Here come the girls

It was a girl we needed, I was sure of it. A girl to get these boys organised and maybe one that would play with Billy to give George a break.  Billy was still so playful.  George could never keep his tail still and Billy couldn't help but pounce on it.

A young Billy goes 'Piggy fishing' when he's not chasing George's tail

My other half was less convinced telling me two cats were enough.  Even so we, my son and I, persuaded him to go to Thornberry Animal Sanctuary, 'just to look'.

Once there we went straight to the cattery, but it looked like there would be no suitable candidates for us. Almost ready to call it a day, I thought I'd just double check with the staff. It turned out they did have another girl we could look at, she was in the stable building with her sister. The problem was that they too were a pair and needed a home together.

We decided to go and meet them. As soon as the door opened a small black and white cat ran to us, tail up, rubbing round our legs and purring madly. Bella stole our hearts immediately. She was just so pretty and so affectionate. All we could see of her sister was a pair of bright orange eyes peering out from the back of a little fabric cat house.  You could almost hear Bella shouting 'pick me, ooh, pick me, pick me!' but her sister, Tinker, remained unmoved.

I looked at Andy, my son was asking if we could have them, I wanted them too. I could see Andy was finding saying no a struggle. Instead he suggested we have another walk around and think it over, so we did. We walked around and let him think it over.  I sent a text to my Daughter and told her all about the two girls.  Her response was 'If you don't bring them home, I'm not letting you in'. No doubt about her thoughts then! 

I knew we hadn't gone for two, but they would have each other for support when settling in. Bella was just lovely and Tinker just needed some tlc, which we were more than happy and capable of providing.
And so after 20 mins Andy's resolve finally crumbled and later that day the girls came home.

Abbie and Bella

Billy's room became the 'cat' room and the girls settled in quickly with toys and boxes to play with.  We were happy with the name Bella (My Daughters favourite films are Twilight) but Tinker didn't seem to fit.  A short discussion followed and we went for a name from a favourite TV show, this time Primeval, and so the two sisters became Bella and Abbie.  We gradually introduced them into the rest of the house.

At two years old they were still very playful.  They were a little hesitant around the boys for a while and regularly found the highest place in the house to look down from.

Bella and Abbie on top of a cupboard

 To begin with we started to call Bella Queen B as she definitely thought she was in charge.  Despite being very affectionate she wouldn't sit on your knee, unless you were sat on the toilet....Very odd.  She also had a strange habit of sitting upright, perfectly still and staring into space. 

Abbie on the other hand, went from a shy girl who spent a lot of time hiding, to a total sweetie who loves playing and lots of affection.  She is very often found on her Daddy's knee.

So did my plan work? Did the girls improve the relationship between Billy and George, well not straight away, but after a couple of months there was a definite change.  So much so I began thinking, maybe it would be nice to have another one...