Orla and I went back to
Kilfinane this morning to help out with the cats.
There are two cat units in
the building and we take care of one. It means cleaning litter boxes, giving
them food and clean water, brushing and mopping the floors and cleaning or
changing their blankets. After that we also try and get some play and cuddle time
in with some of them.
There are so many lovely
cats there waiting for a good home. If I could, I would take them all. Two is
all we can manage at the moment and I’m glad we got Tina and Charlie from
there, so there’s more space to house other cats.
One cat who’s still in
there is Rosie. She’s actually Charlie’s sister. She was in with them for a
while but then she got diarrhoea and had to be separated.
She’s very much a feral cat who hisses and growls when anyone comes near. On her door it says “do not handle”, just to warn people. I wanted to change her blankets in her box though and she was sitting on one of them. So I sat down with her, while she was growling at me and gave her lots of blinky eyes, while talking to her gently. She then relaxed a bit and I carefully rubbed her on the head with one finger. She tolerated that so I rubbed her cheek. She was ok with that too so I petted her on the head and neck. I then gently grabbed her by the skin of her neck (like mother cats do with their kittens) and moved her to the other side of her box. Hooray. No scratching or biting. She was fine.
She’s very much a feral cat who hisses and growls when anyone comes near. On her door it says “do not handle”, just to warn people. I wanted to change her blankets in her box though and she was sitting on one of them. So I sat down with her, while she was growling at me and gave her lots of blinky eyes, while talking to her gently. She then relaxed a bit and I carefully rubbed her on the head with one finger. She tolerated that so I rubbed her cheek. She was ok with that too so I petted her on the head and neck. I then gently grabbed her by the skin of her neck (like mother cats do with their kittens) and moved her to the other side of her box. Hooray. No scratching or biting. She was fine.
After the cleaning was
done I went in with her for a bit and it started all over again with the
hissing and growling. Because of earlier, I had more confidence now and while
speaking to her gently, I started petting her again. I got her as far as lying
flat out with her belly a bit exposed and was able to pet her paws as well
without her minding it. She even started to purr.
She’s a beautiful black
and white cat and I really feel for her because she’s so stressed.
She will be ok with other
cats though, as she was in with two before but she needs someone who has a lot
of patience and can invest a lot of time in her to win her trust.
And no, I’m not going to
take more cats in the house. Two is enough for us, at least at the moment. No,
REALLY!!
Oh, and by the way, you
don’t have to be a cat lover to go to the sanctuary. There are plenty of dogs
out there who’d love to be taken for a walk. The grounds are lovely. Go visit
and see for yourself. There’s a link to the Limerick Animal Welfare website on
the right hand side of the blog page in the links section.
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