Similar story
My mate keeps cats, and he bought one of the original Whiskers Kittens (Lois) at a time when it was about 11 years old and hadnt got long left. After a brief TV career then a decade of breeding kittens this high-grade pedigree Silvertip Tabby had been set to a rehoming place for strays, as being too old to breed, she no longer had value to her owners.

Lois was a very sweet-tempered cat with only one major quirk. Left to her own devices she would collect every rolled-up sock in the house and leave them in an arc around the food bowls. My mate reckoned she thought they were kittens.
(Carpe Cyprinidae, Mon 4 Feb 2013, 17:59, Reply)