8 Lives: Sheffield 8 Cat Rescue

sad tails (1)

Posted on May 9, 2015 by accidental fosterer

Maya, our lovely little Lancashire Lass had such a traumatic arrival here that we weren’t surprised she hid away at first and didn’t want to eat. However, when she’d been here a few days and still hadn’t eaten we started to get really rather concerned and despite not wanting to put her through the distress of going back in a carrier and off to the vet, it clearly had to happen. Conveniently Sooty had a review appointment booked with Dr Tim for Monday afternoon and said that if Maya was feeling poorly he’d be happy to let her have his slot.

Sooty isn’t always the most amenable patient, but Maya topped any challenge Sooty could present. Although a mixture of her feeling poorly and my determination to get her to the vet had got her into the carrier, that didn’t mean she was willing to be examined once we arrived. One option with a terrified cat who can’t be examined is to give a sedative, but this could pose a risk to her unborn kits. However, she was clearly unwell and doing nothing wasn’t an option. At the end of the day Maya had to take priority over any unborn kits (there was even a possibility that her swollen tummy wasn’t due to pregnancy) but just maybe we could save them all. She had an anti biotic injection and a follow up appointment in two days for if she was feeling no better.

We came home hopeful, but Maya resolutely turned away from the offer of any food. We’d been through the full repertoire: tuna, roast chicken, fresh cooked fish, scrambled egg, sardines, cheese, boiled ham, all manner of treats ….. and returned to the vets on Wednesday evening, at which point they admitted her. She had some sedation, a scan which showed two kitten heartbeats inside her, a mouth with just one remaining tooth, tests which showed an infection and not surprisingly serious dehydration. She was put on a drip and anti biotics and thankfully started to improve. Despite the lack of teeth she began to eat to olympic standard and was clearly feeling much better.

We collected her from the vet about 6pm Friday evening – delighted that she came home and started eating, and had her anti biotic wrapped in some sardine. I went off to feed and cuddle Jack for a while and when I returned she’d given birth. I could just see one tiny dark kitten head near her, squawking for attention. It was immediately clear that things weren’t quite right though … there’s normally one heck of a lot of purring going on at this stage ……. but there was nothing, other than the odd squeak from a kitten who wasn’t getting the attention he needed. So then another dilemma ….. I want to make sure the kitten is ok but Maya is afraid of people and maybe by my staying around its making it worse and less likely that she’ll take care of the little one. I keep popping in to see how things are going, no sign of other kittens …… the vet said he saw at least 2 kitten heart beats …… where is the other kitten? stuck inside her? stopping her from being able to care for the little one who is already born? Nearly 1am and I’m on the phone to another rescue friend with a lot more experience and decide watchful waiting is perhaps best option. Maya is curled up near the kitten, asleep with her head on the placenta and completely ignoring him. About 3am I make up some kitten formula, sterilize the bottles and go into her room with the intention of ‘snatching’ the kitten and starting to feed him. He’s snuggled in the curl of her tail however and at least warm and safe near mum. If I take him and then he smells of me, and she rejects him, he’s going to have a real uphill struggle. I sit and watch them for a long while, neither appear in great distress and I decide to leave them be.

I crawl to bed and sleep the troubled sleep of a foster mum out of her depth. I dream I take them somewhere and whilst I’m explaining to someone about the second kitten heartbeat and wondering where kit 2 is, Maya produces another 26 kittens in a wide variety of shapes and sizes …. one is bright blue, very fluffy and the size of Jango, another is green and gummy and resembles Ganesh, they become mixed up with the kittens in the home we visit and it turns into typical anxiety dream of trying to collect them all together into the carrier to leave. It’s now 5am.

At 7am I go back into Maya’s room to find she’s vacated the kitten box and is in another little bed. The little kitten I’d seen the previous night, and another kit lie still and cold in the box. Neither have been detached from their placenta. I’m exhausted and so so sad. I put food out for Maya, and crawl downstairs for coffee before I can face burying the babies. After tears and coffee I throw away the formula I’d made up in the night and start packing away the bottles, return to Maya, sorting out crushing her tablet and wrapping it in sardine. I’m exhausted, the tablet shatters on the floor, I kneel down to look for it and I hear a kitten cry.

