BobMoCo - Monty's Adventures

Monty: A Golf Course Cat

Monty had to leave Seaford, but this is the tale of his five-year stay with us
	Black, semi-long hair, bushy tail Patch of lighter fur on chest Damaged right ear 5½-Year old Male (2005) Identity Microchip

Monty is a natural explorer, which was how he came to be in the care of Cats Protection. Exactly how he first got lost & was found in the middle of the main A259 coast road in Rottingdean he wouldn't say. He ranged quite widely; it was getting home again which was sometimes a problem. Monty is friendly, curious, likes following & talking to people & has no great fear of things like vacuum cleaners & motor mowers. But he's not a macho cat & knows when he is unwelcome in another cat's territory.

The Lacerated Paw. Monty arrived home one day in November 2000, limping & with a paw bleeding from a cut almost ½" deep. He had to wear leg bandages & a collar for 6 weeks until his pads healed.

May-June 2001: First Expedition. Monty went out in the early morning of 8 May as usual. It was a Bank Holiday weekend with sudden warm weather. When Monty failed to return, it was feared he might have investigated & become trapped in a garden shed, garage, or even car boot. After almost 5 weeks, a family living some distance away rang to say they had found him, wandering on Seaford Head golf course. It was evidently the discovery that the local Golf Course is not home to other cats, which gave him the urge to leave home for long periods, especially during the summer months. There are few sources of water on the steeply-rising 400ft (120m) chalk Downland of Seaford Head, so he probably survived in the dryness of summer lapping at the pools from evening green-sprinklers.

When he was with us (which became increasingly rare), Monty knew that Home was Best when it came to the availability of food-on-demand & choice of comfortable places to sleep. Some days he only awoke for mealtimes & immediately resumed a dormant posture. Then it was off again. For the next few days we'd wonder where he'd got to & whether to go looking. Sudden heavy rain might bring him back, but otherwise he just came home when hungry. His initial favourite haunt was the area of gorse around the Seaford Head aircraft beacon, on the very top of the Head. He avoided the farmland on the far side.

October 2001: "Take me home!" Monty decided the car was a Good Place To Sleep. He nipped in as Bob arrived home & settled down inside. When Bob had to go out Monty declined to move from the back seat & looked out with interest as the car drove slowly down the road & through the town. However, as it left Seaford he tapped Bob on the shoulder & demanded to go Home. Bob turned back, at which point Monty decided he would drive & took over the steering wheel ... Our intrepid Adventurer was very relieved to find himself back home.

November 2001. At the end of another adventure, Monty limped in with a damaged paw. We assume he trespassed on the wrong territory, or tried to catch a bite with a bite of its own! He later acquired a crooked tip to his right ear, which looks as if someone else decided to chew it.

October 2002. Some tourists had their suspicions about the English confirmed when Bob arrived back at the Golf Course car park with a black cat trotting beside him, opened the rear passenger door for his friend to jump in & drove off. Chauffeur-driven cats ...?

2003. After a comfortable winter at home, our scruffian's excursions began again. As usual he came home when he felt like it, not when Mo & Bob went calling for him, though he always looked very pleased to see us & be 'rescued'. He would trot or amble home with us, stay long enough to fill up, mug Poppy & have a comfy snooze. But home was not big enough for Monty, the Golf Course Cat & he soon disappeared again. With the approach of winter he again shortened his absences & took to spending most days in a bedroom ...

2004. And so he spent winter at home. One March day he decided Spring had come & failed to come in for supper. From then on he lived on the Golf Course, catching mice & small rabbits, and making friends with Green Keepers, walkers & some golfers. He came home rarely. But it would be no surpise to spend yet another 1½ hours searching for him, only to hear a familiar "Miaow ... looking for me?" back at the car-park. He would jump in & stretch out on the parcel-shelf, then wolf down two bowls at home. Within the hour he'd be gone.

A few weeks later the Green Keepers brought him back, as he had become a nuisance to the Clubhouse Manager, trying to pinch food from the kitchen. He jumped in through a window, emptied the food bowls & departed before Mo & Bob knew he'd been in! At least Monty was fit & healthy & where he wanted to be - free to roam the countryside.

2005. Monty had become so comfortable where he was that he was unwilling to even over-winter at home. With golfers ready to feed him, or let him have a kip in the changing room, this was not surprising. He continued to welcome us whenever we went up there & to hitch car-rides home for a quick bite, but would no longer follow us back on foot. Living as he did in open spaces, Monty became mistrustful of confinement, as well as more selective about who he regarded as friendly. Indoors he could feel threatened, so might lash out if not in the mood for a fuss. At other times he'd be as friendly as ever.

The Threats: In March Seaford Head Golf Club decided enough was enough, but failed to respond to a suggested meeting by Monty's owners to try to find a solution & again opted for veiled threats to Monty's well-being. Guilty conscience in the face of a problem of their own making, one might think? On hearing this Lewes, Seaford & District branch of Cats Protection acted promptly & booked a place for Monty in their National Cat Centre to both remove him from possible harm & offer him the best possible chance of being given a good home in the sort of environment he evidently prefers.

We drove him there on 27 March 2005, feeling like traitors betraying a trusting friend. The move from Seaford Head has been deeply upsetting to Monty, of course; Bob patiently explained it all to him & he seemed to understand something of what was being forced upon him through no fault of his own. We miss him, as no doubt do those golfers & walkers who found him a welcome companion for part of their strolls. Monty deserved some luck and it was painful to think of this free spirit cooped up day after day, however well treated.

The good news in August 2005 was that Monty had been found a great new home, as a mouser guarding a stable for some horses, which has reportedly suited him very well. He has meadows to wander in and explore, and a bunch of new friends. We hope this will be his last move, and that he is as happy there as he was in Seaford.

Many thanks to those who reported Monty's whereabouts to us or to CP over the years.

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