Bob the Street Cat

Bob the street cat and his friend the Street Musician (and now author) James Bowen have been inseparable since their chance meeting in Spring 2007.

Cat of the Month ~ February 2013

Bob in one of his favourite neck scarfs
Photograph: Comuedu.ru

James Bowen was once a homeless musician, barely scraping though, until he had an encounter with a homeless ginger Tom cat he named ‘Bob’.
One day James returned to his sheltered accommodation in Tottenham north London when he saw

“…a pair of glowing eyes in the gloom and the sound of a faint meowing”

Over the next few days James found that Bob was a half starved stray who had been wounded (probably) in an animal fight. Clearly Bob was not owned by anyone in the vicinity, so was taken in, given food and nursed back to health, with the help of the local RSCPCA center, who incidentally asked James to pay 22 pounds (or a day wages) for the drugs to treat the poorly creature.

Back at home, James was really glad of the company of lively Bob but at this point he decided he was going to let Bob go back to his street home and life as a stray cat….but ginger Bob was having none of it….

Bob High Fives James
Photograph: Comuedu.ru

Bob had decided that that savior who had come to his rescue would forever be His friend. Bob began to shadow Jim around wherever he went. So what could Jim do?… of course Bob became Jims’ best friend. When James plays guitar on the street Bob accompanies him. He rides round on James’ shoulders when he doesn’t want to walk and also gives James High Fives..Paw to Hand! Bob proved to be a real attraction to the passes by too. James found that his takings for entertaining the passing public grew and grew.

James gives bob a tidbit at a book signing
Photograph: Comuedu.ru

The story ends and begins with James writing a book about his adventures and his eventful life on the street with Bob. James opens by saying

” …we are all given a second chance every day of our lives.. meeting bob was one second chance that I took and looking back on it something tells me it might have been Bob’s second chance too…”

James could not have imagined how this meeting with a stray cat would change his life forever.

Tigers and Snowmen

Cat of the Month ~ January 2013

Longleat Tiger

Tiger meets snowmen
All Photographs: https://www.longleat.co.uk

Longleat’s four Amur (Siberian) Tigers were fascinated by the deep snow outside and were always going to make the most of ‘snow day’ when it came around.

…So where are these snowmen you promised?…

… but when their keepers decided to build some snowmen, things got more exciting and they just had to go in to investigate….

…Look at me guys,….. hey this is fun

So what were these strange white creatures with orange noses…..

…How about a little hug then?…
Photograph: https://www.longleat.co.uk

So inquisitive were the four handsome beasts that they caused the fragile snowmen to collapse…..

…Whats that Camera doing in there?…

…and so, it was off to explore the rest of their snow bound enclosure before retiring to a snug warm pen for the evening.

…nice old tree trunk this…
…Hey I’m cat of the month you know?…
… oi, what are you up too?.. this is a moggies only website….oh you’re sooo cute so its o.k. I guess

Heres the video of the whole episode

…or head over to the
Longleat
website for these and many other wonderful animals.

And what’s an Amur Tiger? you might ask. Well here’s a pretty concise article on the National Geographic website.