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Maya – a tangled start to a new tail

Posted on April 30, 2015 by accidental fosterer

We left the last update with an empty room vacated by Molly – who incidentally is having a very purry time now – awaiting the mystery of who may be the next arrival.

Last Tuesday I was at work when my phone buzzed, tagged by a friend on a national “Cats in Danger” facebook page. A stray tabby cat had been living in a shed over in Lancashire for several months, fed by someone who cared about her but was unable to take her in. It had recently become apparent that she was very pregnant.

Snatching time between seeing patients and struggling with a poor internet connection, I was eventually in contact with the lady who was helping her. We exchanged a few messages, agreed to meet part way between Darwen and Sheffield to share the transport time and costs. I said I could meet her either that day (Tuesday) or Wednesday after work, she said Wednesday was better because she didn’t have a dog sitter.

living rough

I came home and set about making the empty room into a maternity unit, and generally cleaning and tidying and making sure everything I might have put off to the following day was done as there would be no spare time on Wednesday if I had to go to collect puss cat after work. The lady who was doing the first part of the journey messaged me to say she’d sorted out a dog sitter and would now work out the route and a midway point for us to meet. I settled down with a glass of wine, enjoying having a relaxing evening knowing that there would be no chill time the following evening, working all day and then rushing half way to Darwen to meet an anxious cat. We exchanged a few messages and agreed on a service station on the M62 as the meeting place. A little while passed, I sorted out the usual collection of emails from people wanting to adopt and a lot more from people wanting the rescue to take cats in, and poured myself another glass of wine. Messaged the lady again about times to meet – I could head straight up to the M62 after work the next day, but that would be in the rush hour and the cats back at home wouldn’t have been fed, or I could go home and feed them and come up a little later. Her response was the last thing I expected to hear:

“I’m here now …… just getting a coffee”

Reading back over our messages it was clear how when we were both rushing and multi tasking and didn’t know each other, she had thought that saying she had a dog sitter meant that we had changed the plan to meet that same night, and I had continued in the belief that we were meeting the following night.

It was 10pm, she was in the middle of nowhere with a heavily pregnant and terrified cat, I was home in my pyjamas with a couple of glasses of wine on board. Plan B of this poor lady bringing Maya all the way here was put into place. We thought it would take her another hour to get here. However 11pm went by, and then midnight and there was no sign of them and no further messages. At 1am I went to bed ……… wondering what on earth was happening but unable to contact anyone and aware I had to be up at 6am for work. At 2am the door bell rang. The resident cats flew up in the air in horror and went into “OMG she must be going on holiday ……….. that’s the only reason the human gets out of bed at this time of night” mode. Maya’s poor chauffeur had been lost in a nightmare mess of roadworks around Leeds and going round in circles for hours until her phone battery died.

just arrived & very scared

So 2:30am saw us drinking coffee, charging the phone, plotting a return route to Lancashire that gave Leeds a seriously wide berth ….. and coaxing Maya out of her carrier. 3am saw me lying in bed, shell shocked and not quite able to process what had just happened, 4am was pretty much the same, as was 5am. At 6am the alarm went off and I set off for another day’s work.

With thanks to Marianne who braved this journey and the one home over snake pass at 4am.

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things change

Posted on April 26, 2015 by accidental fosterer

We had a really stressy time a few weeks ago …. what with Sooty’s girlfriend and adoptions suddenly seeming to grind to a halt. We had Sooty to try to keep indoors, the other residents determined that they should be allowed out, plus three rescue cats all of whom wanted their own room . Breaking point came when the weather warmed up and the seasonally available third single room aka the conservatory became uninhabitable with the door closed as it was too warm. Despite hours of lying awake thinking through permutations of doors open and closed and who has access to what, the number of different needs within the house simply did not compute.

niki

Thankfully help arrived in the form of a lovely local foster family for Niki. Her confidence has rocketed since she went into a cat free home, and she’s loved playing with the human kittens in her foster home.

Molly was made an offer she couldn’t refuse last weekend. Another lovely cat free home, not far away, with a couple of servants on paw to pander to her every whim. Go for it Molly! You’ve had a tough time over recent months ….. claim that rug and the fire as your own.

As though that wasn’t good enough, Jack met some people last weekend and has called them back for a second interview as he’s hopeful that they may be able to offer him almost as many cuddles as he needs.

