It was raining buckets the day we first heard about Clive … you know the sort of rain where it’s coming down so hard it bounces back up again? The messager said that they thought he’d been living rough for some time but now he’d been approaching them for help because he had a nasty wound on his tail.
And so we went over to collect a very damp, miserable, dirty and wounded cat. His tail was matted with blood and gunk and investigation at the vets the following day clearly showed puncture wounds from a fight … presumably with another unneutered tom cat. We were keen to have him neutered as soon as possible because the smell of unnuetered tom cat permeates the house like nothing else. Unfortunately the vet pointed out that there would be a serious risk of infection from the fight wound if he were to be operated on straight away. So Clive and I had a tough few weeks, him enduring a cone to prevent him from licking his wound and the rest of the family enduring the stink.
Finally the misery was over, the op was done and Clive was settling into life in the rescue. He started to realise that it was good to be warm and dry and well fed and increasingly loved having head rubs and cuddles. We decided it was time for him to meet Martyn & Morven: brother and sister about 6 months old.
They hit it off pretty much instantly and spent hours together sharing stories about the different lives they’d lived. Martyn & Morven knew nothing other than being in rescue, having arrived with mum at only one day old. Clive had been everywhere, seen everything … the kittens were spellbound with his tales. Then the day arrived when Martyn & Morven found their own place and moved out.
Clive was sad. Not least because he was then sharing space with Mildred, the twenty year old we mentioned in our previous post. Although Mildred was half Clive’s weight and a fraction of his strength, Clive was terrified. One hiss from Mildred and he’d retreat. When Mildred moved on to a lovely foster home Clive was alone again, recovering from the trauma of the scary old lady.
We knew that what he needed was another kitten to take care of. So when we had a message about a young kitten who had been thrown out the house into some bushes, we knew we had to go and get her. We think Freja was about 8 weeks when we collected her, and if the finder’s understanding of the situation was accurate, ours was going to be the 4th home she’d lived in. She was full of cat flu and had a horrid eye infection so had to live separately at first.
Once recovered, we introduced Clive and Freja. It was quickly apparent that they were each exactly what each other needed. Clive needed a non threatening companion. Freja needed someone to make her feel safe and take care of her. She quite obviously adores Uncle Clive and looks to him to take the lead in whatever they do.
They’re now looking for their own place together. We can’t bear to separate them.
A couple of weeks ago we had an email from one of our lovely adopters. A dishevelled elderly cat had accosted them on the way to the pub on Friday night, clearly asking for help. They were concerned about her and hoped we might be able to assist her. Sadly we get dozens of similar emails every week, more than we have the time or emotional resources to respond to. It’s hard work caring for the cats that we have. Being constantly reminded of how many more are out there that we don’t have space to help is heartbreaking and soul destroying.
Mildred out on the street
We replied giving the usual advice about first needing to check that the cat genuinely didn’t have a home and wasn’t just trying it on: the usual things about checking local social media groups, paper collars and checking for a microchip. We agreed that I’d pop up and loan them my scanner … the lure of potentially seeing H&H who were adopted from us nearly 7 years ago was too strong to resist. At the same time I was very clear that we didn’t have space for any more cats. I explained that we had Clive and Martyn & Morven and that it’s taking a lot longer to find nice homes for cats that it used to in H&H’s day. Martyn & Morven had been waiting for some months with no sign of any interest in them.
I delivered the scanner, got a wonderful long glimpse of one H before he legged it up the garden. Sadly (or strategically) the other H had gone off to the allotments for the day.
Little Hs as we remember them
My money was most definitely on the cat not being chipped so it was a big surprise when a message arrived later that night to say that she was indeed chipped. Even more of a surprise when we looked up the registration details and she was listed as living over 70 miles away and was thought to have been born almost 20 years ago. The only contact details were no longer in use. Some detective work on the part of the adopters revealed that she’d perhaps had more than one home on the street over a period of quite a few years and now, although she was being fed, she was living outdoors.
Then the most amazing thing happened. After months of no one being interested in adopting Martyn & Morven, we had an enquiry from someone who sounded perfect for them. Within 48 hours they were reserved for adoption and planning to move out last weekend. There was going to be a space for the old lady cat after all.
Martyn & Morven preparing to pack their belongings
We decided not to wait while the weekend. Having got this far it would have been awful if something happened to her or we weren’t able to find her a few days later. So we set up the dog crate on the dining table as a temporary measure, and Mildred arrived.
Mildred arrives
It’s been a while since the residents have been asked to accommodate any new cats downstairs in their space. Rowan was in his element: our official meet and greet purrson, he always rushes to welcome new people, human or furry and is keen to chat about the rescue and his life here. Flipper stopped by briefly to bark up to her that she (Flipper) was the best cat in the multiverse and was generally in charge of the house, ‘the hum’, and anything else that seemed important enough for her to want to boss around.
Rowan rushes to greet MildredRowan leans in to explain something in more detailwhile Flipper explains who is the boss
Mildred wasn’t terribly impressed and spent quite a bit of time glaring at us all and swearing at any feline who came to close to her crate.
