No-one who knew Loppy (now Louie)
could ever forget him and now that he has been immortalised as the weblink
button for 'Special Needs' cats, everyone will know him! When choosing a cat it
is important to be open minded about such things as age or colour and go for
the cat that steals your heart. In Debbie's case there appeared to be a problem
- but the solution was obvious!
When we first saw Dolly
and Louie, we tried to decide between them, but we are so glad we took them
both on – we couldn’t imagine being without them now!
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They are well and
truly part of the furniture now! Louie is such a character – he can
be so naughty but I can never tell him off when he looks up at me with those
big eyes! His worst behaviour was when he stole a whole steak off of a dinner
plate – he was then extremely put out when he discovered that due to his
lack of teeth he couldn’t actually eat it and had to give up his catch!
His old habits haven’t left him either and whenever he goes out in the
garden he also insists on going down the bins and digging out all the
leftovers, even though he gets regular treats! Fresh prawns have proved to be a
favourite with both him and Dolly. Dolly is also very settled now –
she loves to potter about in the garden, especially when the sun is out! She
likes a cuddle, but only when she feels like it and is quick enough to let you
know if she’s not in the mood for a fuss! She still doesn’t seem to
like Louie very much, but that might be something to do with Louie always
trying to bite poor Dolly’s tail! |
You may recall that Persil & Comfort were our
longest stay pair - and they had spent a year in a cattery before coming to us!
They have been in a new home for almost 2 weeks now and what progress has been
made!
Offering a home to a nervous cat is so very rewarding, each small
step makes you feel a million dollars as they gradually come to trust you. The
progress may be much slower that with these 2 but usually TLC wins in the
end! |
We had our first
email after just one day and were delighted to read: Persil came out of
his basket and it was as if we had had him all his life! all he wants is love
and has not stopped purring! Comfort was rather different, staying in
her basket and looking petrified so we left them on their own for a while. On
our return Persil was flaked out on the floor and Comfort was up on the
windowsill watching the horses. She is obviously going to take time to bond
with us but already she knows we are not going to hurt her so has stopped
hissing and we can freely stroke her. They have both eaten and this morning
they were curled up in the same basket which is nice as he obviously reassures
her! I think yesterday was our lucky day as well as theirs!
Next day an update
arrived!
We went in their room with them last
night and I made a big fuss of Persil, he was lapping up the attention right in
front of Comfort, she took about as much as she could and came out of her
basket and started meowing at me as if to say “oi what about me”, I
started stroking her and she went down and rolled over for her belly to be
rubbed, we could not believe it, was this the same cat ? I then left the door
to the room open and they went exploring side by side through the rest of the
house, they loved sitting by the French windows looking out at the fields and
if they got split up, Comfort would meow and Persil would come back to find
her. Then after 20 mins or so I walked back into their room and they came in
behind me ready for their bed. It was lovely to see this sudden change in
Comfort, It’s obviously only her second day with us we know she by no
means completely trusts us but what a great start! |
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Marmite is the
cat we were so concerned about as he was extremely depressed and on occasions
cats can literally die of a broken heart'. Sylvia, one of our volunteers took
her home to foster and has been delighted with his progress, as you can see he
is not depressed and miserable now! Unfortunately, Sylvia has 2 other cats and
along with Marmite's new found confidence has come a desire to keep all the
attention for himself - so he has attacked Sooty! An experienced cat owner,
Sylvia is coping at present but it may be that he will have to return to us and
be rehomed as a single cat. Although it may not be the classic happy ending, it
is really as he could have lost the will to live! |