So we unexpectedly had space to offer for another poor soul who needed rescue. Hard to describe the emotion of looking at a clean and empty bedroom, food (adult & kitten) stacked on the shelves …. just waiting …. wondering who may come next and what story will unfold in the coming weeks.

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the saga of the girlfriend and the cat flap (2)

Posted on April 11, 2015 by accidental fosterer

So having decided we had to keep Sooty in permanently … the saga of Sooty’s girlfriend changes to the saga of the cat flap.

We’ve had a standard pet porte microchip cat flap since before we started cat rescue and loved it, but dreamed of the day when microchip flaps could offer selective exit as well as entry. By chance we checked their website recently … and there it was!!!! A stunning, all singing, all dancing cat flap, that would allow you to set individual programs of in and out for 30 odd cats. Not only that, it would allow a longer relatch time for our timid Amber, sound a different tone for each chipped cat who approached it, keep records of when each cat went in and out, and had a USB connection so we could easily delete adopted rescue cats from the memory thereby avoiding every filling it to capacity. Ok, so it didn’t empty the litter trays, do the shopping, and cook dinner, but it looked good – a real Swiss army knife of a cat flap.

Of course it was ridiculously expensive ….. at that point (only a few weeks ago) …… £300+ ……… but then the price started plummeting …… and we picked one up on another website for just over £100. Sadly when it arrived it was a huge disappointment ……. HUGE being the operative word! It turned out to be several inches too tall to fit into the door panel in the photo above. Honey and Amber could have left the house in tandem with Flipper diving over the top of them and there still would have been room.

Thankfully returning it wasn’t an issue, other than we were left with the original dilemma of how to manage Sooty staying home whilst the others went out. A second look at the Sureflap competition looked promising. Initially we’d dismissed it because it seemed that there was no setting for “indoor cats” to be able to get back in if they happened to get out. However further investigation revealed a safety mode which allowed this. It wasn’t all singing and dancing like the pet porte option, but it looked like it could just about hold a tune whilst it shuffled across the kitchen floor.

We had a bit of a Goldilocks moment when it arrived as this one seemed to be too small! A bit of careful fitting by local handyman sorted that out. All we had to do then was get everyone scanned in … ahem .

Honey grumbled a bit but complied, Flipper wriggled and giggled but the job was done, Jango more or less slept through the process. Sooty got a little confused about being taken to the flap when we’ve spent the last few weeks keeping him away from it … whilst we got a little confused about how to set it for him to be “in only”. As expected, Amber was the challenge. Having got hold of Amber only once in the years she’s lived here (a necessary but not to be repeated nightmare to get her chipped), picking her up and pushing her through the flap was not an option. Sureflap gives you rather longer than Petporte to get them to the flap after pressing the “learn” buttons …. but doesn’t disperse the eager group of cats who would be happy to be “re-learned” if it means they can pick up the treat left out to entice Amber near to the flap. Finally, smearing the outside of the flap with tuna oil whilst the other cats were indoors proved to be effective.

Unfortunately that’s still not the end of it – they have to learn how to use it. Trying to stay calm whilst my annoyance with the girlfriend rises over this. If only she hadn’t got involved. In the last 48 hours I’ve been met by a barrage of complaints – it smells different to the old one, it sounds different, it needs a different angle of approach to get your microchip to trigger it to open. Amber has managed to use it to get out, but is too scared to use it to come in. Honey seems able to get in, but it won’t pick up her chip when she’s trying to get out. Sooty is furious that he can’t use it at all. Jango seems to have lumbered in and out once or twice … he’s more interested in snoozing in the box it was delivered in. Flipper seems to have got the hang of it, to the point of being able to manoeuvre a struggling rodent through it this afternoon.

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It’s been a weekend of experimenting with different methods. Taping the flap open so they can just get used to the feel of it and the different noises it makes (though this means Sooty has to be shut in the bedroom) seems to help. Having the flap closed whilst serving delicious treats on the other side of it also helps a bit. Almost as heart breaking as Sooty hammering on the flap wanting to go out, is Amber silent meowing to me on the patio because she wants to come in. Neither can understand why their little furry worlds have been so cruelly disrupted. I silently fantasise cruelly disrupting the girlfriend’s world. Does she have any idea how much stress and distress she’s caused?

