Bob the Big Issue Cat

It's one of those rare occasions where we allow another cat to take centre stage on our blog (I know, shocker!). Last time was after Rachel and Pete visited Marrakesh and we wanted to share some photos of the street cats who didn't have a sofa to cuddle on or a box of Whiskas Temptations between the lot of them, sob (you can read that post here).

This time we are (almost) gracefully making way for Bob the Big Issue Cat! [GET OUT OF THE WAY, Mia, it's not about you for once!]

You may have heard about Bob before. Someone on Twitter told us about him, and we were rather intrigued to read his story. You can read it here and here and see a video here but in a nutshell... Bob was a stray London cat who ended up worse off in a scrap (he wasn't even called Bob then...). He curled up on a doorstep and sat there feeling sorry for himself, and eventually someone living in the house found him - this was James. James doesn't really live in a proper house exactly but rather in something called a bedsit which is basically just one room, as he doesn't have much money, and he sells a magazine called the Big Issue on the streets of London.

Anyway even though James had hardly any money he took Bob to the RSPCA and got him medicine to make him feel better. Once James had finished giving Bob his meds and he was all better, Bob had decided he rather liked life with James and so stuck with him. Now it's four years later and they are inseparable. They make a great pair - while James sells his Big Issues on the streets of London, Bob sits on his bag and just chills out. He wears a harness so he can stay safe when they are walking around London, but the rest of the time he just stays sitting on the bag, posing for photos and generally just being a really cool cat!! He always looks very dapper, as he wears a wide selection of cat scarves which you can see on this flickr photostream.

Anyway yesterday Rachel was walking through Covent Garden and LO AND BEHOLD she saw Bob and James!! She was so excited to meet the both and after buying a Big Issue took some photos of them. Isn't he handsome in his lovely stripy scarf! I think we should have cat scarves for Christmas...

Bob guarding James' mags

Bob gets a fuss from a passer-by!

He's so dashing!

When we first heard about Bob, we weren't really sure about how much fun staying outside all day on the noisy street sounded, but Rachel says he looked ever so happy and content, and he had lovely thick fur like Mia and bright shiny eyes. Plus, he gets LOADS of strokes all day, and James even had a pot of Whiskas Temptations in his pocket to keep him happy - lucky boy!

Bob gets some noms.

Most amazing of all, James has written a book about their story which is out in March 2012. We can't wait to read it!