Runty

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Runty came from a litter of 8. As her name suggests she was the Runt of the litter.

Her mother came to us as a kitten herself. She would roam in the garden and made friends with my first husband. My husband named the mother Pushkins. Pushkins came often and it was plain she had kittens and was feeding them. We didn't know where she lived or who she belonged to. No one around us seemed to know either. One day she came to us in great distress. It seemed her kittens were no more (although we had never seen them, from the cats behaviour it was obvious that they were not around any more.) Not very long after it became obvious yet again that Pushkins was going to have another litter! Time passed and we went away to South Wales for our holiday. When we came back our neighbour on one side of us said "She's had four kittens and they are at the bottom of the hedge. She's made a sort of nest.". We poked our noses in and saw four kittens. The next day Pushkins moved her kittens to the hedge the other side of the garden and again we poked our heads in to have a look. We saw not four kittens but six!. Then we looked again, amazed we hadn't counted right and then we saw not six kittens but eight!

Pushkins had one black kitten, one tortoiseshell kitten, two tabbies, three black and white kittens (like herself) and Runty!!!

My daughters chose a kitten each to keep. The eldest daughter chose the black/grey one and called him Smokey Joe. My youngest daughter chose the white tortoisehell one, the runt of the litter and called her Runty.

Runty outlasted her brothers and sisters by many years. She lived to be 21 years old.