A few days passed. Morven & Martyn packed their stuff and moved out last Sunday night. On Monday we rejigged the office, changing it from a kitten playground into a hopefully comfortable pad for an older lady. The pace of life in the office and upstairs generally has changed considerably.
From Martyn curtain hangingto Mildred soaking up the sunshine
It’s been quite a while since we wrote a blog post. Rescue generally has got even harder over recent years. The aftermath of the pandemic and the cost of living crisis have lead to more and more cats needing to find rescue space and then it being increasingly difficult to find sufficient good homes for them. For 8 Lives personally it’s been a tough time too. We’ve had quite a few elderly and poorly cats that we’ve been nursing and ultimately had to say goodbye to. Even the younger ones have come in with more than their fair share of health conditions, eye infections and tummy upsets.
Just for now though, things are a little more steady and contained and it feels like time to tell you about the cats currently in our care.
Molly with her tiny Ms
Firstly we have Martyn and Morven. Their story started one day back in September last year. We had a message about a cat who had run into someone’s cellar the previous night and given birth to her kittens. We went out to collect them that day. I’d carefully checked that the mum wasn’t feral (she was going to have to live in my office and spend her days with me, and a feral cat plus wall to wall Teams meetings was unlikely to be a good combination) and that she wasn’t evidently full of cat flu (the rescue is a home, and doesn’t have dedicated isolation facilities). I didn’t think to ask how many kittens! It was a bit of a shock to find that there were 6!
Mum, Molly, was a bit grubby but anything but feral; a very sweet little cat and a lovely mum to them. Not surprisingly they grew into very sweet polite little kittens and then into young cats. The rest of the family all have their own homes now but Martyn & Morven have yet to get their own place. Morven was definitely “the shy one” whilst all 6 of them were chasing around, but she started coming into her own once Marvin & Maise moved out (her sister Maise was the tiniest of the litter but also the bossiest!). By the time Muffin & Mittens had moved into their new home, Morven really began to find her feet. She’s smaller than Martyn but smarter, as girl cats so often are, so she holds her own very well with him.
Martyn is hoping to qualify for the national purring championships later this year so spends several hours training each day. Morven can be a bit more whingy but she loves her brother and is a little sweetheart.
Martyn & Morven
We’d intended not taking more cats for a while and keeping things at a more manageable level for a bit. One weekend I was sitting in the car feeling very fortunate. I’d had a lovely long walk with a friend and the moment we got back to the car park the heavens opened. It went dark and the rain was bouncing off the ground, so much so that I thought I’d leave it a minute before setting off to drive. Inevitably, sitting with nothing much else to do, I checked my phone. There was a message about an unneutered tom cat who had been living rough for quite some time but was now turning up on someone’s doorstep with a nasty injury to his tail. I thought of me sitting nice and warm and dry and this poor boy out somewhere in the weather. I thought of my plan to keep the numbers down and have an easier life for a while. I dismissed that thought. I replied to the message. A few hours later I collected a rather bemused and not entirely happy Clive.
I’m not sure how anyone copes with living with an unneutered tom cat. The minute the vet opened on Monday morning we were on the phone to book him in to get his wounded tail sorted and to get him neutered. Fingers crossed that there would be availability that week. However when we got to the vets and Dr Molly had a good look at his tail, it proved to be very nasty and infected, the wounds right at the base of his tail, and a risk of infection getting into his castrate wound if he had his op straight away.
Clive didn’t improve the situation any by continually licking at his wound until he had to go back to the vets to be fitted with a cone. We have a selection of cones in the rescue for such eventualities but it turned out that Clive has such a big head and thick neck that ours didn’t fit. The lovely nurse Jasmine had to cut a dog cone down a little for him, and then carefully put tape around the edges so he didn’t catch himself on any sharp edges. As you can see in the photo, Clive was delighted with this outcome.
Time has passed, Clive’s tail has healed (though his fur hasn’t grown back yet), Dr Molly has become one of Clive’s bestest friends (partly because she gives him Dreamies when he visits) and he’s now been neutered. His fur is becoming white again, instead of grubby grey and is starting to feel soft.
Martyn & Morven were very curious about who was living in the other bedroom and eventually persuaded us to let them meet him. Clive was surprisingly unbothered by the encounter, despite the kittens incessant questions: “Uncle Clive, why are you wearing that thing on your head?” Uncle Clive, do you know our mummy? she lived outsides as well” “Uncle Clive, are you our daddy?” and so on until you’d think there were no more questions left that a kitten could find to ask … and yet another breath was drawn and … “Uncle Clive …. “
Clive appears equally full of questions about Martyn & Morven. He tends to keep these to himself, but is clearly pondering why on earth they’re swinging from curtains, chasing red dots, and pouncing on toy mice. Clive’s life has been very serious over recent years and the concept of play seems to be evading him.
They’re an unlikely little group of friends but seem to be enjoying each others company and finding life more interesting and pleasurable together than apart.
