When we got our kittens, Kevin and Betty, they came from a local cat rescue. They were feral kittens whose mother had been run over and killed. Luckily they were found by a passer-by who took them to the nearest vet. The vet passed them on to the rescue people who, in turn, passed them on to us - this is an abridged version of the whole story!
Following the death of my beloved Percy, Himself and I thought that Marmite was missing catty company, as he'd always until that point had cat brothers. He still had Ollie, of course, but he needed someone who spoke fluent cat, rather than pigeon cat.
We went through lots of thoughts and emotions around bringing another cat into the household; what if they didn’t get on? That would be a disaster of epic proportions…..
I found a website for a local cat rescue charity, and emailed to say I was interested in perhaps fostering cats. Between us, himself and I really truly thought that we would get a call to say some poor ancient and falling apart moggy was in desperate need of care and could we help out? We fantasised that this poor sad mog would fit into the household perfectly and would stay with us forever………..
When I did get the call, it went something like this..........
Cat Lady: Hi. You’re looking to foster cats?
Me: oh yes, really looking forward to it!
Cat Lady: That’s great – how do you feel about kittens?
Well this wasn’t what we were expecting at all……….I looked at himself and mouthed the word “kittens” – he looked vaguely alarmed……..
Me: Well,……..we hadn’t really thought about kittens…..
Cat Lady: (having rang back because the said kittens had disconnected her phone) Well I have two, they are about 6 weeks old, hand reared and it would be great if you could foster them……..
Me: (having rang the Cat Lady back again because the said kittens had disconnected her phone again) Well ok…..I suppose it wouldn’t harm for a short while……..
Cat Lady: (having rang back yet again for the same reason) Great – see you Tuesday!
When I went to the house to collect the kittens and I first saw them, I thought I was the victim of some sort of elaborate prank. These weren’t kittens….they were hamsters surely!! I have never in my life seen such tiny kittens!!
Initially, there was a great deal of hissing and back arching – the kittens were hilarious – hamster sized kitties setting themselves at a large dog and cat!! But after a couple of weeks it all settled down!
After they had been with us for a couple of months (and they had managed to completely wreck the house) we got the dreaded call……..someone wanted to come and see them……..we went into immediate panic/survival mode. Who was this person to think she could come and take away our little charges? We had brought them up, fed them, played with them, educated them, cleaned up after them – how could we trust someone else to care for them as we had????
As I had spent the preceding few weeks assuring people that I would have no problem handing them over when the time came, I made a brave show of it but at the last moment Himself intervened and the decision was made. They would stay with us!!
Anyway the rest, as they say, is history!
