When we moved to the USA from the UK three years ago to start Mulberry Alpacas we brought with us a dog and two cats. The English cats belonged to our children and are called Creeper and Poppy. They live inside the house.

Meanwhile outside in the alpaca barn lives our male barn cat, you may remember I wrote about him four months ago just after he gave birth to four kittens......for a while I was unsure whether to write to the Pope and make his holiness aware of this miracle or just accept that Dean Otten made an honest mistake when he told me it was a male cat. On balance I decided not to bother the Pontiff with my news.

Anyway a couple of weeks ago Creeper one of our ageing English cats disappeared and as we all know this is sometimes what cats do as they come to the end of their days....and very sensible it is in my opinion. My wife and children assumed the worst as each day went by......

Then as I was feeding the mother cat and her kittens this evening I noticed a familiar interloper at the food trough.....



Was it an extra large fifth kitten? Or had Creeper opted for family life in the alpaca barn?

It was of course Creeper. Quite why he has moved to the outside at this time of year I have no idea.....and before you get any ideas I can tell that he was neutered in the UK many years ago..

So it looks like we will have to increase the food ration the the barn cats receive now I know another adult has joined the den....