Ella & Missy Thing Companions to Sue.  Missy Thing who loves sleeping in our window box during the summer months,when the earth has been warmed up by the sun all day. When we found her, she was hiding behind our compost heap and came out to beg for food. She was horribly thin with a bald patch on her badly limping hind leg, her eyes were filled with pus and her fur was course and matted. She was absolutely terrified of us, but still she cried for food. Another few days and she would have died. It took me a month of taking food down to her - 4 times a day initially, in small amounts - at the same times every day, making the same noises and calls to let her know if was me with food. The first breakthrough came when she answered me for the first time. I had to stay several feet away while she ate because she was so frightened and all the while I spoke to her in a low, quiet voice putting her at ease while she ate. Over time I placed myself closer to her. But one false move and she was off like a rocket. I Learned to sit very still during cold, wet weather and discovered the hard way that we had an ants nest. Second breakthrough came when she finished her food and sat close to me while she washed. Eventually she allowed me to just touch her - but only just. All in all it took several weeks after that to find that she had slowly moved towards the house in curiosity, and one day we walked into the kitchen and found her on the armchair. What a shock! She had made a decision that we were 'ok' and decided to adopt us there and then. It's got better and better from that day on. It took me a full year before she let me pick her up - although cuddling was well established by then - and now there is nothing I can't do to her. She adores me and trusts me completely. She is healthy, happy and confident. Fully vaccinated, chipped and spayed. Gorgeous! Worth every bit of discomfort.  We got a phone call from our neighbours on what must have been the wettest and coldest day of February to tell us about 3 black kittens which were desperately trying to get in their house out of the cold. They wouldn't let them (what is wrong with some people?) and rang me because they know what a soft idiot I am with animals. Cutting a long story short, I brought come shelter and cat food down into their derelict barn which was dry and out of the cold. The next day I went down (old history here) 4 times a day to leave cat milk and food for them. I contacted The Phoenix Organisation which is a Blue Cross sponsored Rescue organisation here in France to tell them that 3 kitten had been abandoned. I arranged to catch them and take them to Phoenix for rehousing. Two of the kittens - they were so cold and hungry and shaking with fear - were easy to catch. They were so starving they ran to the food, so I gently scooped them up and placed them in my warm cat carrier. The third kitten was too wily to be caught, but I managed to grab her; whereby she tore the skin off my hand and gave me a seriously nasty bite on my finger. Finger instantly turned into what looked like a black banana so an immediate visit to the doctor for 2 injections, with another arranged for a month afterwards and an 8-day course of antibiotics. I carried on feeding her, applying the same tactics as I did with Missy - making the same calls and sounds relating me to food. Eventually at 1.30 in the morning, I managed to entice her into the carrier and brought her home. Temperatures were minus 8 that night. She's been with us ever since and although she will always be tiny because of malnutrion in her early years she is a very happy kitten and very, very affectionate. Missy biffed her a few times, which is quite right and proper but they cuddle up together and have a good old grooming session. Actually, I'm quite jealous, I used to get that sort of treatment! The two other kittens were given to a home that wanted two together, so a happy ending there too. I only wish it was the same for all abandoned animals, eh? |
