I’ve always grown up in a house of cats, which is probably why I’m such a crazy cat lady. It’s kind of a running joke that we’ve always been drawn to cats that are slightly ‘broken’, or a little bit special. One time we somehow managed to adopt a cat that was a bit wonky, cross-eyed, and had been shot, he was pretty special. The majority of our cats have been adopted from cat shelters, and have been unwanted for some reason or another. Our cats have never been perfect pedigree kitties, but to us they’ve been very special.
In 2012 we adopted our kittens Branston and Pickle from a shelter. They were from two different litters, but were the last two kittens left, and just look at their little faces and tell me if you could resist them! Branston’s mum had been abandoned when she was pregnant and had been brought into the shelter, and Pickle was found in a shed with two other kittens and no sign of a mum cat. They’ve now grown up into quite big personalities. Branston is a complete wimp and is scared of everything, while Pickle is now nicknamed ‘princess cat’, and acts like a complete diva.
Marley came into my life in December 2013. My cat Matty had just died, and we were looking for a new cat and decided to look at my local cat shelter. There were loads of gorgeous cats, but Marley really stood out to me. Marley had lived in a house with 14 other cats, when one day his owner moved house, and left all 15 cats behind. How could someone just move house and not take their cats, or attempt to rehome them I don’t know. A neighbour stepped in and found spaces in shelters for all 15 cats, but there wasn’t enough space for them to all go together. Marley somehow managed to trick me into the fact that he was a perfectly normal cuddly cat, but in fat he’s pretty insane. He’s brought us so much entertainment, and I really miss him now I’ve moved out of my parents house.
Jeff is my latest rehomed kitty, and has been in our lives now for 4 months. Jeff is a special little kitty, not only is he absolutely gorgeous, and often mistaken for a girl cat, but he’s completely deaf, hence his nickname, deaf Jeff. Jeff’s background is quite a sad one. He was bred from two white cats for the purpose to sell, because white cats are pretty and can make the sellers a fair bit of money. Jeff was born deaf, which is fairly common for blue eyed white cats, although neither of his parents were deaf or blue eyed. His owner then decided that no one would want to buy him, and rather than looking after him, decided to ‘get rid of him’. Luckily Jeff was found and taken into a cat shelter, but sadly as he was deaf struggled to get a home for quite some time, and was moved around a few different shelters. Although lucky for me, Jeff got moved to the shelter where I volunteer at, and I couldn’t resist him once I met him.
To me it’s completely baffling how any of these cats could have been abandoned, and more and more animals are being abandoned. Recent figures from the RSPCA have shown that more than one animal is abandoned every hour in England, with London and Manchester being reported as having the most abandonments. If my kitties had never been found by shelters, or been rehomed, I’d dread to think what would have ever happened to them, especially as they are the sweetest cats you could ever meet.
Rehoming pets is a huge issue close to my heart, and since I adopted Marley I’ve been volunteering at the shelter I adopted him from to help look after and rehome other cats. From my experience I’ve always found my rehomed pets are so much more loving and grateful than bought pets can be, maybe down to their sad pasts. I think every animal in need of rehoming should be given a chance at a happy ending, and would recommend you look at your local RSPCA if you want to find a pet to also become a rehoming angel. I’ve fallen in love with another cat from my local RSPCA, but sadly my flat isn’t big enough for another cat.
Are you a #RehomingAngel? Or would you consider being one in the future? Let me know your rehoming pet stories!
*Post in collaboration with RSPCA, thoughts are my own
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