These two!!

[LadyA]

Going to try and upload a photo. Haven't quite figured out how to do it yet, but we'll see! This (hopefully) is Atticus (the tabby tom) and Toria (the tortie), both rescues, and both classed as "special needs" and so indoor only (that was not the plan when I got them! It was assumed they would make a full recovery, and be fine!). We're off to the vets again today, but we've done very well! They haven't been to the vet for a few months!


I did it!!!

 

[Marigold]

Lovely pic, they obviously are very fond of each other. Lucky cats!

 

[LadyA]

They have been together since they were tiny. Atticus is about four weeks older. He was in the vets (they have an in house rescue) looking for a home, and I was looking at him and had decided to take him, when a woman brought Toria in. She had been found in a garden, tiny, alone and extremely ill, with cat flu having caused a ruptured eye. She was barely four weeks old, by the vet's reckoning. So I told them that if she survived, I'd take her too. So they put the two kittens in the same cage for comfort & company, and they've not been apart since.

Today, the vet has put poor Atticus on short rations! part of whatever makes him "special needs" seems to be a very slow metabolism. Little Toria eats way more than he does, and she weighs 3.2kg. poor Atticus came in at 7.4kg today, which is way too much. He's a huge cat, but it's still about 2kg too heavy. So now, it's short rations and sneaky extra feeds in a separate room for Toria!This pic is about a month after I was able to bring them home, after Toria's surgery.

Somewhere, I have one of her with her eye socket still with the stitches in, which is quite gruesome!! I will not horrify you with that!!

 

[MrsBiscuit]

They are a lovely pair, well done for taking them in. That first picture is really lovely. I have been looking for cats or a dog to have here, but its really not sensible as we have to travel a lot for family reasons.

 

[Margaid]

They've definitely landed on their feet Lady A! They both look lovely and very content together.

 

[Tweetypie]

I adore cats and these two are gorgeous. Its so good to know that people like you don't just go for the oh so perfect ones, but rehome ones which would otherwise be left on the shelf. That's a true animal lover and I admire you, LadyA

 

[LadyA]

I adore cats and these two are gorgeous. Its so good to know that people like you don't just go for the oh so perfect ones, but rehome ones which would otherwise be left on the shelf. That's a true animal lover and I admire you, LadyA

Aw, thank you, Tweetypie! I have to confess, indoor only cats is a bit of a nuisance! My house is small, and I don't get many visitors, so they don't get much opportunity for being socialised. Atticus is terrified of everything, and runs and hides if anyone comes. Toria is typical tortie - demanding, in your face, very curious -but doesn't like to be handled! So she can't really be trusted around children. Plus she's got a chronic sneezy thing going, and could shower you with 03 03 !

 

[Margaid]

Ah well! At least you don't get headless rabbits (which, daft woman that I am, I then butchered for the boss) or other "bits and pieces" or live ones running around the place! My cat is very wary of people, particularly those with loud voices. I made the mistake of getting our "mobile vet" to come and give him a vaccination (because he's Houdini in a cat carrier). She had a very loud strident voice which sent him diving for the cat flap, but she grabbed him and got him back for his jab.

That was two years ago and now the sound of the doorbell can make him panic

 

[LadyA]

Ah well! At least you don't get headless rabbits (which, daft woman that I am, I then butchered for the boss) or other "bits and pieces" or live ones running around the place! My cat is very wary of people, particularly those with loud voices. I made the mistake of getting our "mobile vet" to come and give him a vaccination (because he's Houdini in a cat carrier). She had a very loud strident voice which sent him diving for the cat flap, but she grabbed him and got him back for his jab.

That was two years ago and now the sound of the doorbell can make him panic

My last tomcat, who had had his colon & bowel removed, was an inveterate hunter. The only "presents" he ever left me were dead rats, little paws pointing skywards, laid out neatly on the lawn! He left them for my neighbours too. Fair shares for all! But any rabbits he caught were his, and he neatly pulled off as much fur as he could to get at the belly, sliced it open, devoured the insides first, and then ate the carcass! He was very good at catching rabbits. Sadly, after his surgery, he was not able to digest an entire rabbit, but also, sadly, he was a cat of very little brain, and that fact didn't sink in. No matter how many times the rabbit he had just devoured came straight up as it went down! Cleaning regurgitated rabbit entrails off a windowsill is something I can live without quite easily!! 03

 

[Marigold]

What a good thing you don't live in New Zealand!
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/aug/30/paw-outcome-new-zealand-council-proposes-banning-all-cats

 

[Hen-Gen]

What a good thing you don't live in New Zealand!
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/aug/30/paw-outcome-new-zealand-council-proposes-banning-all-cats

Sad but necessary. They tried to do it here but more draconian ie. men with guns at a time when all pet owners would be instructed to keep their cats in and anything found out would be shot. After a public outcry the whole idea was scrapped.
In the Hebrides hedgehogs are being trapped and transported to the mainland for release. Mink are being shot wherever they are encountered. The issue of introduced animals and plants is something that needs to be addressed. Fortunately in the UK as the pine martin moves south the grey squirrel is on the menu and the lighter, nimbler red squirrel returns.
But compassion for imperfect cats. Can only be applauded LadyA. Hope you manage to get them rehabilitated.

 

[LadyA]

What a good thing you don't live in New Zealand!
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/aug/30/paw-outcome-new-zealand-council-proposes-banning-all-cats

I saw that! And I can understand their thinking, but seriously? Surely there's a solution, like not allowing them to roam? I know people who have "catios" , enclosed areas with a wire or netting roof, so their cat can have some outdoor time, but can't wander the neighbourhood.

 

[MrsBiscuit]

They routinely have cat hunts in Western Australia, or at least they did several years ago. Although I was a bit taken aback by the very idea, I do understand it. There were also large tracts of land with poison down, and big warning signs everywhere (lets hope the indigenous wildlife can read) although I forget what that was for.

 

[LadyA]

They routinely have cat hunts in Western Australia, or at least they did several years ago. Although I was a bit taken aback by the very idea, I do understand it. There were also large tracts of land with poison down, and big warning signs everywhere (lets hope the indigenous wildlife can read) although I forget what that was for.

My sister lives in NSW, and she was explaining the problems that Australia has with cats. It's not so much domestic, pet cats that are controlled that are the problem. It's feral cats. Descended from domestic cats that strayed, but she said these animals are, due to "survival of the fittest", huge! And very aggressive. She worked for the Council where they used to live (a rural district) and there was a bounty paid on feral cats killed. She said the ferals were not only decimating wildlife, but they were so aggressive they will go for people that get in their way too. Some can get to the size of a labrador. So, the law there is that all pet cats have to be registered and neutered. Only registered breeders can have unneutered cats, and they must be enclosed.
They also have major problems out there with rabbits and foxes, which were also introduced many years ago. I suppose the cats would take a certain number of rabbits, but nowhere near enough!

 

[bigyetiman]

We have a friend who lives in Australia, and we thought she was on something when she talked about huge cats the size of large dogs until she sent us a pic of one, it was huge and as it was standing by a post you could see it was huge. That is the problem when people take an animal to a distant land and they escape and become a nuisance. Cane Toads are another example. Grey Squirrels over here, and plants like Hogweed, Himalayan Balsam, Rhododendron
Also Stephenson island out that way where the lighthouse keeper took his pet cats, and all the birds on the island were either flightless or ground nesters due to no natural predators. Several species became extinct before they got rid of the cats.
Your cats are lovely LadyA and very lucky