Sheffield

We had a couple of days off at the beginning of this week so responded to a request from another rescue to help with a couple of older kittens who were in a spot of bother.   I don’t know the full story but two 6-8 month old female kittens had been living rough, and hadn’t been spayed which had resulted in all the un-neutered toms from a several mile radius converging on them, and the poor little girls crying and running up trees to try to hide.   Fortunately for these  girls, they had landed in the garden of a delightful elderly couple who took pity on them and with the help of the rescue were able to trap them.

The girls went off to be spayed and we brought them here to get over their ops whilst plans could be made for their longer term futures.   They popped out of their carriers into their (my) bedroom, were offered the vet recommended light meal of chicken following their ops, and then left to relax and get over their ordeal.   The following day  only one kit could be seen, lurking under the bed.   If we’d lost one of our rescue cats it would be a nightmare, but to lose a cat entrusted to us by another rescue is nightmare x10.   We ripped everything out the wardrobes … twice .. and then three times … took all the drawers out, stripped the bed, and the comfy chair … everything came off the book shelves, torches shone into every dark corner – much to the discomfort of the other poor kitten.   Every time the torch picked up her face I could see it weighing up the pros and cons: randy tom cats v what’s happening now: and I could see it wasn’t stacking up well for me.

It’s not the first time we’ve had this kind of panic.  The first was when we brought four Norwegian forest cats home, put them in their bedroom and an hour later could only find three:

Frodo had managed to wedge himself in inches between the filing cabinet and the wall.  The photo was taken after we’d moved the cabinet (which meant taking all the books off the bookcase next to it … and then dismantling the bookcase), but you can see a line on the carpet of where it had stood at the point when we found him.   George also disappeared within minutes of his arrival 

but was found wedged behind the toilet.    Similarly after Bailey, Barney and Bella arrived, I went up to check on them and one of them was gone – found later to have slid under the chest of drawers.

So we checked all those places, but no sign of her.  Anyone who’s been here to adopt cats will know we have a careful, verging on OCD system of checks with doors.   This little one would have had to slip past 3 doors to be able to get outside, almost impossible and never managed before.  But we couldn’t find her in the house, so what can you think?

Hard not to think the worst.    It was blowing a gale and throwing it down with rain.   If the little one had somehow got out it didn’t bear thinking about.  So then lots of trailing up and down the road not quite sure what to do.  She’d not recognise the house, my voice, any name I called her.  Vaguely hoping I could project the image of a tasty sardine to attract her.  No joy.  Tearful, guilt ridden messages to the rescue.  Utter despair.

I popped in just to check the remaining kit was ok before bed, and there they were TWO of them!

Next morning I went back to serve breakfast and only one again, and only one when I got home from work.  Did I dream there were two?   After various searches and questioning my sanity we found where Edna had been hiding:

Right up at the back of the shelves between the wardrobes, behind Hiphop the hiphophotamouse.   Too high up to be able to see her, hadn’t been disturbed by my moving the teddies, and amazingly had got up there without disturbing the curtain (she could teach the residents a thing or two

We’re all happy now.  Echo is under the bed still but purring lots and enjoying a fuss.  Edna has made her way down from the heights.

…. these are a few of my favourite things.

Chi and Changi’s lives are turning around pretty quickly.  They came into 8 Lives last weekend, heads full of ear mites and quite anxious.  They’ve quickly found their paws and life is starting to work out for them.   A lovely family came today to meet them this afternoon and they will be off to join them once they’ve been spayed and vaccinated etc

They’re actually mum and daughter, but to look at them they appear to be sisters as mum is so small.   Take a look at their contrasting responses to seeing these raindrops trickling down the window and I think you’ll guess pretty soon which is mummy.

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By the way – that’s not a UFO landing in the garden – just the bedroom light in the house opposite.

We’ve had a weekend mostly snuggled up at home away from the horrid weather, enjoying playing and taking photos.

