My Three-Legged Friend

I first met this gorgeous cat back in the summer of 2017. My family had just moved into a new house and this cat appeared through the hedge and greeted us with a small "meow". After owning a cat when I was younger, I was happy knowing our new home had a feline friend in the area.

Assuming it was a girl, we decided to name her after Postman Pat's black and white cat, Jess. (See picture for reference). It is also important to remember, when we met this cat she had all four legs. Time went by and we saw Jess every now and then until around Christmas 2017. She had disappeared for nearly two months and we began to get worried.

At the time we had no idea who the owners were of "Jess" and we assumed the worst. Until one day in February 2018 Jess arrived back in our garden with only three legs and a broken tail. We were so happy to see her, but also shocked that so much had changed for this little cat in only a short space of time. We gave her lots of love and she stuck around, hanging out in the garden until the summer of 2018, when we accidentally left our door open and Jess began to explore our home.

Jess came in and out of the house for an entire year before we met her real parents. She would sometimes spend all day at our house - and we started to slowly buy her some cat food! - but we would always send her on her way home at night.

One day we went on a family trip out and got back in the late evening. Jess was waiting for us when we arrived and upon opening the door she was the first one in and walked over a piece of paper that had come through the door. We picked up the paper and we were shocked at what we saw. It was a "MISSING CAT" poster, with a picture of Jess on it!

From the leaflet we found out the owners only lived three doors down, and Jess was in fact a boy called Monty! We phoned his parents up and they came and collected him from where he was snuggled on our sofa. We felt awful, as if we had stolen their cat, but they were just relieved he was safe.

After getting hit by a car back in the Christmas of 2017 and crawling all the way back to his own house, Jess (or Monty, but we decide not to call him that because he definitely looks more like a Jess) has suffered a lot of injuries and I'm sure he's very close to using up all of his nine lives! I'm just glad we don't have to pay the insurance and vet bills because this cat is accident prone. From stitches in his side, to a wonky tail, this cat has got the lot!

We still see a lot of Jess, and he spends a lot of time at our house which his owners are fine about. They said they'd rather know he's safe with us instead of out by the road. It almost feels like we have shared ownership of a cat, which I find hilarious.

I love Jess so much and I'm so glad I got the opportunity to have a furry friend again. It's like having a pet without any of the hassle!

Without Jess this house would not feel like a home, even if he's not really ours. He brings us joy and we all love him so much. This miracle cat is so lovable and I can always count on him to nose-boop me whenever I'm sad. His amazing speed and his quickness to headbut anything he sees makes me laugh and there would definitely be a three-legged hole in my heart without this cat.