Under A Stormy Skye

Chris's cough falls foul of a tense tabby during cat-sitting duties

I've been unable to carry out my day-job cat-sitting over the last few days, off sick with a minor tickly cough. I realise that makes me sound like a total wuss but, in fairness to me, and I do like to be fair to me, I usually struggle on when I'm a bit off colour, and cats who want feeding tend to appreciate this. Cats are generally pretty stoic when it comes to illness, and they expect the same from their staff. Just so long as they get their bowls filled, they couldn't care a less whether I'm well or half dead.

The one thing that they won't tolerate, though, is the ailment I'm currently struggling with. My recent experience with a constantly irritated-looking tabby named Skye sums up the problem.