You know those times on the motorway where everything grinds to a halt? You shuffle along nose to tail, wondering what dreadful accident lies ahead ……… and then suddenly, as if by magic, traffic is flowing freely again … no sign of debris in the road, no blue lights, not even a traffic cone to hint at the cause of your delay? Well that’s how rescue has been for the last week or so.
After months of Nellie & Puddy waiting for new homes, being unable to take any other cats in, and desperately hoping that they may find something before Xmas …. all our wishes came true last weekend. On Saturday a lovely woman came to meet Nellie and fell in love. On Sunday a wonderful couple came to meet Mr Puddy. They’d had their eye on him for a few weeks but were moving house and hadn’t wanted to start the adoption process earlier in case he could find another home sooner. He was a bit dismissive of them first. He’s seen a lot of visitors, but no who’s wanted him. Once he twigged what was happening he got very excited, running from one to the other, just to check they were the right ones for him.
We’ve not wasted any time making use of the space. Last Saturday morning we went up to Leeds to pick up baby Holly who was found dumped at a garden centre that night when it snowed. A friend had kept her safe for a few days until we could get up there. If I’m honest, I’d been keen to have another kitten around here so that Rufus had a play mate. The big cats have been grouchy when he’s wanted to play at pouncing on tails, and have looked at him as though he’s mad when he’s suggested they play at racing up the curtains.
I said yes to Holly before either of the adults had been reserved as I knew we’d squeeze her in fine downstairs with the resident cats. I’ve lost count of how many other cats I’ve had to say “no” to taking in whilst Puddy and Nellie and have monopolised the rescue rooms. As Puddy’s adoptive parents drove away on Sunday afternoon my phone pinged. An email about Tibby – an S8 cat. There was a complicated history of house moves but it boiled down to her having preferred her neighbours to her own family, and when her family moved house she made her way back to the neighbours. There were various to-ings and fro-ings and it came to a crisis when the neighbours had to move and couldn’t take her with them, and her family had got another cat and didn’t want her back.
nellie signing her adoption forms
So we took Nellie to her new home on Tuesday teatime and went straight from there to collect Tibby. Tricky logistics of starting cleaning the room as Nellie was packing to move out, and then the last bit of cleaning whilst Tibby sat in the car waiting to check in. She’s a little nervous but a very sweet girl.
We’ve had to say “no” to a good few more adult cats unfortunately as there won’t be a single room available until Mr Puddy moves. However, we did agree to take in Humbug who is an older kitten. He has an early history that would give a psychotherapist a field day: mother was a dumped pet cat, father feral, Humbug found in a bucket behind a shed with sadly deceased siblings around him. Thankfully he found his way into the care of a kind young woman who has done her best to help him settle into her family ……. but her animal family are refusing to agree to the adoption. It’s a sad little story as the gorgeous little Humbug approaches dog and cat to make friends and they don’t want to know.
humbug arrives
To be honest he’s been a bit of a bug here so far …. lots of grumblings and growlings and Bah Humbugs. Deep down I’m convinced he’s a great guy though. He’s been very loving with me ……. but not surprisingly wary of the other cats here. Once he realises that they’re essentially nice fur people I’m sure he’ll be fine.
8 Lives: Sheffield 8 Cat Rescue 