Candoo is now the same size as her mother. The only way to tell them apart is that Candoo is more beautiful: the eye does not see the difference but the aesthetic sense does. Tigerpuss is a stonkingly great puss but Candoo has something extra. I could say, and I might, that she is the most beautiful cat I have ever seen. The difference providing the beauty may only be this: Tigerpuss is a farmcat but Candoo is a wildcat. Wild contains a greater beauty. She was raised in a scrub of bushes by this house, beside a lane leading down to a chalk quarry and the sea. Her wildness makes her shy. I do stroke her when she is eating, but otherwise she scoots, not fearfully, just in wild caution.
Candoo is also shy of other cats and is not socialized into the group here. At feeding time she defers to every other cat and does badly in getting her share. I make sure she gets fed by giving her a spoonful of mash while the others are chowing down. But the others know I do this and at least one every time breaks ranks to chomp at the spoon, so Candoo retreats politely. One infamous occasion a few nights ago when Tigerpuss pretended to be Candoo in order to get the spoon. This was in a dark greenhouse. After 3 spoonfuls uninterrupted by other diners I twigged: 'Is that you, Tigerpuss?' I asked. She could only confess. I found Candoo hungry in the garden and managed to get the last spoonful of mash into her gob.
I say 'her' but the broadening of the face suggests Candoo is a tomcat. We may find out for certain soon. His/her best pal is Backwards, who likes to play with her. She first introduced herself to Septimus and Coco - I have pictures of their first meetings - but Backwards is more her sort: stronger and intriguingly bonkers. It is her only friendship. After the usual mother-kitten falling-out she also hangs with Tigerpuss. But in life she is on her own, surviving as best she can in this environment, keeping her range small and her friends, human or feline, near but not close.
I am concerned for Candoo's future when I am no longer here to give her special attention. And if she IS a he then Sortper (the Big Black Nasty One) may see him as a rival and make deadly attack. But for now Candoo is a perfect creature, beautiful and clever, living in a world in balance. Two nights ago she was locked in with the three kittens when I closed the door for the night. Most wildcats would have flipped to have no escape. But she sat calmly, keeping distance, and walked under and around furniture when I opened the door to free her back into the wild world that is hers by right. The experience made me wonder how much it would take to tame her enough for a different life. But I guess, for good or ill, Candoo will live her span within the same area of bush, garden and field that she already knows.
These pictures of Candoo were taken 6 months apart.