Blimey wasn’t it warm this week?! The forecast was worrying enough to feel we needed to plan ahead to keep the place cool. We were hopeful that most of the cats would be sensible and stay out of the sun, but concerned about Aunty Honey who is elderly and has respiratory issues, and Luci who is long haired and flat faced.
Luci
One of the simplest things to do to keep the house cool of course is to close all the curtains. Except that’s not quite so simple here. We’ve not had any curtains in the lounge since Christmas. Not since the residents Christmas party when a now 6.5kg Kevin realised he wasn’t able to execute his trapeze swing party trick with quite the same elegance he possessed as a kitten. Gravity got the best of not just Kevin and the curtain, but the curtain pole and small chunks of wall too. We’ve kind of got used to being curtain free, and it’s helped Dasher break his habit of anxiously spraying them on his way in. It’s a warm sunny room though, and Honey’s favourite spot. Rowan and I got an old duvet cover and some small nails and tacked it over the window.
After the Xmas Party
Luci’s room / my office is the warmest room in the house and we decided we couldn’t cope with being shut in there all day. Luci’s thick long coat is growing back beautifully now so he was going to be horribly warm. We were concerned that his short flat face and consequent breathing difficulties could be exacerbated by the heat. We went to negotiate with Solly and Hilde who have the other bedroom on the cooler side of the house. They normally have the run of the stairs and landing in the day time so they can chase around and play. They agreed to a plan to stay in their room and let Luci and I have our door open onto the landing to let in some cooler air. In return, we moved the furniture around so they could play climbing on the shelves in their room and supplied them with additional Dreamies.
The day arrived and we were as prepared as we could be – curtains drawn, lots of bowls of fresh water inside and outside. Timtam immediately took the prize for the most sensible cat in the house. She’d clearly read the science about black absorbing more heat. She ate her breakfast, then calmly took herself off to the coolest room in the house, climbed to the top of the cat tree in there and slept for the rest of the day.
Several of the residents went out into the garden. We’d decided to not try to keep them in. Apart from causing an outbreak of anxiety and paranoia in the semi ferals and indignation in the others, it’s nigh on impossible. Young Rolo worked out some time ago how to open a cat flap that was locked to “in only” and has shown most of the others how to do it. Getting them all indoors to be able to lock the flap completely would be like … well … like herding cats, and likely to lead to mass hysteria. Thankfully, since we have the garden cat proofed everyone can go out safely without wandering off and getting into any difficulties.
Amber’s initial strategy was to go in the kennel. That’s one of her favourite outdoor spots. After a while she began to wonder if she might be cooking in the straw and went to lay at the side of it instead.
Kevin and Jerry started just by snoozing in the shade but by the end of the day it appeared Kev had put his digging skills to use and they’d been excavating the garden to find cooler soil to lay on.
The rest of them alternately went from sun to shade to flollopping indoors … and looking enviously at Timtam who clearly had the prime spot on the coolest cat tree.
Little Hanne was probably the biggest challege (as ever!) She appeared oblivious to the fact that it was hot and bounced and chased around as usual. Her best friend Rowan, on the other hand, seems to feel the heat and pours out of his bed like molten fur on a hot day. We found the poor boy pretty much wearing Hanne as a hat, then a scarf as she pounced on him and swung round his neck in the garden. In the end we had to fetch her indoors. Aunty Honey took charge and got her settled down quietly doing some colouring.
Rowan meltingwearing his kittenAunty Honey takes chargeRowan chills … with cat nip
Luci survived the day without incident though he got very little work done.
We’ve been quiet on the blog for a while. When we’re very busy we mostly don’t have time to write, and when we have time to write there’s often nothing happening to write about. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing happening of course, but an endless round of litter trays and vet runs doesn’t make for very interesting reading.
This story starts, as so many of them do, with me in my pjs winding down for the night. It was gone 10pm and after a long day at work I was wondering if it was too early to go to bed. Idly scrolling on a local facebook group I noticed a post about three cats having just been left on someone’s doorstep. Knowing how full we were and the challenges of nursing JJ with cat flu in one room, whilst Mavis was unvaccinated (due to a national shortage) in another, I scrolled quickly past. Conscience pricked though, and I dared myself to peek back at the post … the doorstep mentioned was only a couple of minutes away by car, and the owners of the doorstep were clearly thrown into a bit of a panic by their late night visitors. I scrolled past again. Several minutes of intense internal struggle ensued. We had nowhere to put them but what on earth would happen to them if we didn’t take them.
By 11pm, I’d set up the largest dog crate we have in the middle of the lounge floor and been out to collect them. The carrier was broken, gaping open and loosely tied up with an electric cable. I’d thought when I read the original post that it must be kittens to all be in one carrier, however it appeared to be two adults and an older kitten of about 6 months. They didn’t even have enough space to all be able to stand on the floor. It doesn’t bear thinking what state they would have been in if they’d not been found while morning.
