Hecate

Hecate and her four 5 day old kittens arrived with us about eight weeks ago now.  The poor girl had been living outside for some time, and so far as neighbours knew, this was her third litter of kittens. They thought that previous litters hadn’t survived – lack of care, busy road etc.  Hecate clearly wasn’t feral but life had taught her to have low expecations of care from humans.  She seemed glad to have her little family indoors and safe and to have plenty of food to be able to care for them.  She was a very attentive mum and was wary of us touching the kittens, and gave the odd hiss when we approached them.  She’s not been unfriendly towards people but its taking time for her to trust that interactions with them can be fun.

Gradually we’re seeing signs that she enjoys being stroked – tail up, leaning into it a bit.  She’ll enjoy a gentle brush too.  It’s lovely to watch her starting to think about herself and have some good things.  For weeks we’d try to hand feed her chicken as a treat, and she’d grab it and take it for her kittens to eat.  Just recently she’s started to enjoy some for herself, knowing that the kits will be given plenty too.

Hecate has been spayed and microchipped.  Shes started her vaccinations and is looking forward to making a new life for herself.

It’s difficult to know how a cat will get on with other pets in a new home.  When mums are here with kits they’re very protective and will attack any other cats who dare put their foot through the door.  Having said that, Hecate has been accepting of Isaac (4ish month old kit) calling round to play with her kittens.  She’s given him a telling off occasionally but she’s not been anywhere near so aggressive as some mummy cats we’ve had here.  There’s nothing to suggest that she wouldn’t be ok with kids, though in her current state of mind I think she’d be happier with a more mature family who have the patience to help her find her confidence and purrsonality …. and fully realise that not all people are cruel and neglectful.

She’ll need to stay indoors initially in her new home, but after that would like a safe garden to explore. We always strongly recommend that cats be kept indoors overnight though.

We always homecheck prior to adoption and ask a minimum adoption donation of £75 for a neutered adult cat. There’s more about our adoption process here: http://www.8livescatrescue.org/adoption-process.html and you’ll probably find more photos and stories about Hecate here: https://8livescatrescue.wordpress.com/ and here: https://www.facebook.com/8Lives/