For a couple of weeks, Nysse was particularly hungry, almost obsessed with food. Normally he gets his three servings of dry food, and cheap cat-quality canned tuna whenever he asks for it. Now he’s been trying to steal ingredients while I cook, and even try and sneak food from my plate on the kitchen table when I look away. I don’t know what it was, but I’m glad it looks like we’re leaving that period behind us.

We do generally have an agreement about what parts of the kitchen we share and which parts are off-limits for him. The sink, and anything to the left of it, is no man’s land. Anything in the sink is free for him to taste, or eat. (I make sure to keep the sink cat-safe whenever he’s nearby, and we all know not to re-use any bowl or utensil that’s been in the sink.)

To the right of the sink is the humans’ domain, no cats allowed. Having access to a small part of the kitchen counter and occasionally getting a taste of what’s there seems to satisfy his curiosity and cravings – he doesn’t normally try to encroach upon the parts that I’ve decided are not for him.

He has odd favourites. Like, everyone knows that cats love dairy: he licks tubs of quark and crème frâiche so clean that they almost sparkle. But Nysse also loves canned tomatoes and tomato sauces; grainy/mealy things like oatmeal porridge and bread dough; and – most surprisingly for me – the liquid around canned beans and chickpeas.