The dog crate was far from ideal for them, but they had food, water, and a litter tray in there, and a hammock to add a bit of space on another level. It was cramped and I felt awful about it, but they could be warm and dry and safe and they had about eight times as much space as they’d had an hour ago. They were clearly terrified, so I just slid the carrier inside hte crate, opened the carrier door, closed the crate and covered it so they had some privacy and sense of security.
The set up was difficult for the eight resident cats here too. It effectively cut the house in half as no one was allowed to walk through the lounge. Residents who had been upstairs in bed at 10pm were trapped upstairs, whilst those in the back of the house had to remain there. I was on the edge of tears with the implications of all this, especially when it was added to the movement restrictions we already had upstairs related to barrier nursing JJ / protecting unvaccinated Mavis. The simplest movements around the house involved careful opening and closing of multiple doors whilst stopping any cats dashing through. Of course most of the journeys through the house involved carrying things, making it more of a challenge: coffee mug – tricky, coffee mug plus plate of food – um … I wouldn’t try that, laundry basket – just no!
We struggled to make sense of how three cats could have been pushed into the same carrier and came to be dumped along with a dirty litter tray and a bag of food on a stranger’s doorstep. Had they been stolen? Was it someone maliciously dumping someone’s beloved pets? If malicious, then why leave them on a doorstep with food etc? They looked as though they’d been well cared for.
We posted on our facebook page, asking for any info and for emergency foster homes. We had several sad posts from people hoping beyond hope that perhaps one of them was their long lost fur baby. None of them had a microchip. Despite the post having been seen thousands of times, we received no information about them.
A very welcome post arrived from ‘Aunty’ Jenny, one of our trustees and our amazing fundraiser. Despite having a house full of cats herself, she offered a bedroom for them to stay in. I’ve never been more relieved to find a place for a cat!
We decided that the best plan would be for her to take the two adults, then the kitten could stay here and we’d see if she might be a companion for little Mavis, as they appeared to be a similar age.
They were all still very frighted the following lunch time when it came to moving them into their foster home. An adult and kitten hiding in the carrier still, and the other adult clearly very stressed and hissing and swiping at any fingers that came near the crate. The best plan seemed to be to slide the carrier out with the two cats in, get them securely in carriers, then come back for ‘Slasher’.
I gently removed the lid from their carrier ready to lift the adult out and to my shock realised that there was another older kitten squished right at the back! So there had been four of them in there all along! If you look carefully at the photo above, you’ll see a spare ear at the back of the carrier. If we’d looked carefully at the photo we would have been pre warned too 😉 That threw the plan of the kitten staying here to be with Mavis, and poor Aunty Jenny ended up with all of them.
Once we had them securely in a bigger space we could get a better look at them. There was clearly a mum (Sybil) and her two kittens (Sally & Sid). Plus another adult (Stella) who looked as though she might be related but didn’t quit seem to fit in. We all have (or are!) family members like that I guess.
Sid was clearly not neutered. Given Sally’s size/age we were pretty certain that she and Sybil hadn’t been neutered … both would still have had some sign of shaved fur on their sides. Stella was anyone’s guess. We had to allow time for a potential owner to come forward before arranging for them to be neutered. Then Sybil proved our theory by coming into season. Sid hadn’t shown any sign of having any impure thoughts, but we needed to separate them, just in case. Neither Aunty Jenny nor I had another spare room, but Mavis was just getting over her spay op and was missing her playmates Moses and Marley since they’d gone to their new home. So little Sid came back here for a week while he waited for his op.
If we’d had to choose one of them to be separated from the others, the last one I’d have chosen would be Sid. He’s a very loving little chap when he feels confident. but away from his family and faced with Mavis who was desperate for a play mate, he was anything but confident. Mavis managed to be kind to him despite her disappointment in his lack of desire to engage in crazy kitten games.
He was very relieved to get back to his mam after his op.
It’s been a complicated process getting them all neutered, chipped and vaccinated and ready for adoption, not least because two of them have had to go to another vet practice to be able to get their vaccinations. All almost finished now, just waiting for second vaccinations to complete the course.
Now they’re settled they’re lovely lovely cats. All playful and affectionate. Thankfully they seem to have got over the awful trauma of being dumped as they were. Sid will take a little while to settle and gain his confidence, but hopefully going to a new home with his sister Sally will help.
Their adoption adverts are available on Cat Chat, where you will also find more information about our adoption process. If you’d like to donate towards our care of these poor little ones you can do so using PayPal to eightlives@outlook.com
It’s now seven weeks ago that I was sitting at home one Friday evening, minding my own business, when a message pinged into our 8 Lives inbox. It was about a long term stray who was injured and needed help asap. As usual we were full … but obviously wanted to help as it was an S8 cat and we aim to go the extra mile for S8 cats 🙂
We said we could help with vet bills etc but simply had nowhere to put him … so would the person messaging like to foster him? This is perhaps the first miracle in the tail. More than 9 times out of 10, if we reply offering help conditional on the other person doing something, even something very simple, we never hear from them again. However on this occasion the person said yes he could do that and would clear space in the spare bedroom for the cat!
