Sandra Ashenford reflects on the ups and downs of her week

SOME people think of themselves as “dog people” and some think of themselves as “cat people” but there are lots, like myself, who happily share their home with both canine and feline companions.

And although not perhaps natural soulmates, dogs and cats who live together seem to find a way of getting along, with only the occasional skirmish to re-state who’s in charge (which is always the cat).

However, my current cat Daisy is not a cute and cuddly kitty. She won’t sit on your lap and stroking her is a bit of a lottery – sometimes she loves it and purrs loudly and sometimes she savages your hand.

We get along just fine by respecting each other’s personal space but I could do without the days that start with the offering of a small live rodent sitting scared in the middle of the kitchen floor.

Daisy watches my attempts to catch the little creatures with great amusement, as she can obviously do it so much better.

But I usually get them in the end and release them back into the garden. Sometimes I wonder if it’s the same one that Daisy has some sort of Tom and Jerry relationship with.

Daisy came to us about five years ago when she was one-year-old, after the friend who had taken her on had a change in circumstances and could no longer keep her.

She came with a much older companion, Cefa, who was half Siamese, the son of the Siamese cat I had owned for many years and loved very dearly. Zuka could not have been more different from Daisy – she loved people and if I was in the house she would be carried around draped around my neck. She died of old age a few months before Daisy and Cefa joined us, and daughter number four was delighted to have her son with us. But although I’ve had cats all my married life, I never really intended to get one at all. As newlyweds, more than 30 years ago, spouse and I bought a cocker spaniel puppy and we were very happy, just the three of us.

But as a trainee reporter I accompanied a more senior journalist to an interview with the lovely author Jilly Cooper, whose cat had just had kittens.

Several gin and tonics later, I was the proud “mum” to a little bundle of joy and I’ve never looked back.