MARMALADE the cat has proved to be the jammiest feline in town – and now it looks like he's sticking around for afters.The mischievous moggy waltzed his way into a new home right past a dog and two other cats last week and is refusing to leave.

MARMALADE the cat has proved to be the jammiest feline in town – and now it looks like he's sticking around for afters.

The mischievous moggy waltzed his way into a new home right past a dog and two other cats last week and is refusing to leave.

Karen Plumstead, 37, of Glamorgan Road, Ipswich, said she found the large ginger cat curled up on her sofa after she had been unloading some shopping from her car last Wednesday.

But despite removing the cat, stealthy Marmalade kept on coming back and was found sitting outside the back door waiting for someone to let him in.

Reluctantly, Karen let the cat in, although she resisted the temptation of feeding him for two days in case it was someone else's cat.

But, undeterred, the cat was adamant that he was there to stay and so Karen started feeding him.

"It was just as if he had made his mind up that he was going to stay here and that was that," said Karen. "I have had cats all my life but I have never seen one so bold and also one that eats so much.

"He is a lovely cat but he is eating us out of house and home!"

Karen's children, Chloe, eight, and Joe, ten, have already become attached to the cat and it is rapidly becoming part of the family.

Nicknamed 'Marmalade' by Karen's children, he is by no means alone when it comes to pets in his adopted home for he joins a positive menagerie.

There is already one dog, two cats, fourteen chickens, three rabbits, two guinea pigs, one gerbil and numerous fish.

"I think the word is getting around the animal community that we are the last resort," said Karen.

The cat, which had no collar until Karen gave him one, gets on with all his fellow pets and has made quite an impression on the dog.

Karen said: "The dog was in kennels when the cat first turned up but I picked up the dog on Saturday and he was very interested to see the cat, but the cat just strode past.

"Now she lies underneath him and rubs against him!"

Karen lives with her partner Nick, 37, who was at first sceptical about the cat but now even he has been won over by the moggy's charm.

Although the cat is rapidly making a home for himself, the family realises that he could yet be leaving them and are fully prepared for this.

Karen said: "I am conscious of what I feel like when my cats go missing and if he has to back, then he has to go back."

If you think Marmalade is your cat, please call 01473 414593.