RSPCA
Ed rang the RSPCA today and found them very helpful. They promptly put him onto the Cat Protection League (I think it was League. Might have been Association or something. But you know what I mean.)
They only operate on Tuesdays and Thursdays (so woe betide your cat if it needs protecting on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays or the weekend) and will ring back tomorrow. But we did glean that there is such a thing as a cat trap. Sounds fiendish, but I have no idea (yet) what it’s like.
Meanwhile, Rachel-next-door is diligently putting Melchi’s food further and further inside the rectory, in the hope of enticing him in and shutting the door behind him. So far it’s been a forlorn hope.
I think we should just leave him to go completely feral. He’s getting food from somewhere (other than the rectory where it’s always available for him) and the rectory garden is full of small wildlife like mice.
Anyway, if he steadfastly refuses to be caught, we won’t have any option. Perhaps he’ll just hang about until the next occupants of the rectory move in and then wish himself on them. And with his gorgeous thick fur they’ll never be able to resist him!