Tom and Flora arrive in Ullapool

We have long planned to bring Tom and Flora to Ullapool with us for our longer trips. However with Ally and Cat and Davie kindly being our live-in cat-sitters for the past nineteen or so months, it seemed silly to uproot the cats when they could just as easily stay at home. Ally and Cat have now moved to London so the time has come for Tom and Flora to make the journey with us. 

We do have very nice back-up cat sitters; our niece Lucy and Tina who lives next door. But I prefer not to leave the cats at home without us for more than a week; if something (heaven forbid) were to happen to them, there would be no one in the house to deal with it. We will need to find a new cattery for when we go abroad; we used to use an excellent one but the owners have retired and it has closed. 

And anyway we miss Tom and Flora when we’re away, so if we’re going to Ullapool for two or three weeks, we want them to be with us. 

We tried to make the journey yesterday as relaxing as possible for them. We bought a new, larger cat carrier with a fleece liner, and set off mid-morning when they usually go for a sleep. Alas the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley. The cats stayed awake for the whole four hour journey although they did lie down after a while. Flora then did a poo, either through nerves or maybe she just really needed it; this necessitated a stop in a lay-by for a quick clean up. Then just as we approached Ullapool she was sick - poor wee soul. Tom seemed fine but whenever I turned round to look at him he would open his mouth in his strange silent miaow, so I knew that he wasn’t happy. 

When we arrived at the cottage they were absolutely amazed; they explored the house and Tom in particular stared out of the windows. He just couldn’t believe that the view was not of his own garden. They were both hungry and had a big feed. They seemed quite settled in the living room with us during the evening. It was very windy and rainy outside so we decided to wait until today to let them go outside; we had brought a litter tray with us. 

But then we had the most disturbed night ever! The cats ran up and down the stairs, jumped on and off the bed, Flora miaowed loudly and Tom climbed into the cupboards and knocked things about. They slept for a while but woke at five in the morning for more boisterous behaviour including Flora scratching the carpet on the stairs and Tom trying to open the door to the spare room. Meanwhile heavy rain battered the window and gale force winds raged around the cottage, probably the wildest weather that we have had here so far. In the morning the cats were very relaxed but James and I were quite exhausted!