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the saga of the girlfriend and the cat flap (1)

Posted on April 10, 2015 by accidental fosterer

To the extent that anything can be regarded as having a clear beginning, this saga began with my holiday last August. I returned to find that my home loving Sooty was out. Lets cut short a long story of tears and jet lag, and walking the streets with a torch looking in hedge bottoms for what my worst nightmare ….. and cut to the chase where the wonderful Moggy Maid who had been caring for the gang whilst I was away, came back for an extra shift, and found a very live Sooty in a garden on the next road.

We were one cat short the following day too, and the next ……. and eventually we rumbled that Sooty had a girlfriend in the next street who was feeding him evaporated milk. Initially, apart from the consequent tummy upsets, it was quite cute and amusing. He’d spend the day in the garden with his lady friend, then I’d pick him up on the way home from work.

outside the girlfriends …

… waiting for taxi home

getting used to the commute

Come the colder, darker days it became less funny. The lady for some reason was shutting him in her conservatory and then going off into the house leaving Sooty alone and unable to leave. I’d get home from work, tired out, only to find Sooty was yet again missing and would have to go to collect him, leaving the others resentfully waiting longer for their supper. The lady would often not answer her door, and would never listen to my pleas to not give him evap milk. She’d swear she’d given him nothing, in spite of the creamy white evidence around his mouth, and the er …. well the other evidence in the litter tray when he got home.

Loathe to fall out with neighbours, especially someone whom Sooty regarded as a friend I tried to just get on with it. We tried locking the cat flap and keeping him (and our course everyone else) in in the hope of breaking the habit. That didn’t work – the other residents started to go stir crazy and argue among themselves, and as soon as the cat flap was open Sooty was off for his evap!

I did wonder if he was really unhappy at home and this was his way of telling me. However each evening he seemed happy to see me and purred all the way home whether that was in the car or just on my shoulder being carried.

Frustration turned to worry and serious annoyance as Sooty’s health deteriorated and the girlfriend continued to ignore my pleas to not encourage him to spend time at her house. Detailed descriptions of his health problems and consequent vet bills were simply lost on her. Suggestions that she adopt one of our rescue cats instead were refused … as she didn’t want a cat!!!!!

The issue spread into the rest of the neighbourhood when my immediate neighbours caught the girlfriend peering through my windows and trying to entice Sooty away with her whilst I was at work. I wondered if they were exaggerating things a bit until the day when I was home but the car wasn’t on the drive and I witnessed this first hand! My friend and her daughter, who live midway between our house and the girlfriend’s got involved in intercepting their liaisons and returning Sooty to post him through the cat flap when I was out at work.

We hit crisis point when this friend came round and said that they’d driven down their road and found Sooty lying in the road outside the girlfriend’s house … just having a nap!! Thank goodness it was them and they drive slowly and are cat-aware. Her daughter (our little helper who child proofs our kittens for us) remembered that Sooty was deaf so wouldn’t hear the car, and got out and scooped him up and they drove him home.

I don’t like to curtail his freedom. Being deaf and black is a risk going out, but on balance we decided to take it in the past. Until the girlfriend got involved, Sooty would just have a little potter around his garden and then come in and snooze happily all day. I’m so cross that she’s spoiled this for him, put him at risk, caused me so much stress and make the lives of our other cats so much more difficult over recent months, and completely refused to listen to what I’m saying about the problem.

What of the cat flap you might ask …… if you read the title and are still valiantly reading …….. that’s coming in episode 2

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Easter Newsletter

Posted on April 9, 2015 by accidental fosterer

TwistedWhiskers

Bringing you all the latest mews from 8 Lives Cat Rescue
Spring 2015

Welcome to our second 8 Lives newsletter. We had a lovely lovely Christmas, filled with messages and photos from our previous guests, showing off their Christmas trees and presents, kittens proudly showing off how much they’d grown and what gorgeous big cats they were becoming. All very happy and delighting in their furever homes. You’ll notice our second newsletter is a different format from the first. Sadly the smart and apparently free app we did the first one in said we’d exceeded our free limit, so we’re sending this as a special edition of our blog.

A flurry of re homings in the snow

You’ll be delighted to know that the two cats featured as needing homes in our previous newsletter found their furever humans between Christmas and New Year – aided by a naughty ginger kit who came to us shortly before Xmas.