The next miracle was that we’d just made connection with someone who is experienced with trapping. So when we realised that the cat needed to be trapped …. we had someone who we could ask for help …. and were delighted when she agreed.
So … by late Friday evening we had a facebook convo with person who had contacted us and agreed to foster, his partner, the person who had agreed to help with trapping and the person who’s garden the cat was mainly hanging out in.
Saturday progressed with messages about sightings and traps, and Jerry (locals believe the cat had been named Jerry before being abandoned about 9 years ago) generally being an arse and refusing to go into the trap. He even strode up to the trapper’s car at one point and sprayed down the side of it. The drama extended into Sunday too, but finally with reinforcements brought in, and a different kind of trap, the cat was in the bag …. so to speak.
Sadly with it being Sunday our regular vets were closed. So Jerry was taken to another local vet who had Sunday opening. Jerry had a huge abscess on his face which was doubtless the result of fighting as an unneutered tom cat. He was admitted to have the abscess cleaned and to be neutered, but they did a basic level test for FIV, found him to be positive and immediately wanted to put him to sleep. We refused to consent to this and were relieved to get him out of there the following day … thankfully now neutered and with his abscess cleaned up.
The wound on the side of his face was shockingly big and deep. Jerry sat miserably in his crate whilst foster carers and I disucssed his ongoing care.
Over the coming days the fosterers spent hours with him, talking to him, helping him to settle. He wasn’t happy though and was weeing on the floor in his crate and getting in quite a mess.
Improvements in 3 weeks
Very relieved to get back to our own vets, Vets4Pets at Milllhouses, with him. They checked his wound, gave more antibiotics and took some blood. So far, all the cats who have tested positive for FIV on the basic test that the other vet did, have come back negative when they’ve had the more specific test which we prefer. Sadly Jerry’s was the first time that that one also came back positive. Being FIV positive doesn’t have to be the end of the world, despite the reaction of the other vets. The really bad news was that the results showed that Jerry was at stage 4 (the final stage) of kidney failure … not only that …. his readings were pretty much off the scale. Our vet said he’d had to put cats to sleep with considerably lower readings, because they were so poorly …. not Jerry though … not at that stage … because he showed every sign of having a good quality of life.
It felt a bit bleak at that point though. We’d been told that his wound would probably take about 6 weeks to half way heal, but possibly longer due to FIV. And looking at his blood results, it seemed he most probably wouldn’t survive long enough to see it heal.
I didn’t want to tell the foster carers at first, because by that stage Jerry had started to make some progress .. he was enjoying being stroked and gaining confidence. I didn’t want them to give up on him. I needn’t have worried … when I told them, they were as committed as ever to caring for Jerry and giving him the best life possible.
Thankfully no one has told Jerry that his blood results are so bad that he shouldn’t really be alive. So he’s just getting on with life, and here are a whole collection of little miracles:
He’s eating well, even the renal food which most cats are reluctant to eat.
He’s putting weight on.
His coat is soft and between him and his foster carers most of the knots are gone.
His face is healing incredibly well.
He’s starting to play a little.
He’s become one of the most snuggly, loving cats I’ve ever met …….. and I’ve met a few x
At his nurse appointment last week for his wound check he was just the most snuggly loving boy ever. His face has healed amazingly well. There’s even signs of a little fur growing back. It might end up being a bit of a comb-over but wow! He climbed up into my arms for more cuddles and gave nurse Sam loads of snuggles.
Clearly the miracle can’t hold forever … he’s a poorly boy …. but perhaps in these remaining few weeks or months we can make up a little bit for the years he’s had to endure living rough. I wanted to add “not being cared for” … but that wouldn’t be entirely true. Many people have been aware of him over the years and have fed him, offered him a little shelter, tried to get help for him. Seeing how loving he is and what a character he is though, its just heartbreaking that he’s spent so many years living rough without the cuddles that he so obviously adores.
We’ve been working from home for well over a year now and have seen a succession of office assistants come and go. What used to be the main cat rescue room in the house is now also my office. We just about manage to blend the two together with varying degrees of success. In some ways its a good thing, or even an excellent thing. Whereas normally our foster cats would have spent almost all the day alone, they now have company and cuddles and I get to work with feline rather than human colleagues, which on the whole, I prefer.
Bae & Bigsby are our most recent temps. They arrived with very sketchy CVs and I suspect neither of them have done an honest days work in their lives. Bae just sat doing her nails, oblivious to the task in hand.
She’s also spent quite a bit of time looking for snacks rather than concentrating
Bigsby has attempted to engage with the filing system … though not entirely helpfully, as he later climbed to the top shelf and descended with considerably more speed than grace whilst I was on a call.
He was asked to come in to discuss his purrformance and appeared gobsmacked that he was actually expected to work.
