2001 Welfare Work
Sponsored by Humberside Cat Club

Written by Judy Walsh

(originally printed in HCC News Dec 2001 issue)

Our house has always had rescue cats in it, but never at the rate they have appeared this year!!!

It started in January (2001) with the appearance of a singularly insignificant white and black moggy who hung around, as it was cold weather we started to feed him, knowing full well that we would stay then, but never mind, what's one more mouth to feed?  He did not become any tamer or any more attractive over the next few months, his coat was greasy and lank and he looked a poor thing.  In April, despite months of feeding him, he didn't look any better and we decided we ought to try and catch him and neuter him.  A few nights later I looked out and in the pouring rain he was just sat on the lawn, making no effort to shelter and looking quite ill, but if I went near him he just kept out of reach.  All night he sat there in the pouring rain and at 5am I got up and went out to him with some food.  He looked really poorly, more by good luck than anything he followed me to our outdoor pen.  He wanted the food quite badly, so when I put it just inside the escape run he ventured in with 3 paws (leaving one on the step) but I managed to push the gate to, and he ran in and was trapped.  I fed him properly and watched him, as I couldn't envisage him getting into a basket to go to the vets!!! (not willingly anyway!).  He ate well and after a week had passed he seemed much better so I presume he'd had a virus or maybe an abscess that had sorted itself out.  He continued to eat well and seemed appreciative of the food, if not the caging!

After a few weeks we caught him in a basket (NOT EASY) and took him to be neutered.  The vet greeted me when I picked the cat up later that day with - "do you want the good news or the bad new?!!!!"

He was diabetic!  Huge glucose levels were found at pre-op blood testing.  I could not possibly envisage giving Insulin to this cat, I hadn't even stroked him yet.  We discussed it and decided to see how he went on, regular diet alone.  So back into the pen for a few more weeks.  Regular food seemed to be the key and he never seemed ill again, however he did start to get quite depressed in the pen and started hissing and becoming even more timid so we decided we would have to let him out and hope for the best.  He was so anti-social by this time that I didn't think we'd ever see him again, but I couldn't see any alternative so we released him.  He shot over the fence and off at such a rate of knots it was unbelievable.

20 minutes later he was back!!!!  And I don't honestly believe he's left our garden since!!!! He is now a different cat, he's cute, well muscled, glossy coat and full of mischief, he's about 2 years old and spends ages chasing leaves, his own tail, our ginger mog who's about 15 and puts up with him quite well really and lets him sleep in his pen.  He's called Guinness and we love him dearly.  The club has kindly paid for his neutering and MOT at the vets.

Shortly before we caught him he had fetched a few friends to visit us in January when it was snowy.  Amongst them was a beautiful white cat with a black muzzle and Dalmatian spots, really pretty, they came for food for about 3 days whilst the weather was severe and then we never say then again, until May, when this pretty cat arrived outside our garden, set up camp and produced 2 black and white kittens that looked very much like Guinness!!!

We fed them for several months and then borrowed a cat trap from Cat Protection League and trapped all 3 and penned them till the kittens were bit enough to neuter.  We also caught a brown tabby so off he went to be done too!!!!  We released him again straight away though and only see him occasionally.

Mum has now been neutered, and the kittens got done last week.  All are fine and we shall let them out soon, although of course we will still care for them and feed them.  They are not tame at all, so rehoming is not an option for them.  However another younger black and white kitten appeared about a month ago and we trapped her and popped her in the pen, she was lovely, not too wild at all, just a bit wary and a fellow club member Mandy Goreham took her and she has settled in well with her and is now called Belle and rules the roost I suspect!

The club has funded most of these cats for neutering from our welfare fund.  We suspect it is not over yet as another one of Guinness's friends from January has just started visiting us, she is all white with ginger ears and a ginger tail, these cats do pretty well really, so we are feeder her and planning to catch her soon because she has a chance to get pregnant.

Last week Phil found a ginger youngster on top of our pen with his head wedged in a can, he managed to release him, he was very thin so we suspect he needs our attention too so we are leaving food out to entice him back and being very careful to squash our cat food cans so that he cannot get into that scrape again!  So I think this will be an ongoing project but the cats are very welcome to live with us, our food bill is becoming like the national debt so the help the club is giving for these cats is very much appreciated and is resulting in a fine colony of very healthy happy feral cats living in Brough.