Yoda

Yoda came into rescue when he couldn’t cope with the dogs who lived in his current home. He wasn’t too impressed with cats either when he first arrived, but eventually made friends with Dizzie. One lovely lady contacted us about adopting him …. and then realised that Domino was the right cat for her. Three months on she’s proved to be exactly right … they’re very very happy together.

Domino in her new home

and in her new garden

happy girl

Another super family contacted us to adopt Yoda, and since he was mates with Dizzie by then, they adopted the pair of them. I’m sure you’ll agree they appear very happy with this arrangement.

Dizzie & Yoda chilling in new home

Ralph and David are another story of friendship and re homing over the Christmas period. Ralph was a kit dumped on the streets in Rotherham, Dave was born on the street in Chesterfield. In rescue they teamed up to create mayhem … and a brave
family has agreed for them to move in and trash their own home 🙂

Dreamie thieves

and general

trouble causers

Wiccan ……. the 150th cat to stay with us arrived in January

Wiccan’s story is a sad one: his human found him as a stray kitten and took him in. Then her circumstances changed, and she had to move house. Despite frantic efforts she was unable to find rented accommodation in her area that would accept cats, and the only solution was for Wiccan to come into rescue. Thankfully, he found a lovely new home very quickly. A young woman had enquired about adopting Dizzie, just as he was packing his bags to leave with Yoda, so Wiccan jumped into his place 🙂

Pet friendly accommodation is a big issue though., and pets are one of the hidden tragedies of the recession. Of course there are people who will use house moves as an excuse to dump no longer wanted pets in rescue …… but there is a heartbreaking reality to the difficulty this causes. People can be forced into rented accommodation for a whole variety of reasons … many of them never previously anticipated – mortgaged homes repossessed following unemployment, need to move area to find employment, leaving abusive relationships, moving to care for relatives. Letting agencies normally advise landlords to not accept pets. Independent landlords mostly see animals as an unnecessary complication to the lettings. Pets …. and the humans who love them are left in impossible and heart breaking situations. There must be a better way forward ………

Our big story this quarter is “Jack”

It’s a big story for several reasons. Jack is a large and very local stray who has caused concern for some years but we’ve been unable to help previously. He’s also caused a lot of dilemmas, and been a huge surprise. For years it felt dreadful that as a rescue we were unable to help the grubby un-neutered tom cat on our own doorstep …… though only occasionally and unpredictably. The best we could do was give him some food when we spotted him and let him go his way.

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Then one weekend in February we returned from taking a kit to her new home, started cleaning her room ready for whomever was to arrive next, looked out the window and there was Jack on the patio! Having not seen him for months I’d feared he’d not survived another winter outdoors. He’s normally allowed me to stroke him a little whilst he eats but then backed off. Long story short, that day was different and half an hour later to my amazement he was in the recently vacated room – quite hissy and grumbly, with a filthy, greasy and soaking wet coat.

too stressed to eat

if you’re living rough …

…. white fur not the best

He went off to be neutered as soon as possible and we kept him here a couple of days after while he got over his op. He sat fixed on the windowsill watching his allotment, stank the house out (it takes several weeks after neutering for hormones to settle and lose that tom cat aroma), hissed a greeting when we went in to feed him (though never lashed out) and would agree to some efforts to brush his horrid greasy dirty coat. Nevertheless it seemed that we were agreed that he should return to his nomadic life as soon as possible. Having waiting for a fine day when it wasn’t too cold and wet to release him I went into his room and sat down to judge his mood and decide whether it would be better to try to put him in a carrier and take him back over to the allotments, or easier to just open his bedroom door and the front door and usher him out. Of course with cats things never quite go to plan, but this ran spectacularly counter to everything we’d expected. ………..

Jack leapt down from the windowsill and onto my lap, throwing his grubby smelly body against me, purring and snuggling to Olympic standard.

Jack cuddles

totally unexpected

but wonderful

…………Plan B was quickly formulated. Jack cleaned himself up and began sporting a smart collar. He reminded me more than a little of a thick-set thug wearting a shirt and tie. But he kept his collar on, and day by day his coat became more silky and handsome.

He was determined he was going to be a regular family cat, so we started the process of getting him vaccinated and ready for adoption. He had to be tested for FIV but apart from blunting the vet’s needle with his ridiculously thick skin, he co operated
completely with the process. Thankfully the test was negative.

