Monday

We return from a long walk in the park and Isis has her breakfast.

Leaving The Gannet in the kitchen, I take out mealy worms and a fat ball for the kosher birds.

It is extremely cold and I’m back inside within two minutes.

But Isis, as we know, is a fast worker. Her breakfast, it seems, is inadequate for by the time I am in the kitchen again, she has located the bag of fat balls, used the straps of the wooden stool to give her height, and lifted the bag from the trolley.

By now two fat balls are rolling drunkenly around the floor while the third, virtually desiccated, has been  spread over a couple of metres. Only one sizeable portion remains and this she is attempting to gobble before some unreasonable person takes it from her.

Ignoring her ferocious growls, I tuck the fluffy menace under my arm and deposit her in the back room. She flies at her legs in protest then flings herself at the door scratching at it furiously.

I ignore her and get on with the cleaning up.

Isis came from the Aeza cat and dog rescue and adoption centre in Aljezur, Portugal. For information about adopting an animal from the centre, contact kerry@aeza.org or  www.dogwatchuk.com