The Animals' Stories

As Sweet As Honey

Honey was the most exotically marked tortoiseshell with striking lime-green eyes. She came to us, in April, from west Belfast and was heavily pregnant. Within a week she had given birth. Unfortunately, three of them were stillborn, leaving only two that survived. But what a little pair of beauties they were. One had the same wonderful colouring as her mother and the other was a grey and white male. Both were really fat and fluffy.

Honey was a wonderful mother to the two of them, keeping them clean and healthy. But her mothering instinct was about to get even better.

A few weeks after she had given birth, we got two tiny kittens in that were only a week or so old. We tried hand feeding them but it just wasn’t working as well as we’d hoped. Then one of our trustees had a brilliant idea. Why not put them in with Honey and see if she would accept them. As we had never attempted this before, we were very concerned as to what would happen. If she rejected them, we realised their chance of survival would be pretty slim.

We needn’t have worried. After a quick sniff, Honey put her paws around them and tucked them in for nice big feed. After that they never looked back. By the time the kittens were eating on their own, they were all the best of friends. Honey and all the kittens have since been successfully homed.

So a word of thanks to Honey, the miracle mother, who saved the life of two, little orphans.
 

Banjo and Truffles

It’s not just children that suffer when a marriage breaks up. Pets, too, can experience stress and, in the case of Banjo, can be left homeless.

 Banjo was a beautiful, 6 month-old, beagle/spaniel cross. He came to us, after his owners separated and neither of them were able too look after him. He was fit and strong and loved to bounce about in such a manner we were convinced he was a relative of Tigger.

Being such a young and healthy dog, we found no problem at all in getting him a new owner. In fact we had a long list of people interested in this boisterous beastie. In the end, though, he was homed to a lovely family from Dublin. He has settled in well in his new home and is keeping them all fit by taking them for very long walks every day. By all accounts, he is now one very happy puppy.

 Truffles came to us without any family at all. She was found roaming in someone’s garden and refused to leave despite the bad winter weather. She was a young springer spaniel and was in good health although her coat was a little dirty. It appeared that she may have been wandering around for a few days.

Naturally, being a springer, she was hyperactive. In fact, she and Banjo would have been well suited. They could have tired each other out instead of tiring us out. It would have been a marriage made in doggy heaven. As it was, though, Truffles got homed very quickly after she came into us. Her new owner is now shamelessly parading her up and down the street. And, as the new dog on the block, she has been receiving a lot of attention from the neighbours. So she may not have had anyone, when she came into us, but she now has so many friends and family than she’ll never be on her own again.

Big Suzie

We heard of big Suzie from a member of the public when we were doing a store collection in Jollye’s Glengormley. Apparently she was an old farm cat, with one eye that lived in County Down. The people that had been feeding her where too old to look after her any more and they were going to get her put down. Luckily, a doctor that lived nearby heard about this and persuaded them not to have her killed. He offered to feed her until a home could be found. However, due to her age and having only one eye, nobody wanted her.

The lady in Jollye’s told us of her plight and said the doctor was getting desperate and wondered if we could help. At the time, we were full but luckily within a week a space became available and we took her in. And what a beautiful old, lady she was.

How anyone could have abandoned her or thought about putting her down was unbelievable. On eye, old, overweight, it didn’t matter, she was lovely. She was a real big softie, very gentle and loved a good stroke. She was so contented just to have a bit of security and affection she would just while away the days purring away whilst being pampered.

We thought we would have difficulty re-homing her but luckily someone saw her photo in one of the articles we had done for the local paper and phoned us up. She had obviously fallen in love with Suzie because she was desperate to come up and see her and was very worried we might re-home her to someone else first. And when she came, her eagerness to give her a good home only increased.

She had a few older cats of her own and hoped that Suzie would fit in. she needn’t have worried. She phoned us a few days later and told us she had made herself right at home and was getting on fine with her new feline friends. So big Suzie went from being a sad, lonely, elderly cat on the verge of being put down to a rejuvenated happy cat with lots of new friends and a very, loving home.

Cats in a Hot Tin Roof

This is a tale of adventure and derring-do, much like Indiana Jones only, instead of searching for a lost ark it involves a search for lost cats. The felines in question came to us in March.There were five in all, four black and 1 tabby, all part of one family although exactly what relationship they had with each other was all a bit vague.