Jack has become one of the most adorable affectionate cats ever. He can hardly wait for me to sit down before he climbs on my lap. He loves everyone, and shares his love equally between however many people are in his bedroom at any one time. He’s going to make some one/family very very happy one day soon. His adoption advert is here: https://8livescatrescue.wordpress.com/jack/

Also available for adoption

Please check out our Cat Chat listings for all cats currently available for adoption: http://www.catchat.org/eightlives

molly

niki

Categories: cat rescue, kittens, Sheffield | 2 Comments

Happy Tail (2)

Posted on April 3, 2015 by accidental fosterer

Our second happy tail is Dorothy’s tail.

When I started the two tails for Easter I was thinking the only thing they had in common were them both sending recent updates about their happy new lives. Thinking more about their stories I realise they have more than that in common.

Dorothy lived rough on a the street for many months, along with a group of other stray cats and fed by a kind and committed young woman. That street was only a few hundred yards from where young Floyd was born.

She’d had a tough time having had kittens that didn’t survive whilst she was outdoors. She arrived in rescue with an eye infection and a panic attack.

Thankfully both settled down: the panic attack within minutes and the eye infection within days, and Dorothy showed her true nature as a beautiful snuggle puss.

She was one of the stars of a photo shoot for our 8 Lives Calendar

Then when a super home was offered, and a lovely woman came to meet Jack with a view to adopting him, Dorothy – like Floyd – managed to sideline the intended adoptee and claim the home for herself. This in spite of the woman being clear that she wanted a tom cat as she’d always had toms. Well done Dot!

Dot the winner in new home

Jack the loser

Here’s some of what her new mum has to say about her:
“I know I wanted a tom but Dotty seems to be a really good match with me. So thank you……She’s just wonderful. We’re still getting used to each other but she’s a joy. …. So glad she chose me.”

Way to go Dot!

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Happy tails for the Easter holiday (1)

Posted on April 3, 2015 by accidental fosterer

We have a couple of happy tails for the Easter weekend:

First of all this handsome young man posted his photo on our facebook page this week

In some ways its a very ordinary, though always welcome, photo of one of our previous guests. He’d been to see the vet to discuss his family planning options and wanted to let us know what a fine, upstanding, socially responsible tom cat he was growing into. Way to go Floyd!

However the start of this story wasn’t so ordinary. Last autumn I’d gone with a cat rescue friend to collect a mum and 3 kittens from a home where several un neutered cats had given birth within weeks of each other and things were getting a bit out of hand. We’d got mum and kits into carriers, then two older kittens appeared. Shortly after we left with the little family we’d arrived to collect, plus their two cousins.

When we got them out the carriers here we had a shock. Mum and her kits were fine, but the cousins were er ….

…. differently sized to say the least. Little Floyd sat quite listless in the carrier for long enough to make me very anxious and get him off to the vets. We really didn’t think he was going to make it, but with care and his special food from the vet he finally started to come round.

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He went from strength to strength and when a lovely woman came to meet his little cousin Fuzzie, Floyd pushed him out the way and claimed his new home.

Floyd’s leaving do

saying goodbye to little cousin

Fuzzie lost out to Floyd

We anxiously waited to see how he’d cope with his new housemates, and still worried a little about his health. The only remaining sign of any difficulties was an umbilical hernia which the vet suggested was best repaired when he had his neuter op.

I don’t think we needed to worry too much about him getting on with his new family

Now he’s successfully had his op I don’t think we need to worry about him at all 🙂

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When negative is positive

Posted on March 13, 2015 by accidental fosterer

We’ve talked before about all the angst and dilemmas in deciding how to care for Jack. One of the greatest fears, and one we didn’t even dare mention before, was that as a long term stray, he might have FIV. Our only previous experience of this was trapping another stray cat from the same allotments Jack had come from, who had a nasty abscess on his face. We named him Jaws because of the size of his face, before sadly realising it was swollen because of the abscess. It was before we were a rescue as such, so took him to a vet (not our current vet) who passed him on to the RSPCA. They made him comfortable with the abscess and then tested him for FIV and the test was positive. I had a phone call from the RSPCA telling me this and asking if he was my own cat and if I was willing to agree to take him home with me and keep him indoors forever after. If not they were going to put him to sleep. No, he wasn’t my own cat, no I couldn’t commit to taking in a cat I didn’t know who had a disease I didn’t know anything about but which sounded as deadly as ebola the way they spoke of it, and also I was on my way to pick up a pregnant foster cat, so didn’t have space to take in another cat. [Pregnant puss turned out to be the mum who gave birth to our Flipper – but that’s another story]

