my innermost sanctum

native british moggies

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THE IECHYD-DA CAT

Indigenous to Wales, the Iechyd-da is best known for its fine singing voice. Male Iechyd-das often form choirs and compared to the caterwauling of their feline brethren worldwide, the sound of Iechyd-das competing for the attentions of a female is deeply moving.

Careful selective breeding has fixed this trait into modern Iechyd-das. Each year these cats compete at a three day festival to find the best singer and this cat is highly sought after for stud services (which is why the contest is held annually since most winning cats drop through exhaustion after eight months of intensive breeding).

In appearance, the Iechyd-da is unremarkable. Males tend to be especially well-built and athletic, perhaps due to having to sing while in full flight from a thrown rugby boot in days gone by. Black and white is the preferred colour and the sight of a show hall full of identical black-and-white Iechyd-das in full song has moved many a judge to tears.

Those that aren't black and white are generally a sooty, grey colour due to natural selection favouring those cats which blended in with coal mines and slag heaps. All have exceptional sight and a remarkable sense of navigation underground.

Songs are still sung to the honour of Black Aled, the cat who led a hundred and thirty trapped miners to safety after a cave-in. For three days the miners followed this cat's singing until they finally reached daylight. Admittedly Black Aled went the roundabout route out of sheer curiosity, but he did lead the miners to safety nonetheless. Black Aled never sang another note from that day till the day he died.

The preferred diet of the Iechyd-da is Welsh Rarebit and leek-and-mutton broth. Their long association with mines has led many to develop a strange habit known as coal-eating which is a form of pica found only in the Iechyd-da breed.

This could also account for the tendency of many cats to develop a peculiar cough which sounds like the Welsh "ll" (as in Llanelli) or "ch" (as in bach).

Traditional names for these cats include Dai, Dafydd and Jones although more ambitious cats go by the name of Llanfairpwll...gogogoch.