in bed reading - could hear Wennie playing
in the bathroom. She seemed to be
leaping around quite a bit. Bathroom
light came on.
We’ve now shortened the cord on the light switch.
August 2003
Wennie is now 1 year old.
She and Gandalf sit either end of the mantelpiece
- like a pair of book-ends.
We keep the loo seats down and the bathroom doors
shut - though she does join me in the shower each morning.
I’ve got spring loaded poles for the net curtains
- they automatically fall when they get her weight on them.
And if anything goes missing - we know where to
find it.
We seem to have changed quite a few things in the
last year - but they are such a small price to pay for having such a
wonderful addition to our ‘family’.............and of course, our house is
now 'kitten-friendly', ready for the next bundle of fun to join us.
August 2006
Wennie has been a wonderful companion, and has
give us three lovely litters of babies.
But at her third litter she was taken very ill, and we had to
hand-rear the kittens from 10 days old.
It was an exhausting time – hand feeding 5 tiny
babies every few hours, and dashing backwards and forward to the vets with
Wennie.
We nearly lost Wennie, and struggled to keep the
kittens alive – but thanks to the hard work of our vets, they all pulled
through. So we named the kittens
after the vets and nurses who had helped Wennie so much over the previous
weeks – Jonathon Nico, Julie, Angela, Lucinda, and Lianne.
Wennie was spayed as soon as she was healthy
enough to deal with the operation.
And now she is a lady of leisure – enjoying the pleasures of life,
but still getting up to mischief.
December 2006
Wennie lost her battle against illness on 9th
December 2006.
We miss her so much – she was such a special
girl, and she will be in our hearts forever.
I wish she’d had more time as a lady of leisure –
but I know that she enjoyed her few months as our pet, rolling around on
the grass, and playing in the sunshine.
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