feeding him

trapping him

waiting at the vets

With hindsight, or at least “knowing then what we know now” we might have been able to save Jaws. It’s haunted me that in our trying to help him we in fact sent him to his death … despite RSPCA saying it was for the best and that he’d have had a dreadful time living rough and dying with abscess etc. That scenario and the fear of a repeat of it has been in my mind since the moment I brought Jack indoors, not least because I knew that Jack was around the allotments at the same time as Jaws, and if they’d fought Jack could well have it too.

Thankfully, this time several things were different. We asked the lovely Wizzcatz Rescue for advice and information. She shared this really useful link , we started to understand more, took a deep breath, talked to the vet about getting Jack tested, and committed to sticking with him and caring for him whatever the outcome.

So off we went to the vets for Jack’s blood test. They took him through to the back and returned him quite a while after, unable to get the needle through his ridiculously tough skin. Not sure I want to picture the scene … he’d not lifted a claw against them but was described as “willful” …. my guess is that he’d been focused on having a fuss rather than keeping his head still. So we went through it all again the following week. I’m not clear whether they’d ordered in some rhino needles to do the job, or whether he was just a little more co operative, but it went smoothly this time. The phone call came through a few days later ….. he’d tested positive on the first screening test, but our lovely vet said that the last few cats he’d tested had been positive on that initial test, but on a more accurate second test were negative. I wonder if that initial test was all poor Jaws had. Was it too much to hope for that our fears would be reversed on the second test?

Jack had so obviously set his heart on having a home and family of his own. He’d cleaned his fur up, gladly worn a collar and been groomed to show how reformed and respectable he was. How on earth might we break the news to him that there was a serious set back? Dr Tim phoned whilst I was at work on Monday and I phoned back … hearing my heart banging whilst they put me through to him. The second test was negative!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!! Jack is free to pursue his desire to find a home of his own with a clean bill of health.

Whomever gets to adopt this boy will be one lucky person/family.

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Thinking about cuddles

Posted on February 26, 2015 by accidental fosterer

We’re currently blessed with two of the cuddliest cats we’ve ever had in rescue. Both Dorothy and Jack just love to snuggle and respond instantly to the cue of me sitting down in their rooms by coming over for hugs. Both have spent years living rough prior to coming into rescue, and its sad to think how long they’ve gone without the love and affection that they crave. Neither show any inclination to use their interactive time for play ……. its all about loves.

So we’ve spent quite a lot of the last few weeks doing furry cuddles, and reflecting on different feline snuggle styles.

Dorothy is visibly ecstatic at the prospect of a cuddle and races over to me, even if she’s not quite finished her supper .. which she loves. She seems to prefer to lay next to me rather than on my lap. It’s a very excited cuddle, loud high pitched purrs so insistent that every now and then she has to stop and gulp for air. Paws waving around and frantically podding at me, little pink tongue sticking out. She loves lots of strokes and tummy rubs, just can’t get enough fuss and snuggle time.

Jack on the other hand, casually (though instantly) lumbers down from his perch on the windowsill and onto my lap. It’s not easy to describe what he does from there, but he kind of stands up and throws himself sideways at my chest so that I have to catch him in both arms. Then his head comes up to butt against mine. He leans into the cuddle, slowly purring and podding at me, until suddenly he jumps up. Given that he hissed a lot when he first arrived and his cuddles took me by surprise, this sudden movement startled me initially ….. until I realised that its only ever so that he can throw himself at me again to get closer hugs.

Dorothy just can’t wait until she can have a home of her own and have snuggles all the time. She finishes her vaccinations early next week and is “good to go”. She would be a perfect addition to any sofa 🙂 Jack will also be available for adoption in the next week or two. He’s seriously cleaning up his jacket (and making a very good job of it) ready to make a good impression on anyone interested in offering him a life of luxury. If you could offer either of them a cuddly home please get in touch 🙂

Categories: cat rescue, kittens, Sheffield | 1 Comment

TwistedWhiskers

Bringing you all the latest mews from 8 Lives Cat Rescue Spring 2015

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Also available for adoption

Bringing you all the latest mews from 8 Lives Cat Rescue
Spring 2015