Here’s Merlin showing off his tunnel.    He’s one handsome dude, and now he’s finding his confidence he just loves playing and purring.   In his own way he’s very affectionate – throws himself on the floor when I go in his room, rolling on his back and purring, rubbing round me, head butting me – just a bit wary still when I stroke him – but that’s improving by the day bless him. The crinkle tunnel is his favourite toy at the moment.  We play for hours with it, and I know his game continues well into the night because his bedroom is next door to mine and I hear the regular crunch as he pounces yet again.

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Merlin would love to find a home of his own soon, so that he can get settled and be ready to be able to go out when spring arrives.   See his ad on our main blog page.

Young Merlin has been with us about 10 days now and is slowly starting to settle.   He came from a home where he seemed to have been well cared for but due to family circumstances he could no longer stay.  I’d hoped he would be very easy to rehome – nice young man, neutered, chipped etc.   However, when he arrived here he growled, and growled, and hissed and then growled some more.  For the first two days he ate nothing and didn’t use  his lit tray.   Fish, chicken, sardines … nothing could tempt him.  My gang thought they’d won the lottery as dishes of very tasty noms came back out of his room untouched and were shared around.

The poor lad sat in the window of his bedroom and peered round the edge of the curtain in wide eyed horror when I went in.   I found that if I just sat still by the door he’d growl at me, if I moved at all he’d start hissing.    So I sat and played Candy Crush on my phone and pretended I didn’t notice him.  This wasn’t easy as he has the most endearing cute way of peering round the edge of the curtain that made me want to laugh.

Like many other very timid cats we’ve had, he was quickly set up with a radio and force fed a diet of Radio 4 morning to bedtime.   When it comes to finding a new home he may not want to be a lap cat but he will be able to hold his own in most discussions about current affairs and have an opinion on the latest dramas in Ambridge.

A few days ago we had a breakthrough and found some treats he’s willing to come out of his hiding place and take some risks for:

He’s a handsome young man when he shows his face.   He’s dared to come down off the window sill now whilst  I’m in the room and look at his toys.   For some reason (I don’t want to think what) if I go to get the stick on any of his wand toys he’s a hissing mess of fear again.  However he’s interested in his little roundabout and we had great fun yesterday playing with a laser toy.  We’d have played with that again today – but he’s run off with it and hidden it somewhere.

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We’ve been really lucky since Xmas and seen Jak & Jenny, then Leo, Bramble and finally Woody off to their new homes.   It’s been wonderful to meet so many lovely humans who are ready to offer homes to our gorgeous cats.

Jak & Jenny have been in their new home about 4 weeks now and are coming on amazingly well.   I remember the screaming hissing bundles of fur swinging on the end of a catch pole when I went to collect them only about 12 weeks ago.   Now their entire lives are turned around.  Jenny is enjoying cuddling on her mum’s knee, whilst Jak follows his dad around the house and will sit by his feet to sleep.   I’m in awe of the couple who were willing to give them a chance, and who have made it work.

Leo was a different story.   After half an hour of nerves when he first arrived here he was every body’s friend.   He had a queue of admirers interested in adopting him and was able to take his pick.   He’s gone to a home with other cats and dogs which is just perfect for him – he’s confident, full of fun and just longing to make friends with everyone.

leo with one of his new doggy friends

Bramble would have hated Leo’s new home, she really didn’t like the idea of sharing her  house with other animals.   When she arrived in her new place she carefully checked it over and realised  to her delight that no other furries lived there.  Then she settled herself on the sofa.  Gaining in confidence every day as she has the undivided attention of her new mum and small person.

Young Woody’s life also turned around very quickly.  Within a couple of weeks of being found wet and ravenous and filthy on someone’s doorstep, he was chilling in his new  home doted on by a lovely new dad.  By the time I left him he was sprawled on the sofa watching TV.  I got photos hours later of him settled on dad’s lap.

