Lyra & Mowgli – a love story

If you read “Mowgli goes visiting” a few weeks ago you’ll know that separating Mowgli and Lyra before she had her kittens didn’t go to plan. Despite Mowgli having the offer of a brilliant new home, he kept crying to be with Lyra.

At the end of his first visit to her and her kits we thought it was all very sweet but couldn’t trust it to be ok of they were together unsupervised. However, the crying continued. More frequent visits were arranged. Then he was allowed to stay in Lyra’s room more or less all the time but in a crate. My residents pushed for this because they were getting no sleep with his continual crying. Each time I wondered about moving him away from Lyra, he went and laid down quietly in his crate and I’d give in and let him stay. There came a point where I let him be out of the crate in the room but sat outside the door listening for any signs of distress, and went in every few minutes to check on them. Each time he and Lyra would be lying together near the cot with the kittens in, just chatting and watching the little ones.

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And as with many battles with cats, I ended up just giving in and letting them sort themselves out. A little while later I was confused by a friend who hadn’t met them before. She went in to see Lyra and kits whilst I was sorting out the A Team. She said something about mum and kittens together that I didn’t understand as I could see Lyra walking across the landing. Went in and found Mowgli in the cot, cuddling the babies whilst Lyra had gone for a walk. That was the point where I felt I had to have a chat with Morris’ mum. Awful as it felt to go back on an agreement to adopt (I’ve never done it before) and ridiculous as it seemed to turn down the offer of a fab home for a grown up black cat, I just couldn’t feel ok about separating them.

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Mowg is a bit of a fuss pot. If I’m doing anything to the kits – worming, bathing eyes etc – he’s on my case checking out what I’m doing and I’m not hurting them. Lyra cheerfully ignores their squeals and gets on with her supper. He may have pushed his luck a bit too far now though. He wants to play with the A Team too. They enjoy it, especially Albert, who has found a black role model in a sea of tabbiness. Unfortunately Arwen has used him as a target for all her disaffection with the opposite sex and I found him nursing a scratched ear.

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He’ll need to stay here now until the kittens are 12 weeks old and Lyra is also ready to go to a new home. It’s probably not going to be easy to find a home for two adult cats, but after the commitment they’ve shown each other I feel obliged to try.

mowg wondering what the future holds for him and his friend