Those Magical Disappearing Cats

Introduction

Almost every day I go out walking and hope to capture some cats in digital photographs, and usually, I do. I will share some pictures with you as I have in previous posts.

The cats I see fall into three CATegories (see what I did there),

• Those that demand attention, petting, and food
• Those that pose, sometimes behind windows, and often with utter disdain for you
• Those who run away and disappear into thin air

It is the final group that is the reason for writing this piece, but the very fact that I can't show you them means that I do need to include some cats that actually interact and pose for my camera.

The Ones That Get Away

Today there were two instances of disappearing cats. This does happen quite often. I know cats are fast and light on their feet and can squeeze through the tiniest of gaps, and often I see them squeezing through fences or going through catflaps or gates, to become impossible to photograph.

Luckily these are the exceptions rather than the rule.

Naturally, cats will be suspicious of a monster like me carrying some kind of device, and cats are right to be suspicious, but they are like magicians to disappear into nothing.

The first today saw me, and then turned and ran, but the fences it ran through were very open, I thought it had maybe kept close to the wall so I couldn't see it. There were no gates or catflaps and these houses are a bungalow terrace, so I can only think it may have doubled back on itself.

The second was possibly more straightforward because there was some greenery it could disappear into, and obviously, I cannot venture on to people's property in pursuit of cat photographs.

Cats are amazing creatures but there is only so much I can write about these magical disappearing cats. I do sometimes cats them running away.

Below are three who I managed to snap with my phone camera before they completely disappeared.

This guy was actually just going in because it was starting to rain and it was cold, so he wasn't really running way from me and I knew exactly where he was going.

This one just decided it was going somewhere I couldn't follow, so again this was not a magical instance of disappearance.

This one went through a fence into the yard of a local scaffolding company. You can see that the photograph is framed by two of the steel gate slats. It wasn't dangerous because there is a big flat area where their lorry parks and then from that, the fences are easily scaleable for an agile cat like this one.

This one saw me, took umbrage that I dared to photograph him then ran off. So this is the only shot that I got. Maybe he was having an off day, or maybe he just did not want to be disturbed.

The two above are cats that I have only ever seen in their windows. The top one is in a very undecorated room (people are in the house so maybe they are preparing it for decorating) and usually he is difficult to photograph because of the reflections. Sometimes he looks like a black ghost cat because the reflections on the window glass are so prominent.

The one below is one I have only ever seen in this window which is in a house behind me and taken from my home office window (I say home office. As well as my work computer I have my home computer, CD player, most of my CD collection, two guitars, a mandolin, a musical keyboard, a bodhran, a stylophone, a Mexican Rainstick and a futon if I need to sleep).

Every time I walk around to get a closer shot, he is gone.

Conclusion

I hope hope you have enjoyed the cats that I managed to share with you, but I know there will be many more magical disappearing ones.