We receive several calls a week about cats that have gone missing and concerned owners are naturally upset about their beloved pets’ absence and often think the worst.

We always advise an owner not to give up hope and to keep checking with neighbours in case their cat has been accidentally trapped in a garage or outbuilding.

A Port Erin cat was found last weekend after spending 10 days trapped in a coal shed, having survived sub-zero temperatures and no food or water.

So, this feline is living proof that curiosity doesn’t necessarily kill the cat, and we were able to reunite her with her owners.

Feral cats, of course, don’t have owners to care for them and they can often lead miserable lives with inadequate sources of food and a prevalence of disease.

Female ferals have a particularly tough time in that they have multiple pregnancies every year and several litters of kittens to feed, which often results in their own starvation.

The ManxSPCA remains committed to a humane approach to feral cat population control, and we work throughout the year with colonies of feral cats across the island.

We base our work on a method called ’trap, neuter, return’ (TNR), whereby feral cats are humanely trapped, neutered and then returned to locations where access to food is guaranteed and where they have safe shelter.

Young feral kittens are kept at Ard Jerkyll where they are socialised with staff and volunteers, and then rehomed as domestic cats.

In 2017 we cared for more than 100 feral cats and kittens, giving them a chance of a better life and, in the process, reducing the rate of breeding in the feral cat population as a whole.

Chunk came to us a stray, rather than a feral cat - the difference being that he is very friendly and has obviously spent time with humans.

Our policy with stray cats is to keep them for two weeks in our quarantine unit, just in case they have an infectious disease, while we try to locate an owner.

Chunk’s owner could not be found and so he is now available for adoption.

He is a magnificent Manx cat - a huge tom (albeit now castrated) as befits his name, with a big personality to match, who has obviously lived a full life judging by the rips in his ears.

He’s not remotely aggressive or unfriendly towards humans, though, and he loves to be stroked and fussed over.

The cattery team call him their ’gentle giant’.

We think he’s about five years old and he is in fine health apart from the fact that he needs a small operation on one of his eyes. He will have this operation in the next few days and then be ready to go to his new home.

Just as Chunk is a real individual and a cat who is used to being ’top dog’, Lenny and Mia are an unassuming, gentle pair who have an air of tranquillity about them.#

They are obviously very bonded, and it’s lovely to watch them interact with each other - playing, grooming, sleeping together.

They are both seven years old, and Lenny is a light ginger tabby whilst Mia is a brown tabby. They are very friendly and well socialised, and just need a quiet home to call their own, ideally in a rural or semi-rural environment.

All of our cats are microchipped, neutered, wormed, treated for fleas and vaccinated, and so the adoption fee of £45 represents amazing value for money. A month’s free pet insurance is also provided to new owners for them to continue with, or not, as they see fit and the cattery team are readily available to give post-adoption advice and support.