The Animals' Stories Page 4
 

The Saga of Sawyer and Holly

Early in the year, Earlswood vets asked us could we take in two cats that had been brought in for treatment but had no owners. One was Sawyer, a very handsome ginger male who had an abscess removed from his neck. The other was Holly, a beautiful, long-haired grey female who had an ulcer removed from her eye.

 Originally Sawyer was to be given back to the USPCA, who had brought it in, in the first place. However, as they were going to put him down, Earlswood said they would hold on to him and try to get him a home. Hence their call to us.

Both were still a bit the worse for wear after the surgery. Sawyer had a massive sore on his neck which, we were informed, would eventually fall of in a week or so. Holly, meanwhile, had a watery discharge coming from her eye, which needed to be regularly cleaned.

Sawyer, initially found a home quite easily as he was very friendly and a bit of a performer when people came to view him. However, a week after he was homed we got a call to take him back. Apparently, he wasn’t integrating with the other cats in the household. He had obviously came from a one-cat household, and was stressed out in his new environment, thinking that he had to be more aggressive to get his food and had vying with the other to establish his territory. Although this can be a problem sometimes, it usually resolves itself in a few weeks as the original resident cat accustoms itself to the situation and learns to accept new cat and the new one realises he doesn’t have to be in competition with the other cats in the house.

 A Few weeks later, though, and Sawyer did get a permanent home. This time there were no other cats and he was the centre of attention. He still retained some bad habits for a while, like nipping the new owners, but they persevered and he eventually became the affectionate, confident cat he had been at the beginning.

Holly, meanwhile, had her own problems getting re-homed. With us, she was the most friendly, mature, refined lady but put her in a house with another cat and she was transformed into a Tasmanian devil. She had obviously been used to the quiet life, being stroked and pampered, with no competition from other felines.

She also had a problem with small children. She was originally homed to a couple with a 5 year-old. Within a matter of days, she had been returned to us because it didn’t get on with their young son. Holly was subsequently re-homed to someone with another cat and having to share attention obviously wasn’t her thing. Back she came again.

Another home was found for her, this time with no children or cats. Everything was all right for a month or two and then the new owner was forced to move into rented accommodation. Unfortunately, the landlord didn’t approve of pets and the owner, reluctantly, had to return her.
We we’re getting rather upset by this point as we hated the thought of poor little Holly being passed form one home to another. Two of our trustees brought her back in to stay in their spare bedroom until another home could be found. Despite all the constant moving from one place to another, she was her usual affectionate self and acted as if she had never been away. Thankfully, though, we didn’t have to wait much longer to get her, what we hope, will now be a permanent home.

A couple phoned us to say their father’s cat had died a few months ago and he was now ready for a little house cat as he felt lonely without feline companionship. He seemed ideal and when they saw Holly they immediately knew she was the right one. Holly, has now, hopefully, found that perfect home.

The Tale of Mr Tibbs

Mr Tibbs arrived with us in early January. He was one of the biggest cats we had ever seen and reminded us of a, once distinguished aristo-cat that had fallen on hard times.

He looked like Bagpuss – big, fat and furry and a bit worn at the edges but he still retained the manners of a good upbringing. He was always friendly and purred at the appropriate times, which basically was all day long. The only time his etiquette abandoned him was when he was put in a cat carrier. Then the placid, mild-mannered old man began to scream like a banshee. His wailing was a strange hybrid of a little girl crying and the shrieks of someone possessed by particularly vindictive demons.

Once released form the box though, he immediately resorted to his former self and rolled about demanding his belly rubbed. His most enjoyable experience seemed to be getting brushed, which was just as well because a section of his fur was badly matted.
When brush touched fur, he purred like a Geiger counter that had just found a large stash of plutonium, rubbing himself up and down the tines in ecstasy as if he had just overdosed on catnip.

Although he was an older cat, we had no problem re-homing him because of his wonderful personality. Within a week or so, he had moved in with a couple from East Belfast where he will, no doubt, continue pursuing his brushing fetish for some to come.

The Wild Bunch

One of the longest running sagas in 7th Heaven’s short history was that of the ‘Wild Bunch’. These were a number of cats and kittens that were rampaging around farm land in Larne. The land had become a dumping ground for unwanted cats, which had then turned semi-feral, eventually giving birth to equally wild offspring.

