AMY

One of the cats at the cattery, Amy, was displaying behavioural tendencies that led the staff to believe that she was in season. As she had already been speyed and had had a further exploratory operation, we were perplexed over what to do next. Amy had been placed with several fosterers to see what they could do and had even gone to a home before being returned by a very distressed owner.

The arrival of another cat at the cattery, Jane, displaying the same tendencies had us very worried indeed. Just how do you re-home two rather ordinary cats like this?

The answer was found when one of our volunteers was visiting her vet with one of her own cats. She mentioned Amy and Jane to him and he advised that it sounded very much like they both had spey remnants.

A spey remnant is where a cat has been speyed and some part of the ovarian tissue is inadvertently left behind. The vet had only had one other case in his more than 20-year-history and offered to operate on Amy initially to see if he could find the tissue. This can be very difficult as the tissue can be hard to find and the best time to operate is when the cat is in season.

The operation was duly completed, with several observers as it is so unusual, and he was able to locate the offending tissue. Amy was a very sore girl afterwards but with lots of pain relief and rest, she soon recovered.

Jane was then operated on as well and luckily, the ovarian tissue was also located. Both cases are are now being used by the vet to educate other vets since it is so rare.

Both Amy and Jane have been successfully rehomed and it is a relief that we had our special fund available to pay for this specialist treatment.

POPPY

The 2006 New Year period was a busy one for homing at the cattery and one of the happiest stories is of Poppy, or Poppy the Paperweight.

Poppy had been at the cattery for about a year and a half. She was a six-year-old girl who had been brought in after her person died. For some reason she stayed, one of the unchosen ones, and subsequently became depressed, very overweight and withdrawn.

People glanced at her and said, "She's a big cat!" and moved on to look at other, sleeker cats who sold themselves more. Volunteers who worked at the cattery knew better and Poppy was much loved by the staff, but there was still no home for her until one magic day in January when a couple came looking for an older cat.

They chose Poppy, despite the fact that she showed little interest in them. They were unable to take her immediately so they visited several times and finally Poppy went off to her new home, where we expected she would be timid and might refuse to come out into the open for some time.

The new owner rang to report on progress: "Poppy hid under the sofa for about an hour and then it was as if she realized this was her new home and she came out and took over the house. She has slept on our bed from the first night.
In the morning she races up and down the hallway, scrunching up the mats, and she spends the day following the sun on the floor behind me as I work at my desk."

Of course now that she is going outside, (and has routed all the neighbourhood cats from the section) she is also losing weight naturally. Poppy the ex-Paperweight has clearly landed on her feet!

ESCAPADES!

When rehoming cats from the cattery, we ask that they be kept inside for fourteen days to allow the cat time to get used to its new home and owner. As much as we reiterate this, there are always cases where cats will get out before this time and disappear, often forever, as they get a fright and lose their way or try and find their way back to the cattery or to their previous home.

Two cases where we were lucky enough to find the cats again include Minty and Ellie.

MINTY

Minty was at the cattery for several months before he was chosen. His new home was ideal and even had screen doors so he could look outside and see his new territory whilst being safely inside.

The day after he arrived, his new owner went outside to do some gardening and then came back inside. She soon realised that Minty had disappeared and that either she hadn't closed the screen door properly or somehow he had managed to get it open himself.

For seven days, volunteers from the cattery travelled to the house and called for Minty within the property and surrounding areas. There was no sighting of Minty until he wandered into the garage on the eighth day looking for some food.

As there were large amounts of open space we decided that he would have had a ball running around after being confined. He obviously then finally decided that he would return to where he could hear voices calling him that he knew. He has settled in nicely and he is one very lucky boy!

ELLIE

Ellie was a very shy cat who had required a lot of one-on-one care. After much thought, she was rehomed to a lady living on her own.

Her new owner correctly confined her to a small area of the house and propped something against the cat door to stop her from being able to see out.

She didn't bargain on a determined cat in a new place who pushed aside the items placed in front of the cat door and found that it was broken and therefore didn't lock.

Two of the staff from the cattery promptly dropped everything and spent several hours looking for her in the rain to no avail. She had been sited going over the fence and in a large neighbouring property that had many nooks and crannies that she could hide in.

Luckily, the next morning, Ellie was sitting on her new owner's doorstep politely asking where her breakfast was.

 

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