I was born on the 6th September 2019 to a stray black and white mum and an unknown dad. My mum was only 2 1/2 years old and I was in her 5th litter of kittens. Luckily she chose a former farmhouse/smallholding to go to to give birth and the people there took us all to Cats Protection in Preston. It was great fun cos we just travelled in the back of a car with no baskets and ran around!

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I had 4 siblings and we were all looked after by a nice lady called Deborah. She named us after Caribbean islands and called us her Calypso babies - my mum was Martinique, I was Nevis, my sisters were Aruba, Dominica and Trinidad and my brother was Tobago. We were brought up very well and loved very much and soon my mum and all but me and one of my sisters had new homes to go to. When I was 10 weeks old a nice lady called Carol came to see me and said she would have me. I had to wait a few days as she said she was busy with something called a cat show and she wanted to be there with me when I came home and not just leave me for a few days so I stayed a little bit longer then on the Sunday she came and put me in a cat carrier and drove me in the tin box on wheels (I now know that is a car) to her bungalow. 

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WOW there were a LOT of other cats there! I was SO excited! I was put into a big cage and Carol, my new mummy, said that I would have to stay there for a while for everyone to get used to me. Sod that for a game of soldiers, I thought, I want out of here so I can meet everyone properly so I screamed a bit - well, a LOT actually - and she relented and let me out. A big hairy curly one called Cookie came to say hello and wanted to play which was great but then an old tabby one, with funny ears, called Max hissed at me and swiped me when I went up to him. How rude! Anyway I didn't fight back, I just vowed to win him over in a  few days and I did! By day 3 he was ok with me. Over the next few days I got to know everyone and Cookie and his half brother Dylan (they are Selkirk Rex) became my besties. I had to stay in the pen to eat and sleep so the others didn't pinch my kitten food, and also if mummy went out,  but other than that I was out playing with them all the time straight away.

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On the Sunday that I arrived mummy said to me, I can't keep calling  you Nevis, you need a special name. She said that I would have a go at cat shows to see if I liked it and that I would have a special cat show name cos that's what she did. She said I was to be Hercule Purrot cos of the tash, I thought that was dead cool, but she couldn't think of a home name for me. She said all she could think of was Dave (after David Suchet who plays Hercule Poirot) but that I didn't look like a Dave. I didn't! Anyway that night she was watching the television with me on her knee and there was an old episode of Midsomer Murders on. In it there were some eco warrior type people and one of them was called Spud and mummy yelled out "SPUD! You can be Spud!". So that's how I got my name.

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I soon settled in really well and on my 2nd day discovered the cat wheel! This is a big wheel - one of mummy's vets calls it a gigantic hamster wheel for cats - that we can run on and get exercise, it is dead good and I can go REALLY fast now, though not then as I was only little. It then didn't take me too long to discover the cat flap and the exciting world of the catio. Mummy likes to keep us safe so instead of letting us wander around the streets and be knocked down or attacked by dogs, or cats or even people, and instead of making us stay inside all the time, she built a huge catio many years ago. She says it used to be her back garden but it's better for us as we have lots of things to climb on and hide in and even a REAL tree (well 2 now!) and we can get fresh air and outdoor exercise whilst staying safe and she has room to sit out with us in the summer too. It's FABULOUS and there is even a big climbing tower in the middle.

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When I was 5 months old, the following February I embarked on my show career! It was great fun as I got lots of cuddles and I did really well - please head over to my cat show page for all the details. I've been to lots since (again all details here) although I did have a long break, as indeed everyone did, during Covid.  During Covid I started my Facebook and Instagram pages and started doing Spudcasts (all of which can be found on my Facebook page) and I now have quite a following, which is why mummy has now done me this website. I also do some meet and greets at local fairs and you can see photos etc of ones I have done and a list of any I have coming up on my other events page. In the July after I was adopted almost everyone who looked after me when I was a baby, including my foster carer, Deborah, and the co-ordinator, Shirley who is one of mummy's friends,  left Cats Protection and set up their own little rescue called A Purrfect Friend Cat Rescue. They liked me so much they put me on their posters, how good was that! Anyway I now have other stuff with me on - calendars, mugs, Christmas cards etc. - that mummy sells to raise funds and all the profits are split 3 ways between A Purrfect Friend, Lancashire Cat Rescue which is run by Christine, another of mummy's friends, and The SRPCC Cat Welfare Trust which is run by mummy and 2 friends of hers. If you want to help - and have me in your home all year round on a calendar or mug etc! - you can find stuff to buy on my purrchandise page.

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