Long suffering readers may remember that we took Amber in as a foster cat, along with Honey (her mum) in January 2012.   The back story was that Honey was a stray who had had kittens in a shed.  By the time they came into rescue, Amber was too old to get used to human contact.  Honey reverted to being the lovely snuggly pet puss she must have been at some stage, but poor Amber was terrified.

amber & honey hiding under the bed

For several reasons, complications and rescue politics, they didn’t have any enquiries about adoption.   Months later Amber had started to relax a bit, and much as I didn’t want to adopt two (I couldn’t split her from her mum) more cats, I couldn’t put her through having to move and settle again even if someone had wanted to adopt them.

starting to chill

Other than the day I arranged for someone to come to the house to microchip her (she needs her own door key to the microchip cat flap), and a couple of times a friend came to help me frontline her, I’ve not tried really to touch her.   There’s been the odd occasion where I’ve just been randomly stroking people, or mistaken her for Flipper and tried to run my hand down her back, but nothing serious.  Slowly she’s got more comfortable, and started to sit in her basket right by my lap top, watching …  or just snooozing …

But I’ve not pushed my luck and tried to touch her.  It’s a little strange having a cat for so long who you’ve only actually touched on a handful of (not very happy) occasions.   The others are always on my lap, my shoulder, my head – any way they can be in contact – and I love it.  Nevertheless, I’ve been surprised by just how much I love my little untouchable Amber – with her shy requests to play.

wanting to play

Then comes New Year’s Eve … the beer and the cat nip had been flowing freely and everyone was in a happy and chilled state.  I don’t know what made me do it, but I went to Am and tried, very carefully to stroke her.  She let me.  I held my breath, not quite believing what was happening.  I tried again a bit later, wondering if maybe I’d been dreaming.  She let me.

Most days since then we’ve had a very little cuddle.  I was afraid it was just a special New Years dispensation and  it would be withdrawn on 2 January.  However its continued.   This evening she really leaned in to me as I rubbed her ear and the side of her face.

I long for the day when I hear her purr.

We hinted as this in our previous post but couldn’t quite believe our luck.  Jak & Jenny have a new home!!  I simply couldn’t imagine who might take these two on and worried for ages about whether to think about separating them and looking for domestic home for Jen and a position of rodent control executive in a stables or similar for Jak.   Then my friend from Friends of Ferals passed on an enquiry to me.   No bells and whistles, just a simple enquiry about adopting an adult cat, maybe two.   I wrote back about Jenny, hoping perhaps this could be a home for her at least, and mentioned Jak too, praying I wasn’t pushing my luck and would put the lady off all together.  Then tried to not think about it any more … it doesn’t do to get too hopeful.  To my amazements he wrote back saying she’d discussed it with her partner and they were potentially interested in both of them.

Still not daring to hope for much, I went off to home check and it was great.  Nice home, lovely couple who were interested in offering a home to cats who were less than easy to re home.  Then the tricky bit of them coming over to meet the cats.  Luckily they decided to come straight away, so there wasn’t a lot of time to worry about it.  I knew they wouldn’t see them at their best and that they’d take a step back when two new people walked in.  But just how far would they go back and would this lovely couple believe what I said about the progress they’d made?  It seriously did not help that my neighbour managed to synchronise his timing for putting up a shelf in the adjoining bedroom with the time they came to meet them.   Nevertheless, once the drilling had stopped, things went reasonably well.  Both of them hissed a bit but didn’t completely hide or do the wall of death round their room.

Yesterday I managed to bundle them into carriers, hugely helped by my friend Wizz who was on call in case I couldn’t manage it.   Fears of them going back to square one with another move were unfounded.  Although they were clearly anxious, and hid round the corner of the sideboard, they were curious, watching, and ears up rather than flattened against their heads.    The more I chatted with their new mum the more confident I felt that these two were in with a good chance of making a go of it.  Before I left a friend had arrived to have a look at them, and to bring an offering of roast turkey.  This morning I had a message to say they’d eaten … turkey plus cat food, and had used their litter tray.  Given that it took over 24 hours for them to do either when arriving at my house, this was very hopeful.

