In our family, we have an instinct to care for the slightly weird and abandoned – well, it makes sense when you think about it..
So all of our pets have been rescue creatures, often sourced from the local RSPCA. There was Brandy, a cat with no tail, then Susie, a Labrador/Collie cross who shrank away if anyone raised a hand in her eyeline, and quaked in terror when the doorbell rang. And Parsley, the flea-ridden kitten who spent her first five years sleeping under a bookcase and only coming out for treats.
We're just about to embark on the rocky journey of buying Flea's first pet – we've promised a kitten for her birthday, and so this week we'll be trotting off to the RSPCA to find a pet in need of a home.
It's been a good 10 years since I last bought a pet – any tips for me? What are my must-buy kitten essentials?
The kitten venture has come a perfect time, as the RSPCA got in touch this week to tell me about a Tweetathon they're running – 24 bloggers writing posts about the RSPCA over 24 hours, and this will all be Tweeted and blogged about, of course. If you'd like to support the RSPCA, then they're asking people to Tweet using the hashtag #RSPCA247 or to follow the campaign on Twitter.
