Anyone who’s been following the OiNK Blog for a while will be familiar with the furry little face above. Smudge has popped up in occasional posts here and there but what a lot of you mightn’t have known was that he didn’t actually live with me. Instead, I cat sat him regularly. However, I’m very happy to announce that as of mid-October he has come to join me in OiNK Blog Towers permanently. That’s right, Smudge is now living with me and my house has never felt cosier.
My friends Vicki and her mum Elaine were out for dinner on a cold, rainy night back in 2015 when, on their way to their car, they heard a cat crying out from somewhere. They found a teeny tiny kitten in a hedge but couldn’t get near him and had to leave. They couldn’t get him out of their heads though, so the next morning went back to see if he was still there. He was.
The story of how they got him was funny. They’d taken a box to catch him but he was too scared to get near. By pure luck, just as they got close to him and he made a dart to escape, Vicki’s husband Colin arrived and as he approached he saw the cat run and kicked the box, which fell over the yet-to-be-named Smudge. Later that day I got the first of the photos below. He was so small!
They got him checked out and the vet estimated he was only three months old. Initially they weren’t going to keep him, just until they could find somewhere to take him. Of course, Smudge made sure that didn’t happen. The photo below was taken on 10th October 2015 by me the first time I ever met him. By a strange coincidence, he moved in with me on 11th October 2025, just one day over exactly ten years since I’d instantly fallen in love with him.
Over the years I’d visit my friends and see him, and I’d look after him when they all went away on holidays. Of course I spoiled him rotten! When I was growing up we had a couple of budgies but no cats or dogs. In fact, my mum didn’t like cats so I was always fascinated with those belonging to my mates. I found it so surprising how much Smudge and I grew to become friends, something that had never happened between me and an animal before.
Sadly, Elaine passed away in 2021. It hit us all hard. I could also tell Smudge was missing her and stressed about where his owner had gone. In the years since then I’ve looked after him more regularly and recently I was doing so every other weekend. Before she passed, Elaine asked me to take him, but he lived in a big house in the country and I lived in a regular Belfast terraced house in the city. We thought it couldn’t be done.
One look at these photos taken over the past fortnight should tell you how it’s been going!
Vicki and I brought him up in her car and he cried all the way in his carrier (he hates that thing). I was ready for him to cry all day and hide himself away. I was prepared for it to take a few weeks for him to settle in. IF he settled in. He sniffed around a bit, hid upstairs under my bed for half an hour, then came back downstairs and I put some food out, not expecting him to be up for eating anything. I expected him to be too out of sorts and nervous. The next four photos took place over the first couple of hours of him being here.
This wee cat never fails to surprise me. I’ve always said he’s a smart cat, I swear he understands me, but that’s not to say he isn’t daft. That’s something we’ve all always agreed on! He has been great fun since he got here and he’s wonderful company. He’s really taken to his new home and spends much of his time purring on my lap, and for me I’ve been having the deepest of sleeps at night with him curled up on top of me, beside me or even just near me in his cat bed at the foot of my own bed.
(Deep sleeps, just not full nights of sleep anymore. He gets up to ask for a bit of chicken about 4am. That’s my own fault for letting him get away with it for years while cat sitting, so that’s come back to bite me!)
I’m also developing new skills thanks to Smudge. Anyone who has a cat will know if they curl up to have a catnap on your lap, you do not get up. You. Do. Not. Get. Up. You just don’t want to. I’ve gotten quite good at editing on my laptop one-handed or writing whole posts and articles on my phone!
So, welcome home Smudge. OiNK Blog readers, you can expect him to pop up more around here I’m sure.
To Elaine, you were right, and I’ll take really good care of him for you ❤️ xo
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