Spare Cat's good news story

Spare Cat was listed on Pet Alert first in the Found listings then later on Adoptions. It is so good to hear she finally found a new home. Thanks to Katherine for all her time and effort to find one of our feline friends a new family.

One day last October my two cats spent far too long sitting by the back door, looking up at the roof. I assumed that they were bird watching, and that when the bird flew away they'd resume their usual activity of sleeping. They didn't, so I went out to see what was so fascinating. There was a furry little white and grey face looking at me. It meowed. I fetched the ladder and pulled the cat off the roof. It was plump and wearing two collars, so I assumed it had an owner somewhere. I was unemployed, and didn’t need another mouth to feed. I called the council. They suggested I surrender the cat to their ranger, and the owners would have 8 days to claim it, or it would be put down. I said I’d think about it. I didn’t.

I took the cat to the vet to see if it was microchipped, and to find out why it had mucky eyes but wasn’t sneezing and it’s tongue wasn’t ulcerated, sure signs of Cat ‘Flu. I’d been keeping it separate from my two cats anyway, but I wanted to be sure. The vet checked the cat. The report was: no micro-chip, no Cat ‘Flu, approximately 2 ½ years old, a speyed female, not listed as missing. She was put on a 7-day course of antibiotics, but I kept her in a separate room anyway.

A month later, despite letterbox dropping the area, putting posters up at the train station and in the library, notifying vets, asking everyone I could think of, and listing her on Pet Alert I still had the cat, now dubbed "Spare Cat". A woman had responded to my posters, saying that she'd found the cat the week before I did, but hadn't been able to keep her around, because she didn't get along with the existing cat in the household. However, the woman’s partner had taken photos of Spare Cat using a digital camera, so I was able to put a mug shot on the posters at the train station, in the library, at the vet’s and on Pet Alert. By this stage I had a job, so the financial pressure eased considerably. Spare Cat was still living in one room because she refused to speak nicely to my two cats, and vice versa.

It seemed that Spare Cat’s owners had left the area, so I started to look for a new home for her. I called the council and told them the story, and asked if they could put me in touch with a nursing home or respite centre that might have day patients or similar who might like a cat. I was informed that it is ”illegal to harbour a found animal”. I pointed out that by caring for the cat I had removed it from the streets without placing pressure on animal shelters that always seem to be under-funded. I said I’d deal with the cat on my own. I put posters up in the tearoom at work, and changed “found” to “home needed” on everything.

A woman I met through work said her partner had talked about getting a cat. He was in London, so she e-mailed him the photos. Before he'd even looked at them, he sent back a message saying that he really didn't think he could cope with a cat just at the moment. I was so upset. They had the perfect set up for Spare Cat! An apartment with a rooftop garden, she works from home most of the time, and they don't go away a lot. Spare Cat is mostly white, and her little pink nose could become a skin cancer concern, so apartment living would have suited her. She’s a bit on the tubby side, and never exhibited much athleticism, aside from getting onto my roof (I still can’t work that out), and she obviously liked roofs, so a rooftop garden would have been ideal for her. Poor Spare Cat stayed with me.

Then my life got really busy. Christmas and the usual round of parties, interstate guests, a wedding, a major event at work, my father returned from nearly ten years overseas with his new wife and came to stay with me. Finding a home for Spare Cat got put on the back burner. She wasn’t tearing up the furniture. She had still had black discharge from her eyes, and when one of my cats showed the same symptoms, without having had direct contact with her, I decided to take them both to a different vet. The diagnosis was Chlamydia, and a three-week course of antibiotics for each cat was prescribed. That did the trick, but it didn’t get Spare Cat any closer to finding a home. By this stage, I’d been caring for her for 5 months, but I was still determined to find her a new home, preferably as an Only Cat. This little moggy wasn’t going to be put down!

Then one day, a total bolt from the blue, I got a phone call from a woman called Anne, asking if the cat that I had listed on the Internet had found a home, or just fallen off the system. I’d been so busy in other areas I’d forgotten to renew the listing, but Anne had persevered, just to check. I told her that I still had the cat, and she still needed a home. Anne asked all the right questions, and gave all the right answers. She was obviously well aware of the responsibilities associated with owning a cat, and in particular one that may have a tendency towards skin cancer.

Anne came around the following weekend to see if she and Spare Cat were compatible, and I’m pleased to report that they were. Spare Cat now lives in the luxury of her own unit with a courtyard garden and a loving owner. What more could a cat ask for? And Anne now has a furry, purring companion called Paddy who will never take the place of her Cleo, but will be a treasured friend for many years.

 Katherine.