After a cracking start to the year, February brought the grand mission to a grinding halt. For the fourth time in the history of the endeavour, the tracker registered a complete zero. It seems the late winter chill kept every sensible feline firmly indoors by the radiator.
March and April didn’t offer much of a bounce-back, yielding just one cat each, but what they lacked in numbers, they made up for in quality. March brought a lovely encounter with a kitty named Misty, and April allowed me to officially log Marley, my mum’s next-door cat. Sometimes it is the familiar, local faces that keep the tally ticking over when the rest of the feline world is in hiding!
May 2026
Thankfully, May arrived, the weather improved, and the cats of Devon finally came out to play. With 12 cats added to the ledger, this month was a fantastic return to form, featuring a mix of café professionals, farm shop lurkers, and incredibly vocal locals.
To get the numbers moving again, I stopped by the The Scratching Post Cat Café In Bovey Tracey and had the absolute pleasure of meeting six wonderful residents: Dexter, Deborah, Ron, Luna, Bing, and Fred. You can always count on a dedicated café squad to deliver the goods and get a stalled month back on track. They have nine cats so I’m obviously going to have back.
The Local Legends
The rest of the month involved a highly successful tour around the county. I came across a very chatty loud Bengal kitty in Paignton, a sleek black cat crossed my path in Chudleigh, and two wonderful tabbies and a striking Siamese kitty in Exeter
Finally, no rural Devon trip is complete without a farm shop stop – the Countryman’s Choice Farm Shop in Ivybridge delivered a brilliant encounter with a very characterful kitty with part of his ear missing, who was more than happy to contribute to the mission.
The Tally So Far:
- Previous Total: 441
- February 2026: 0 cats
- March 2026: 1 cat
- April 2026: 1 cat
- May 2026: 12 cats
- New Total: 455 / 1,000