Two of them were barely in the door when they were re-homed. Macey and Josie, two female black cats were both scooped off and taken off to their new homes within day. That left, Almond, the tabby and Raisin and Bob, two black males. And that is when the adventure began.

One evening, on returning from work, we went out to the large outbuilding in which the cats were currently residing. To our shock and puzzlement, they were nowhere to be seen. We checked under the sofa, and up on the high shelves but there was no sign of them. The cats had vanished, which was impossible as the door was locked and the windows were shut. It was then that we noticed that a wooden panel in the ceiling was slightly loose.

A feeling of dread came over us. Had they escaped? Were they injured? We quickly grabbed a ladder and a torch and climbed up. Sliding back the panel, we shone the light inside and, to our great relief, three pairs of frightened little eyes stared back at us. The relief was short-lived, however, as we were now faced with the predicament of how to extricate them.

It was decided that Heather, one of our trustees, would be given the task of retrieving the feisty felines. She was handed a tape recorder that explained to her, her mission, should she choose to accept it, which promptly self-destructed 5 seconds later. She then clambered up into the roof space, stepped over Tom Cruise, and proceeded on her mission.

The task was made all the more difficult because space between the rafters was extremely small, only large enough to crawl through but not big enough to take a cat box. To make matters worse, the three cats had, by now, all decided to hide in different corners. Mission impossible it surely was.

It was an hour later that Heather emerged triumphant, after having manoeuvred herself through the rafters with each cat held precariously by the scruff of the neck and placed them into a cat box being held below the open panel by our other trustee. She was as black as a chimney sweep and as exhausted as someone who had just swam the channel in deep sea diving boots but at least the cats were now secure.

Shortly after, both Bob and Almond were re-homed leaving only Raisin. He was just so cute our trustees decided to keep him for themselves despite all the trouble he caused.
He has fitted in nicely, becoming a playmate of Clover (see Three-Legged Clover article). He is still getting up to mischief, managing to secret himself in any open drawer or cupboard only to spring out when you least expect it. He has a very endearing trait to make up for all his antics, though. He likes to lick your face and nibble your chin. So he’s a wee sweetheart really. Honest.

Kittens Chaos and Cat Cofusion

Back in the summer Assisi Animal Sanctuary asked us if we could take in two adult cats and 7 kittens, as they were totally full. As Assisi were not holding the  cats themselves, the details were all a bit vague. When they arrived, we were still none the wiser, particularly as no one was sure if the ginger and white adult was male or female because it was very timid and, if she was female, which were her kittens and which were those of her companion.

Thankfully, the other cat was very friendly and we could tell she was definitely female. She was the most unusual and exotic coloured cat, with dusky grey and sandy markings and stunning blue eyes. The confusion continued, however, as 5 kittens were all about 5 weeks old and 2 were quite clearly 3 weeks older. The older two were black and white and seemed related to each other but not to the other ones, three of which were sandy coloured, one grey and one a combination of both.

It all became slightly clearer as the ginger and white cat, now called Bramble, got friendlier and we discovered she was female. That and the fact she was pregnant made us realise that at least the five smaller kittens were all from the other cat that we had named Calypso.
They mystery still remained as to where the two older black and white kittens came from. Obviously interlopers who fancied a change of scenery and tagged along for the adventure. But they, along with the other litter soon found homes, leaving only Calypso and the heavily pregnant Bramble.

 Bramble wasn’t to be pregnant for very much longer, however, soon giving birth to 3 very cute ginger kittens. As Bramble and Calypso got along so well with each other we decided to hold on to Calypso so she could remain with Bramble whilst she weaned her kittens. It was just as well as Bramble was a bit of a wayward soul at times, rummaging after food and frequently climbing into a large plastic container that held her titbits. During these forays, Calypso obligingly went and fed her kittens for her, giving Bramble a break from weaning.

Eventually, Bramble’s kittens found new homes too but not before both Bramble and her ever faithful friend got a home together. No doubt, Bramble, the hungriest cat I have ever seen, is still on midnight manoeuvres trying to steal food from wherever she can get it, whilst poor Calypso does reconnaissance in case their owners find Bramble with her head stuck in the rubbish bin or her paws in the fridge.
 

Next Page