I really filled up when I had another update this evening:

“Another quick update – Jenny ate some treats out of my hand and let me stroke her ears and is now lying in one of the cat beds. Jak has taken up residence on the mat next to the radiator and is gently poaching as we speak! ”

Confirmation that they’d held on to the progress they’d made whilst with me.  Jenny trusting someone to stroke her, and my big brave Jak, not planked under the sideboard with his ears flat against his head, but gently toasting himself under the radiator.   Lovely lovely gentle, kind, patient humans letting them be themselves and giving  them space to find their own level for relating to people.

It’s been a pretty rubbish year what with one thing and another, and we weren’t really going to bother with xmas.   But then Leo arrived and we started counting our blessings (and the number of ornaments remaining on the tree each night).   Jak and Jenny have been a bit more relaxed, and we’re cautiously optimistic that we will be able to announce some good news for them very soon.

We were fortunate enough to win a lovely jigsaw on the Friends of Ferals Auction .  Jango nearly got us into a bit of a Paddington bear situation with it, but thanks to him for staying (half) awake, watching it from his facebook page and bidding on it for me (and against me! …. but hey …. its the thought that counts, and its all money to help the amazing work that’s been done for Sheffield’s feral community).   Someone (my therapist perhaps?) explain to me why I thought it would be a nice Xmas Eve activity to start the jig saw???   I wasn’t completely deluded … I did set it up to do on the jig roll so I could put it away when I went out.  First Jango and then Honey came and laid on the felt …. but that was OK, we could work around it.   Sadly it met its nemesis with young Leo and his new friend Flipper.  To be fair, Leo was simply curious and had a go at fitting a few pieces into place.  Flipper however and as always was pure trouble.  Her final act, sadly not captured on the phone, was to dive into the box of pieces and skate across the floor in it.

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The Xmas spirit got into Sooty and he decided he’d share the goodies in his Xmas hamper with all his friends.  They loved it – lots of delicious fancy pouches and tins for everyone.   Of course no one thought to gather up the empties or to load the dishwasher afterwards.

Much as I adore all the others, and difficult as its been ….. one of the most precious things is having my lovely Mog at home this Xmas.  Never expected she’d be here … so glad that she is.   Who knows what the future holds with her, but at least I know at the moment she’s home and warm, dry and safe.

Loving her and all my fur babes this Xmas.

Time suddenly seems to have flown and Jak and Jen have been here 6 weeks.   As with most difficult things, all 3 of us seem to have found a level and muddled our way through it.   We’re all a bit more relaxed around each other than we were.  Jenny has settled into being a lovely snuggle puss – she purrs loads and rubs round me and rolls over on her back, loving a fuss.   As with all cats, you respond to that invitation to tickle her lovely fluffy tummy at your own risk 😉

Jak still has a bit of a hissy fit if there are sudden movements close to him, and is pretty clear in his own mind that he does not want to be touched. He looks on, quite bemused, as his mum gets blissed out by cuddles.   His general demeanour is so so different from how it was when he first arrived though.   He’ll stay laying in his bed, quite relaxed when you go into their room, and climb down to eat when food is put out …. and not run away if I put down a bowl of fresh water next to him whilst he’s eating.   He’ll engage in playing now, and is very proud of the mouse toy which he catches with great speed and skill.

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We have a nightly ritual of sharing one of those chew sticks with the pair of them.  I tear of a little bit and hand it to Jenny (who is usually more or less on top of me) then tear off another piece and I experiment with how far away I need to throw it for Jak to risk moving forward to get it before Jen turns around and grabs it.  The lad is getting closer …. this is his experiment with safety too.   The flat-against-the-head ears have gone, as has the hiding and cowering.   The hissing remains but is hugely reduced.  I’m cautiously hopeful.