To be fair to them, then make excellent purry paperweights and are lovely to snuggle during phone calls and Teams meetings. They’re looking for a purrmanent position so if you’re able to offer them something with very light duties and low expectations that is well rewarded with snacks and cuddles …..
It’s six weeks ago today that we brough Zoltan into rescue. She settled in quickly and remarkably well. Such a sweet old lady. We knew she had some health issues, she’d been having seizures for some time, but she made herself comfortable and we started to get to know her, to care for her and love her. She made the end of the sofa her main hang out place.
As with every other new arrival, she was off to the vets for a health check in her first week here. Because she’s 18 and had health issues, she had a blood test. That revealed that she had early stages of renal failure. She took to her renal diet pretty well. As her hips weren’t too good we often fed her in her spot at the end of the sofa, and hand fed the renal dry food. Somehow word got around that Z was getting extra treats, and everyone started lining up for them. In return Zoltan noticed that these ‘treats’ were desirable … and became keen to eat them.
Soon her appetite dropped off though and she became quite poorly. She was admitted as an in patient and put on IV fluids for a few days. During this time she was diagnosed with high blood pressure as well as kidney disease, on top of her epilepsy.
Four weeks ago today we picked her up from the vets after her 3 day admission and she was like a new cat. Before I’d got her bandage off (needs to stay on a little while after coming off the drip) she’d pottered out the door and up the garden. It’s all safely cat fenced, so perfect for elderly and vulnerable cats. She headed straight for the cat mint area, accompanied by her friend Rowan. She rolled around in the sunshine and catnip, loving every moment. It was so lovely to see her happy. She’d been quite subdued since she arrived but this was a true moment of being alive and happy.
At that stage Zoltan had only had one seizure whilst with us so hadn’t been started on medication for epilepsy. The vets explained that they wanted us to witness another seizure so that we could have some idea of how frequently she had them …. so then we could know whether the medication, once started, was actually reducing the frequency. She had the second later that week. That was quite a low point. Although I was next to her when she had it, it took me so much by surprise and the thrashing was so violent, that I wasn’t able to stop her from falling from the sofa onto the footstool and then onto the floor. She seemed to recover from it quicker than I did, and was off to get something to eat whilst I was still berating myself for not having caught her.
The upside of this though was that she was able to start medication and so far as we are aware, had no further seizures.
Zoltan went back to the vets for her second vaccination and a blood pressure check 10 days ago and all was well. Blood pressure back to normal and putting a little bit of weight back on. It was Flipper’s birthday that day and Zoltan joined in their special birthday tea.
The weather has been a bit rubbish, but every time it was nice we’d have the door open and as soon as she smelled the fresh air she was off up the garden to the nip.
Last Sunday she went into the garden but on Monday she seemed more unsteady on her feet and it looked like it might be time to introduce the extra step between the footstool and the floor that we’d created for Henderson. Tuesday her appetite wasn’t too great. I thought I was maybe over reacting, but called the vet and booked her in for Thursday. By Wednesday evening she was struggling to stand up but her appetite improved and she was purring to me for the first time since she arrived. Then her tummy started to be upset …. very upset. I stayed up with her so I could carry her to the litter tray and clean her.
feeling poorly
We had a little carry around the garden to the catmint on Thursday morning but she didn’t seem interested. The vets admitted her following her appointment. Anaemia was added to her list of diagnoses, her kidneys had deteriorated more and there were some other worrying blood results. She didn’t pick up on fluids like she had done last time. Her tummy continued to be very upset. It became clear that it was more likely that it was whatever was happening in her brain that was causing these issues rather than renal failure. We kept hoping … a little …. and made preparations for her being discharged today. I got all the cleaning done so she wouldn’t be disturbed by it, and had a bit stack of vet bed and puppy pads ready for nursing her. She’d eaten fairly well thus far, but the lunchtime call today said that her appetite had dropped off and she still had a very upset tum. It was clear that she wasn’t going to get better at home if she hadn’t made any improvement at the vets. We were assured that she wasn’t suffering as such, but wasn’t really aware of or interested in anything. It was clear that in reality the choice was between letting her go now or bringing her home to potentially suffer and then face going to the emergency vets or our vets early next week to say goodbye.
Such a rollercoaster six weeks. Such heartbreak seeing her unable to stand and having to “say goodbye” without actually being able to say goodbye … because it’s still not possible to go into the vet surgery. Such joy watching her make renal food into a value treat for the whole family and seeing her rolling around in the catmint with Rowan.
A couple of Saturdays ago I noticed a post on a rescue friend’s facebook page: “Urgent place needed for two elderly cats … more details to follow”. The details that followed were sad: an 18 year old with epilepsy and a 16 year old with a cataract … about to be made homeless as a result of their family’s own health issues. I couldn’t get them out of my mind. There was no way we could accomodate two elderly cats with health issues who were unlikely to be adopted. I still couldn’t get them out of my mind. We were full and the couple of people I mentioned them too reminded me of that, and pointed out how stressful it would be to have elderly poorly cats. I still couldn’t get them out of my mind.
