Scarlett was born on 24 August 1994 in Northumberland at the home of her breeders, Eileen and Barry Welsh. Her registered name is Feorag Fanny Blott, but she was usually referred to as "beery nose" because the only way to tell her apart from her sister was by the stronger red colour across her nose. I named her Scarlett because of her rich red colouring and also because it's the title of one of my all-time favourite songs "Scarlett" by The Adventures.
However, it didn't take long to realise just how appropriate her name really was! This cat is the feline version of Scarlett O'Hara! Convinced that the whole world revolves around her and determined to get her own way, she is fully aware of just how beautiful she is and demands constant admiration. She is the original "snooty agouti" and although she loves me, everybody else is considered to be inferior - nose in the air and with a flick of her bushy tail she utters a silent "fiddle-dee-dee".
Then in the spring of 1996 Scarlett took to staying out overnight from time to time. These overnight stays soon stretched into two or three days, and I was getting distinctly anxious about her. Sometimes she would come back of her own accord but more often than not I had to go and find her. Now we live in the middle of the countryside and there are numerous places for a cat to hide out. For a while I could be fairly sure of finding her up at the old quarry living on rabbits, but then she moved on from there and I didn't know where she was. Scarlett O'Hara had literally "gone with the wind", or possibly turned into the elusive Scarlet Pimpernel!
