When I was younger I used to be just like Bertie: totally and utterly petless and desperate to do something about it. I didn’t come up with anything as ingenious as a pet-sitting service though. No, I just nagged and pestered my mum and dad. Over and over and over again. As you can imagine, this did not get me very far! I ended up with some stick insects, which I got from school. We had been observing them for a nature project and were allowed to keep a few for ourselves in a jam jar. For some unknown reason I was not very popular when I brought them home with me . Anyway, they died eventually and I persuaded mum and dad to let me have a tortoise. But sadly the tortoise died too and so I was back to square one .

Then (oh happy day!) my friend Helen announced that her cat had had kittens! I pleaded with mum to just come and look’ at the kittens, and that was when Inky entered our lives We adored her and all her crazy habits, from the way she would sit on the windowsill and hurl insults at the birds outside to the way she would use the sugar bowl as an emergency loo (OK, that only happened once but she’ll always be remembered for it!) She was the one who taught me that cats are trying to tell us things all the time if only we will listen properly. I quickly learned to understand when

Many years later, I started dropping hints to my husband about how lovely it would be to have a cat in our home. He was (and still is) Definitely Not a Cat Person, so you can imagine his response. But all was not lost – I remembered my old trick, and asked if I could ‘just go and look’ at two RSPCA rescue kittens . . . and what do you know? Jet and Inky Mark II have been with us now for five years! Inky Mark II reminds me a lot of the original Inky,except that she hurls insults at me instead of the birds and is prone to turning her back and sulking if I don’t feed her the minute she demands it. She has also been known to launch raids on the larder if she has completely run out of patience. J et is more mild-mannered and loves people. So much so that she found herself a second home last year – but that’s another story, and one which inspired my next book, KITTEN SMITTEN.

Both cats have had to come to terms with sharing their lives with Kenna the Pooch, who was the inspiration for PUPPY LOVE and the other books in that series. When she first came to live with us Kenna was the same size and colour (black) as Inky and Jet. I could just see her thinking, ‘Goody! Two little pups just like me!’ She would try to play with them, but they were never interested and made their feelings clear by hissing and scratching! Now Kenna is five times bigger than the cats so they don’t bother with the hissing and scratching and instead reluctantly put up with being animals, but I wouldn’t have it any other way! Do you have pets that do crazy things or are just plain cute? If so Id love to hear from you! Write to me at:

Anna Wilson

c/o Macmillan Children’s Books

20 New Wharf Road

London N1 9RR

United Kingdom

Love,

Anna

xxx

Moira Munro, the illustrator of this book, is pitifully allergic to furry animals. It is a Terrible Tragedy not to have a pet to stroke and it can drive one quite loopy This is why there is probably not a single story or picture by Moira Munro that doesn’t feature some kind of cuddly creature. Luckily Moira Munro does have a daughter (called Chloe) who is at least as cuddly as a kitten. Chloe is also very useful as she can draw the cutest cat ever – for a year’s pocket money She did the one in the ‘Order of Service’ written by Jazz on this page.