I tried hard to ignore further posts about them, even when I was tagged. Even I could see that we wouldn’t be able to integrate two elderly poorly cats into the family, and even more so when I learned they were both tortie ladies! Then I learned that although the two cats tolerated each other they weren’t close .. and the situation was pretty desperate. After discussions we decided to offer a space to the older and more poorly of the pair in the hope that someone else would feel able to take the other.
It felt a bit of a risk because Zoltan would have to live in the main living area with the other cats a) because the private rooms were taken by Hollie and Timtam and b) because we couldn’t shut a cat with serious health issues away in a room on her own.
We set up the big dog crate in the lounge as we had done with Henderson when he first arrived, made it as comfortable as possible. We draped sheets over it for some privacy and so that introductions could be made fairy gradually, and last Saturday we went off to collect Zoltan and bring her home.
Rowan welcomes Zoltan
In the end she wasn’t in the crate long enough to even get round to taking a photo in there. The residents flocked round to have a look at her, and she looked at them. There was none of the usual hissing and grumbling with introductions. Whilst there were only a couple of other cats in the room, I let her have a little potter around. Rowan was very excited … he loves to make friends with everyone.
Zol tried out a few little sleeping spots on the rug but very soon spotted what has become her favourite space on the sofa.
favourite place
I’ve never seen a cat settle in somewhere so fast. The photo above was taken less than 4 hours after she arrived here!
We set up nice raised bowls for her so she could eat and drink in comfort but the first night Rowan wanted her to come into the kitchen for tea with everyone else. He even let her share his bowl.
raised bowls
first tea time
Easter Sunday was nice and sunny and we had the doors open whilst outside gardening. Thankful again to have a secure cat fenced garden because it meant that Zoltan was able to go outside into the sunshine briefly.
We were obviously anxious about her health issues. Unfortunately it hadn’t been possible to get a clear history of her epilepsy so we didn’t know what to expect in terms of frequency or severity of seizures or what might trigger them. It was a relief to get to the vet after the holiday and start to find out a bit more and make a plan for treatment. There are some things to be positive about: her basic health check was pretty good for an 18 year old, and her blood results revealed nothing very serious other than early stages of renal failure. Unfortunately of course, our vet couldn’t tell us how often she would have seizures so that’s a “wait and see”. She’s been quite twitchy on and off all week but late Friday night had the first full seizure that we’ve witnessed. She will be started on medication to help with this shortly.
It’s another steep leaning curve and we’re anticipating heartbreak along the way … but for now she’s happy and settling in with her new friends.
I’ve debated about the title of this. Should it be two steps forward, three steps back? Three steps forward, two steps back? Two steps forward, two steps back? I think the ratio of steps has changed over the two weeks I’ve been writing this … we’re moving forwards again 🙂
As many of you know, we’re a tiny rescue with just two rescue rooms. The story since just before Christmas described very simply is: Oliver moved in, Hamish moved in, Oliver moved out, Timtam & Tiktok moved in, Hamish moved out, Albie moved in, Albie moved out. Timtam and Tiktok weren’t getting on so moved into separate rooms. Room turnarounds have been pretty much like a hotel so out at lunch time, cleaning done and new occupants in at tea time.
Oliver
Hamish
Albie
Tiktok
Timtam
If you’ve read our previous blog you’ll know that Tiktok and Timtam had been progressing with their confidence slowly but surely. Once we were able to separate them, Timtam’s confidence took many steps forward. Timtam had my office, so had more contact time and after a few days of holding her bladder and appetite during my entire working day, began to venture out of her hidey holes. Firstly she had to be enticed out with a toy, but soon she was coming out of her own accord and was happy to sit at a safe distance, snoozing and making squeezy eyes at me. Tiktok spent some time in his own bedroom to give the rest of us a break from his boisterous antics, but also was invited into the office to attend selected zoom meetings, have cuddles and see his sister. We were (still are) carefully observing their interactions as part of the difficult decision as to whether to home them separately or together.
Timtam watching from afar
chosing a bed closer to me
watching me work
A further step forward came when little Rowan befriended Tiktok and began to introduce him to the other residents and the rest of the house. It meant Timtam & I could have more time alone in the office and Tiktok could play with the other youngsters downstairs.
It was all going so well, then we had a message from Hamish’s family to say that one of the children was really allergic to him, They’d tried a few things to manage it but it wasn’t improving and he had to come back to us. We were devastated for him. He’d found a lovely home and settled so well into it. For a cat who was only about a year old he’d had so much upheaval. We’re assuming he was born in one home and given/sold to another home as a kitten. He was then found as a stray by someone who ascertained that he’d been abandoned by the previous owner when they moved house. That person took him in and he lived there a little while before they decided they couldn’t keep him permanently. That’s when he first came to us. He was very withdrawn when he arrived here but gradually came out of his shell and started to trust people. He went off to his new home very confidently and settled well. It was heartbreaking that he had to go through another change.
