Strawberry visits again

Yesterday Strawberry called in to say hello.  Actually she timidly edged into the kitchen that was getting colder by the second due to the open door to wolf down a pouch of catfood in record speed.  The pouch was followed by scarfing down a large handful of treats.  Evil cat was not happy.

First of all evil cat approached warily and then sort of touched noses.  Then she hissed.  Then, grumpily, she trotted upstairs to the living room at her top speed (slow).  Strawberry had a bit of a look around, a bit of a sniff here, a quick glance there, her head all elongated and curious.  Every time I moved she rushed back to the door.  Eventually I shut the door as she investigated the dining room, because I was perished. 

Strawberry was not keen on this, but trotted upstairs and asked politely to go out of the front door.  I was quite sad to see her go.  Evil cat wasn't.  She was hunkered down next to the radiator in a defensible place made where the under the window unit and the tv cabinet meet. 

After a while we noticed that evil cat hadn't moved.  OH and I exchanged glances.  The vet had not expected her to reach this Christmas, evil cat was living on borrowed time and surviving mainly on malice and being awkward.  What if the stress of the strange cat had been too much for her?  What if she had crawled away to a dark corner to fade away, feeling unloved?  OH tentatively touched her and the noise evil cat made should have blistered the paint from the radiator.  She has never made gentle cat noises, and this time she was quite clear, she was just resting, thank you so much and would like to be allowed to continue next to the glorious radiator.

Strawberry has been very polite to evil cat, not hissing or in any way being aggressive to her.  In fact, although Strawberry hoovered up the catfood like a dyson, she left evil cat's food strictly alone.  But it is obviously a strain on evil cat.  And we cannot guarantee that Strawberry will leave evil cat's food alone - she is a cat, after all.  This means that we cannot take her in just now.  I am fairly sure that Strawberry is with kitten, I suspect she is eating for six.  However if she had some of evil cat's food she would risk getting a dose of the Metacam, which is making evil cat's life mainly bearable, but would probably be very bad for a healthy cat, and certainly not good for kittens.  Any cat who has Metacam is supposed to have blood tests every three months to check that the kidneys aren't failing due to its use. 

I shall take all opportunities to feed Strawberry and give her a chance to warm, though, as she is such a pretty cat, and just so polite.  I am not used to a polite cat.  I shall enjoy it while I may.