Most of you will be aware of the adverts saying “a dog is for life … not just for christmas” … the same applies to cats of course. I’m sure there are still people who get kittens for Christmas but thankfully we didn’t have to deal with anyone looking for a last minute ill-conceived Christmas present this year. What we DID have was a collection of lovely people who were waiting until all the chaos of the festive period was over before they welcomed a new family member into their homes.
Lily was very quickly reserved …. and delighted to land a purrmanent home that complemented the colour of her jacket purrfectly.
The shy little F twins (Felix & Fritz) were reserved by a lovely young couple to go to their new home after their New Year celebrations. They came several times to visit, bringing a large stash of chicken bribes. The residents loved them! When the little boys went to their new home they were scared and hid for a while, but after a few days started to realised they’d landed on their paws.
We’ve already told you about Merlot finding his furever home with Karis who came to stay over Xmas.
Figgs had a homecheck with a nice family .. but very close to a main road and we had to say no. Then he had another homecheck – a lovely couple in a good cat friendly location. They came to meet him and it went well. Figgs rolled around showing them his tummy and explained how gorgeous he is, whilst his room mate Mr Tiggs hid under the desk. We thought the deal was done. Figgs trundled off to sit on the windowsill, we talked about moving dates. Just as we were about to leave, Mr Tiggs rushed out from under the desk and threw himself at them, proclaiming undying love. It was an awkward moment. A promise had been made to a confident “love anyone at the drop of a hat” Figgs, but a shy Mr Tiggs had sat and weighed it all up, thought about these people and decided he could trust them.
They went away to decide. I thanked my lucky stars I didn’t have to make that decision. We learned later that tears had been shed and “Sophie’s Choice” mentioned more than once. Often where there’s a choice to be made I have a clear idea of which option I’m hoping for. In this instance I didn’t. Both cats quite different but either could have been happy in this home. We weren’t left wondering for long. A message came back that Mr Tiggs had won the home. It kind of upholds our theory about shy cats …. they’re harder work, but there’s something very special and precious about winning their trust.
Figgs took it reasonably well … disappointed of course and worrying a bit about being black & white and his chances in the rehoming stakes in view of that, but we reassured him that he’s adorable and the right opportunity would come along.
It did! Though it happened in the most surprising way! Our cleaner (a previous 8 Lives adopter) came in the following week and it seems he poured out his sorry tail to her. We came home from work to a message from the cleaner and the extraordinary sight of Fig hastily packing his bags. After some discussion we all agreed that Fig would go to stay with said cleaner on a foster care basis … pending the agreement of resident cat and husband 😉 We advised slow and cautious introductions. However the resident cat invited him to dinner on the first evening (bless him)
and Figgs seems to have been pleased to accept. It kind of went from there really.
The adoption papers will be signed this weekend 🙂
8 Lives: Sheffield 8 Cat Rescue 