- Joined
- Sep 16, 2015
- Messages
- 141
- Purraise
- 36
Hi all, I just wanted to share my story about how I turned from disliking cats (EEEK LOL) to falling head over heels for a special few 
I'm very much a dog person and always have been and I take my dogs jogging daily. This particular morning it was very cold and earlier than usual but the dogs insisted we had to go... I live in the Country so it's wide open spaces mainly cattle farms.
I go jogging along a quiet road that only even gets used by the people who live on it. Anyway nearing the end of this road the dogs ran ahead and I struggled to keep up, there is a storm water pipe going from one side of the road to the other, a terrified cats face is what I saw as I caught up, she ran back into the drain pipe and in the panic a tiny kitten got spooked and ran out the other side into the long grass, with my dogs in hot persuit! Luckily I have very good recall with my dogs and they came straight back to me.
I decided to take the dogs home and go back armed with some bait! Food! By the time I jogged back to the car then drove the dogs home and got food an hour or so had passed. I was anxious to get back there as this kitten was tiny and there are many birds of prey in the area. I arrived back and started calling in a soft voice... I got a reply! A tiny scared meow that just made me melt LOL A few more calls and out came this tiny kitten a striped tabby boy! Very friendly and obviously used to people. Then I remembered, this isn't the first cat I saw, that one was much bigger, so I shone my torch down the drain pipe and there were more! I called and tried to reassure the rest it was ok... after about 20 minutes a gorgeous little face poked out, obviously much shyer than his brother but clearly starving. A little cream spotted tabby and white (Yes I've since gone nuts with watching and reading tonnes of cat books, articles etc LOL) I took those 2 home and decided to try for others later.
These guys were absolutely riddled with fleas and I mean it was severe, I had never seen so many fleas in my life! I sorted that out and went back to the spot.... by this time it was dark and I took the 2 babies back with me to try use them as a lure for mum and other possible siblings. After an hour another little kitten came cautiously out of the long grass, a little torble girl! Mum wasn't having a bar of it and was petrified in the middle of the drain pipe. I decided to take the 3 babies home and try for her the next day.
Next day came and she was not in the drain? I assumed she was long gone and was glad I could at least save these babies from a horrific life that probably would not have lasted very long. I went back for a couple of days and I did see glimpses of her but she was just so scared I could not get near her. I decided to use a possum trap with a tin of sardines for bait..... I set it just after dark and went to check the trap very early the next morning.
SUCCESS!! I got her! She was absolutely stunning! A very pretty Calico girl! She started to bash herself into the sides of the cage as I approached but as soon as I said it's ok kitty in a soothing voice she stopped turn to me and meowed very loudly and very desperate for reassurance. I took her home eager to reunite her with her brood. She was a bit overwhelmed and didn't really take much notice of the kittens. She was skin and bone! I was gobsmacked how someone could just dump these poor animals out in the middle of no where? It made me totally sick to my stomach!
Over the coming weeks Saffy (mother) and I formed a very strong bond, she is the most beautiful cat I have ever met in looks and personality! She has accepted 4 large dogs and all the animals on the farm and only goes for mice! We have a nightly ritual walk around the property before lock up, she is very much like a dog! I found great homes for 2 of the 3 kittens but ended up keeping the cream and white boy which we named Sampson. Sampson is extremely sweet like his mother but can be very full on at 2 in the morning as he wants attention , I often wake up with him licking my nose purring loudly
. So anyway I went from thinking Cats were not for me to being totally hooked! We now have 3 cats, our third is little Argo my blue eyed baby! He was rescued from a very bad neighbourhood, but that's a story for another day
I'm very much a dog person and always have been and I take my dogs jogging daily. This particular morning it was very cold and earlier than usual but the dogs insisted we had to go... I live in the Country so it's wide open spaces mainly cattle farms.
I go jogging along a quiet road that only even gets used by the people who live on it. Anyway nearing the end of this road the dogs ran ahead and I struggled to keep up, there is a storm water pipe going from one side of the road to the other, a terrified cats face is what I saw as I caught up, she ran back into the drain pipe and in the panic a tiny kitten got spooked and ran out the other side into the long grass, with my dogs in hot persuit! Luckily I have very good recall with my dogs and they came straight back to me.
I decided to take the dogs home and go back armed with some bait! Food! By the time I jogged back to the car then drove the dogs home and got food an hour or so had passed. I was anxious to get back there as this kitten was tiny and there are many birds of prey in the area. I arrived back and started calling in a soft voice... I got a reply! A tiny scared meow that just made me melt LOL A few more calls and out came this tiny kitten a striped tabby boy! Very friendly and obviously used to people. Then I remembered, this isn't the first cat I saw, that one was much bigger, so I shone my torch down the drain pipe and there were more! I called and tried to reassure the rest it was ok... after about 20 minutes a gorgeous little face poked out, obviously much shyer than his brother but clearly starving. A little cream spotted tabby and white (Yes I've since gone nuts with watching and reading tonnes of cat books, articles etc LOL) I took those 2 home and decided to try for others later.
These guys were absolutely riddled with fleas and I mean it was severe, I had never seen so many fleas in my life! I sorted that out and went back to the spot.... by this time it was dark and I took the 2 babies back with me to try use them as a lure for mum and other possible siblings. After an hour another little kitten came cautiously out of the long grass, a little torble girl! Mum wasn't having a bar of it and was petrified in the middle of the drain pipe. I decided to take the 3 babies home and try for her the next day.
Next day came and she was not in the drain? I assumed she was long gone and was glad I could at least save these babies from a horrific life that probably would not have lasted very long. I went back for a couple of days and I did see glimpses of her but she was just so scared I could not get near her. I decided to use a possum trap with a tin of sardines for bait..... I set it just after dark and went to check the trap very early the next morning.
SUCCESS!! I got her! She was absolutely stunning! A very pretty Calico girl! She started to bash herself into the sides of the cage as I approached but as soon as I said it's ok kitty in a soothing voice she stopped turn to me and meowed very loudly and very desperate for reassurance. I took her home eager to reunite her with her brood. She was a bit overwhelmed and didn't really take much notice of the kittens. She was skin and bone! I was gobsmacked how someone could just dump these poor animals out in the middle of no where? It made me totally sick to my stomach!
Over the coming weeks Saffy (mother) and I formed a very strong bond, she is the most beautiful cat I have ever met in looks and personality! She has accepted 4 large dogs and all the animals on the farm and only goes for mice! We have a nightly ritual walk around the property before lock up, she is very much like a dog! I found great homes for 2 of the 3 kittens but ended up keeping the cream and white boy which we named Sampson. Sampson is extremely sweet like his mother but can be very full on at 2 in the morning as he wants attention , I often wake up with him licking my nose purring loudly
. So anyway I went from thinking Cats were not for me to being totally hooked! We now have 3 cats, our third is little Argo my blue eyed baby! He was rescued from a very bad neighbourhood, but that's a story for another day 
