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I call her 'Mittle' when I love her, and 'Fat Fat' when I hate her. She is my female ginger cat. It is unusual to have a female ginger cat, as most ginger cats are in fact tom-cats. But I assure you, despite being female, she definitely has some tom-cat characteristics! She is like Dr Jerkel and Mr Hyde, she harbours two distinctly different personalities - one of which I love, and the other I hate!

One minute she will be so adorable- purring as loud as a tractor, and the next, in deciding she no longer 'requires' stroking and attention will lash out and scratch me. This is in no way excusable, yet it reminds me of the saying 'Cats don't have owners, they have servants'.

Mittle is a very quizzical cat, often joining me in my daily perambulation around the garden. She sniffs around, and will even enter the fish pond to get a closer look- for she doesn't mind getting her fur wet. When I come home late, she beats the dog in greeting me at the gate!

Fat Fat, on the other hand, is demanding and bossy. If I fail to feed her on the dot of 6:30pm, she will take a run up in the hall, jump and grab my legs- claws out. She then runs on towards her food bowl and stares blankly into it for a few seconds before repeating the jumping-clawing attack.

If I fail to feed her 'on time' for a few consecutive days, she will hunt down and kill a native bird - just to get revenge on me. She knows I hate it when she kills native animals, and she only does so in retaliation when I have not pleased her - when I have not performed my servant duties to a high enough standard. I tell her off, saying she's a 'bad Fat Fat', she looks at me, rolls her eyes casually, as if to say, "whatever, it's your fault for not feeding me on time, hurry up and feed me now, or i'll do it again."

The very next day, Mittle will be the friendliest cat ever- wrapping her ginger self around my legs and when I sit down, she will hop onto my lap for strokes, acknowledging my kindness with purrs.

But when, I wonder to myself, quietly as if to make sure Mittle doesn't hear, when will Little Mittle morph into her alternate personality. When will the friendly cat on my lap lash out? When will the likes of Fat Fat emerge? I continue stroking her, but remain on-guard...

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