Another Addition to the Capezzano Zoo

When we came back from England after Christmas, we noticed a cat huddled under the rubbish bins in the recycling area where we park the car.  A new cat - a long-haired dark tortoiseshell.  It came towards us in a friendly fashion, so not a wild-cat. But, we thought, probably belonging to a neighbour. 

Scruffy Every day when we came back from shopping, or when Neil came back from the studio, the cat would be sitting on the side of the road, beside the path to our house and would try to follow us home.  We tried shoo-ing it away - cats love second homes, but we didn't want to poach someone else's cat.  Then we noticed that it was hanging around our house and getting into big fights with our two resident wild-cats.  It was so desperate for food that it would risk being mauled to pieces just to snatch something from their saucers.
What? Me? We realised that it was starving and had either strayed, or been abandoned.  Given that it was near the rubbish bins and didn't have a collar we suspect the latter.  He (appears to be neutered male, but his hair is too long to be sure!) is stick thin under the long coat and thoroughly domesticated - has probably never had to fend for himself in his entire life.  He skulks in the house and we feed him inside, since our two feisty females savage him the moment he goes out.

We're about to leave for New Zealand and Cambodia at the weekend and will be away for 6 weeks, so our new refugee will just have to take his chances.  A friend is house-sitting and cat-feeding.  Will he be there when we get back?  How many more starving cats are we going to end up feeding?  Neil's beginning to think that I'm something of a cat magnet!