Categories: uncategorized
Date: 03 July 2007 20:26:22
it's simply too late to pretend that an attachment can be prevented from forming with this cat. ee says i'm not allowed to name him for that very reason, but i'm just not happy referring to this lovely little creature as a spare part. i am attached to him, and i admit it.
his name is sam.
to which ee continues to protest wildly.
he had disappeared again for about 3 or 4 weeks this time (sam, not ee) and i began to worry that something had happened to him and i'd never see him again. however, last tuesday, after some nasty torrential rains he showed up at our door again, hungry, bedraggled and asking for help. how could i turn him away. we've been determined to get him neutered for quite some time now, and having made sure that he is indeed a stray we said we would take him to the vet. but that's when he disappeared.
he has no microchip (he was scanned, remember), no coller, no matching descriptions of a missing cat at the rspca, neighbours don't know him, he's thin, unneutered, scraggly and worse for wear. so either he belongs to someone who isn't looking after him, and shouldn't have a cat anyway, or he used to belong to someone who did look after him but he strayed because he got outside before he was neutered. it was probably the latter, because he must have had someone care for him at some stage because he's so tame and affectionate. and whereas i can't see that there is a possibility of ever finding this hypothetical once upon a time owner, i am determined to look after sam and make sure he gets a good home.
so when he showed up last tuesday, we took him into our spare room for a few days where he would get regular meals and strengthen up a bit and i would phone all the various welfare organisations trying to find someone who would pay to have him neutered and hopefully rehomed. the cats action trust were brilliant in the end. not only did they pay to have him neutered they payed to have him defleaed and wormed. the only sad part is that they don't rehome strays, they just neuter them, so we've still not been able to find a shelter to take him.
ee won't allow me to keep him. heathcliff and minnie didn't know a thing about him when he was in the spare room, though minnie met him when he came back from the vet. she was fine. a bit unsure, but fine really.
we could put advertisements up 'free to good home' etc, but i don't really agree with advertising animals. i much rather that organisations like the RSPCA or the Cat's Protection League do all of the rehoming, because they check out the new owners and their ability to care for a pet before placing one with them.
none of the shelters have been able to take him, because this is the kittening season. . . that's why neutering is so important. if a cat isn't neutered, kittens that no body wants or can care for are produced, which is why the shelters are full right now. i'm still waiting for a call back from Cat's Protection and he's on the waiting list for one of the shelters, but it could be a long wait.
he's had his dinner now. i just hope he finds a dry bed for the night.