It’s not all black and white!

We all associate pumpkins, broomsticks and black cats with Halloween, but I must confess to

finding pure white cats as mystical and unfathomable as their darker relatives. It is slightly disappointing, therefore to find that the cat’s colouring is due to a ‘dominant masking gene’ that prevents the underlying coat pattern from being expressed. It makes it sound as if white cats are lacking in some way, whereas in reality, they possess a unique and striking beauty. In most traditions, they are seen in a positive light. In Russia, for example, pure white cats are considered to be symbols of good fortune. It is believed that having a white cat in your house, means that prosperity is coming to you. In some Mediterranean countries, if a white cat is fond of a child, the child will grow up to become both good and successful. In England, if you show kindness to a white cat, it will bring you good luck for the rest of the day. You will not be surprised to learn therefore that there is not a single Sootica or Mistoffelees in my Hallowe’en poem, but instead a rather beautiful and mysterious white cat called Luna. As one of my ‘accidental cats’*, I encountered her on a Victorian Christmas card and wrote a short story about her some time ago. A longtime Twitter friend is also called Luna, who with her companion, Ossie rules the woods near their home. Other characterful white cats I know are: Angus the Weathercat; Hamish McCat; Fredward from Massachusetts; Spicy from Tennessee; the enigmatic, Wulfie Viking Cat; beautiful Princess Pebbles and Snowy the retired Harringay Station Cat. Characters one and all!