Hamish in new home
It was a major step back for us too. It’s part of all our adoption agreements that we will take cats back if they’re unable to stay in their adoptive homes for any reason, and naturally we wanted to be there for Ham at a difficult time, but essentially we were having to fit him back into a space that didn’t exist. Those of you who know us know that we have two rescue rooms, one of which (since covid) doubles as my office. Let’s call them A & B .. B is the one that’s slightly bigger and is my office. Tiktok had A, Timtam had B. The seven resident cats have the rest of the house. I laid awake for two nights (not for the first time in rescue experience) trying to work out where to find a room we hadn’t got, turning over the following considerations:
Hamish cannot share with Timtam or Tiktok, or indeed any of the other cats as he doesn’t like them.
Tiktok & Timtam ideally need to be separate because he bullies her and they fight in the night … I did should mention that my bedroom … let’s call it C .. is between A and B … and ideally in the night (when I’m not trying to work out who to put where) I need to sleep rather than listen to feline arguments.
Hamish is going to come back stressed and need support so may be better in B where he has more contact time.
If we put Hamish in B then Timtam and Tiktok end up sharing the smaller room A which doesn’t seem fair.
Timtam needs more contact to grow her confidence so may be better in B.
Timtam and Hamish can’t both have B!
We could separate Timtam and Tiktok by putting one of them in a large dog crate in the same room. Timtam would be better having more freedom but Tiktok will make more noise if confined. But it’s not fair to confine Timtam simply because she protests less.
Perhaps whoever is in the crate woud be better in a different part of the house. Would they get enough attention? How would the resident cats feel if they were in their part of the house? How would the crate resident feel about having resident cats observing them like they were in a zoo? And where would the crate resident be able to exercise?
How/what do we prioritise? The most needy? The one we can rehome most quickly in order to get back to something more manageable?
Are were going to try to rehome Tiktok and Timtam together or separately? That dilemma pre-dates the return of Hamish, but is relevant to choices now.
Would it be possible to build on Tiktok’s friendship with Rowan and move Tiktok downstairs with the other residents? But Rowan is only one of seven residents and experience suggests that not all of them are as keen to play as Rowan. It’s also true that Rowan bullies his sister Rolo in the same way that Tik bullies Tim … so how would that pan out if Rolo has to deal with both of them bullying her?
What if I add C to the equation and put one of them in my bedroom and move downstairs to sleep on the sofa? It’s certainly something we’ve done many times in the past but as I get older my bones grumble more. And who would the bedroom occupant be? And how would the resident cats feel about another cat in their bedroom? And might they start peeing on the bed when they get back in there? I try to protect them from that kind of disruption … this is their home after all.
It rolled round and round my head. How do we get everyone in a space they feel safe, that they have enough contact time to keep making progress and enough room to be able to exercise. How do I ensure I get enough sleep to be able to function in the day job?
In the end we opted to put Hamish in the smaller room and Tiktok & Timtam in my office. We moved most of the office furniture into my bedroom so that there was room to put in a large dog crate in the office. The plan .. and it’s kind of worked … was for Timtam to spend some time safe in her crate, some time free in the room with Tiktok and some time free in the room whilst Tiktok is out playing with Rowan et al. What we’d not quite bargained for is Tiktok wanting to go back into the smaller room because that’s what he’s been used to, and Rowan knocking on that door … mistakenly … loooking to see if Tiktok is playing out.
Hamish gutted to be back in rescue
The other big step back that we’d not anticipated is how stressed and distressed Hamish was on his return. I’d (stupidly with hindsight) anticipated that he might need lots of cuddles and comfort on his return. What I hadn’t anticipated was that he’d spend 48 hours hissing and growling at me, and lashing out if I tried to touch him. I’m fairly certain that apart from the general stress of change, the main issue is that he can smell Tiktok and Timtam in the room.
Should we have put T&T in A and given Hamish the office space? Should we do this now? Will it help settle things or just cause more traumatic disruption.
It’s been more difficult for Hamish than we expected, but the plan seems to have worked better than expected for T&T. Tiktok has built on his friendship with Rowan and managed if not to be best buddies, at least not sworn enemies with the other residents. He’s played a lot downstairs with the others, learned how to use the cat flap and enjoyed chasing around the garden with the other youngsters. He’s confident now with being scooped up and hugged.
Tiktok invited downstairs
feeling at home
playing out with Rowan
Timtam has got braver by the day. Small but noticeable steps. This week has seen the first time she’s run to the food bowl at meal times rather than hiding away and the first time she’s ventured out of her room. She plays more confidently, sits watching me work, still scuttles away when I approach her but when I’m actually touching her she purrs and squirms around really enjoying a snuggle.
Timtam watching me work
It took a week or so before Hamish started to seem like himself again, and he’s not quite there yet, but he’s getting there. Almost exactly a week after he arrived back here he conducted some interviews for new staff on Zoom and has appointed someone/s who he feels will be suitable. Their contract will commence shortly … and we’ll be able to get back to ‘normal’.
8 Lives: Sheffield 8 Cat Rescue 