Thursday 3 August 2017

For The Love Of Cats

Well hello there!

Once again, it has been a while since I've sat down to write, but I guess that's life as a Mum of three! I also had some technical issues as the youngest Young decided throwing his cup of juice at the laptop was the best fun. It was turned off at the time, and we dried it all off pretty quickly, but I didn't dare turn it on for a week in case there was any water lurking, thankfully there wasn't and when I finally switched it on everything worked fine!

So as many of you know, the Young household consists of me, my hubby, and our three children. We also have two dogs, Taz and Misty, our border collies, two cats, Bobby and Luna, two rats, Severus and Boj, and my eldest son has a hamster named Ron. So, it's a bit of a zoo around here! Now, me being the crazy animal lover that I am, this week we decided to expand that animal family..

Meet Draco!

Adorable isnt he!

He's a rescue kitty from the same place we got our other kitties. He was born outside, and was found with his Mum and sister. They were all completely feral. He spent a few weeks at the rescue, before they concluded he and his sister would have to go to a stables home, as they wouldn't allow anyone to touch them, or pick them up. He was taken to the vet to be neutered but when he came back to the rescue, he seemed to take more of an interest in the people around him. He would come investigate what was going on outside his cage, even letting the lady who runs the rescue to hold him, so she decided that actually he would be better off in a house, with a family to love him.

So how did Draco end up being ours? 

Well we went on a (rather disastrous) camping holiday last week. (That's a post for another day.) We actually ended up coming home two days early due to the horrendous rain and wind! When we went to pick the dogs up from boarding, we decided to pop in to the cattery to see the rescue kittens, and the kennels to see the rescue dogs (as we always do). Anyway.. in the cattery was an adorable black kitten. She was completely feral and hasn't yet let anyone do anything with her. So, me being me, decided I wanted to give her a chance at a new home. We had to undergo a home check, so filled out some forms and came home.

Once home, I got thinking, how do you go about taming a feral kitten? Our other two while they were rescues, had never lived outside, and were born in rescue. Doing a little research, we found the most common route was, if possible, to let them learn from other cats. Before you say it.. I know, we already have two other cats, perfectly happy, tame cats, so why couldn't she learn from them?

Simple answer, its summer (Although someone should tell that to the weather). This time of year our mogs Bobby and Luna, are out and about, exploring, lazing about in the sunshine on top of the shed roof, or curled up in the shed. It's what they do every year, in the winter we can't get them to go out, in summer we can't get them to stay in! (Picture for attention.)



Bobby and Luna

So, I had the idea that we could give two little kitties a new home. The rescue where our adorable little feral kitty is coming from didn't have any other kitties that needed homes as all kittens were reserved so that's when we decided to head to the rescue we'd got Bobby and Luna from four years ago. We had a pick of the lovely Draco, or two little black and white kittens who were super friendly. The other two came right over, were meowing, and totally adorable, but when I heard Draco's story, I just had to say hello! The lady at the rescue picked him up, and he eyed me nervously, he was visibly worried when I stroked him but soon decided I wasn't going to hurt him. He was handed to me, and within a couple minutes he was purring and snuggling in. I reserved him, and rushed home to get everything ready!

Later that day Draco came home. He was VERY nervous, and hid in his bed for hours. Once the kids were tucked in bed, I  went to say hello, he hissed at me and swiped his paws and for a moment I wondered if we'd made the right decision. I opened his cage door and settled down with the TV on waiting for him to make his move. Finally he showed his face, watching us from his bed. I let him sniff my hand and gradually the hissing stopped as he got closer and closer. By the end of the evening he had snuggled on my lap for a cuddle, although still wouldn't come to my hubby.



We've now had Draco for 5 days, and he has gone from strength to strength! He's made friends with the dogs, and is even brave enough to come out of his cage when the kids are about. Although Bobby and Luna are not too impressed, Bobby has sniffed him, and seems to have accepted him, I'm sure Luna will accept him soon too. She's a moody madam when she wants to be but always comes round in the end. Tomorrow is the big day for our little feral kitty to come home, and a whole new adventure will begin! 


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