They've been abandoned, neglected and mistreated. Society and irresponsible owners have forgotten about them. They're rescue cats. Taken in by animal welfare societies and all needing a loving home to save them literally from death row.
Their stories are all too familiar. Abandoned and left to fend for themselves, sometimes with kittens or the gift that the novelty has worn off. One thing they all have in common is the fact that humans have let them down. Perhaps the once dedicated pet owner couldn't handle the fact that their cat was now pregnant and expecting kittens. Did they not have the initiative to desex their cat if it was not already done? Instead, the poor little mother cat will pay for this, probably with her life.
I could go on and on about the irresponsible pet owners who are responsible for the huge number of euthanized pets each year. But I want to shine the light on owning a 'rescue cat'.
Having not owned a cat for 20 years or so, our family was adopted by a gorgeous tortoiseshell ( yes, that's right, I mean she adopted us! ) who after several weeks of capturing our hearts, made the fateful mistake of entering the neighbours yard with large, savage dogs.
We lost our princess to them savages and vowed to never lose our heart again to a cat.
Well, that lasted around 24 hours before hubby called me and said 'we need another cat'.
I was not comfortable with the thought of the neighbours dogs and the fact that cats loved to climb and no mountain was high enough for them. Lots of research revealed most cats love to be indoors! Well this surprised me as I had only seen strays roaming around the streets or cats curled up on verandahs. So we set about giving a new arrival the best of both worlds. Our next cat would be an indoor cat with a tunnel leading from the house out to the 'Taj Mahal' of outdoor catteries. A huge cattery that measures 6m x 6m and comes off the side of our double garage. It has tropical plants under the covered roof section and soft sand for toileting needs and soft grass, benches and rocks to relax on and bask in the sun. What a relief, knowing our new arrival would now have the best of both worlds in complete safety. No dogs, no car accidents or fighting with strays.
Now we could begin the search for our next beautiful cat. Within a few hours I had googled every NSW breeeder of either Ragdoll, Himalayan, Persian or any other breed of fluffy cat in NSW. Nobody had a kitten for sale. I was told it was the wrong time of year for kittens. All we wanted was a fluffy kitten just like our beautiful stray!
Then a thought struck - what about the RSPCA and the local animal shelters. Not knowing a great deal about cats, we had naturally assumed breeders were the way to go. But as we found out, the animal welfare places are full of every beautiful cat you could possibly want. Fluffy persians, sleek Siamese and the common old tabby. You can find them all!
And this is where we found our first rescue girl. 'Mercedes' is a chocolate brown ball of fluff who was found abandoned on a jobsite with her kittens and a collar that had embedded itself under her arm somehow. We took this little angel home and nursed her wound for a few weeks and saw her transform from a frightened and injured young mother cat to a loving and confident cat who changed our lives completely. She has helped us discover just what interesting, funny and regal animals cats are.
Well a few weeks later, we felt our princess needed some companionship, so back to the RSPCA we went and this time came home with a stunning fluffy tortoiseshell called 'Poppy'.
Within a week our two girls were the best of friends. A friend once told me 'once you get one cat you won't stop'. I laughed at the time but now know she was right!
Over the next 4 months my daily viewing of the animal welfare websites saw us take in 2 more little girls. They are both little replicas of the first 2. We are now the delighted owners of 2 fluffy chocolate brown beauties and 2 equally fluffy tortoisehell princesses. And they are all rescue cats, with their own sad tales who have fortunately been given a second chance. But we all know it is us, the owners of these majestic creatures that are the lucky ones, arent we...