The owner approached us because the situation was getting out of control. However, he was also concerned because some dubious characters had come on to his land to try to capture the cats in cages. One can only assume what their fate would have been but they could well have become bait for ‘blooding dogs’ in the preparation for the sick and abhorrent practice of dog fighting. Dog fighting has become very newsworthy of late but has been going on, virtually unchecked, for many years in Northern Ireland.

The first two kittens that came to us had thankfully not yet learned the ways of the wild and were very friendly. They were ten weeks old, both black and white; one male and one female. The female, Piccolo, was short hair and her brother, Picasso, was long- haired. They were, and still are, two of our favourite little cats.

Piccolo had a touch of cat flu when she arrived but it quickly cleared up. Picasso then contacted it a week later and became very ill. It took almost a month before his symptoms finally cleared. Despite his ailments, though, Picasso still kept Piccolo company and still purred away whenever he was stroked.

By this time, they had become inseparable and we decided they would have to be homed together. Thankfully, shortly after this, we got someone who was only too happy to take both of them. Apparently Piccolo and Picasso are now the talk of their new neighbourhood with everyone wanting to come and play with them. No surprise really, considering how wonderful they were.
The next group of cats brought into us from the farm were not so friendly, however. There were two young adult females, a tortie called Marmalade and a grey cat called Misty, both of which were very nervous of people. Accompanying them were four 3-month-old kittens. Halo, was a grey male and also very nervous. Jaffa was a beautiful tortoiseshell and Delhi was a grey and white male. Both of these were, like the others, semi-feral. Finally there was Cashmere, a grey semi-longhaired female, who wasn’t quite as timid as the rest.

We knew it would take a lot of time and effort to socialise these cats and so it proved. Not surprisingly, Cashmere was the first to become slightly more friendly and we managed to home her within a few weeks. The others, however, proved more troublesome and it became apparent that the two older cats, who we presume were the mothers, were going to remain semi-feral and were becoming far too protective of their offspring.  

At this stage we decided it was time to get them homed. Obviously they couldn’t go into a domestic environment but would have to be outdoor cats. Luckily enough we knew a very nice farmer in Dromore who had taken ferals from us before and he recommended his friend. Luckily, he was only too happy to take them on and we delivered them down that weekend. That left the three kittens.

Almost immediately there was an improvement. Halo, who had been hiding behind his mother up until now, got brave and allowed us to stroke him. In fact, he started to enjoy it even licking our hands. He had come around so much we got him homed shortly after.

It took a while longer for Jaffa and Delhi to be homed, even though they had now become more used to humans. Jaffa, was definitely the more sociable. Delhi, was still very cautious even up to the time he left us. Nonetheless, after a lot of time and effort, the wild bunch were all eventually re-homed. It was a lot of work but it was well worth it in the end.

Three-Legged Clover

In Spring, a little tabby cat came to us. He had been in a car accident and, unfortunately, had to have his leg amputated. The vet had contacted us to see if we could find a home for him.

Clover, as we called him, had just recovered from the operation and hadn’t got used to the fact that he no longer had all four legs. He was such a sorry sight, at first. He was completely incapable of balancing and would fall over backwards or go around in circles every time he tried to get up. It was obvious he was finding it very difficult and frustrating. Clearly, there was no way we would even attempt to home him until he had got accustomed to his predicament.

Two of our trustees kept him in their spare bedroom, trying to encourage him to stand up and move around as much as possible. After a week or so he began to get used to his situation and he stopped being depressed.

At this stage he should have been ready for being re-homed but our trustees had taken a particular liking for the wee beastie as had Raisin (see Cats in a Hot Tin Roof article), another male rescue cat who lived in the household and who seemed to like the idea of another male cat about the place. So instead they decided to keep him. It turned out to be a very good decision.
Almost immediately Clover and Raisin became the best of mates, play-fighting and chasing each other all over the house.

Amazingly, clover is now the quickest cat in the house and is just like a blur of fur when he scoots in and out and darts up and down the stairs. From being a very depressed cat he is now a very happy if somewhat boisterous cat.
 

Previous Page                                         1 2 3 4