Cat Action Trust 1977 Ayrshire Branch

Names: Smokey and Murray / Sex: Male / Age: around 10 and 12 years / Colour: Black & white and grey & white / Good with other cats?: No / Good with children?: Older children

Smokey and Murray are looking for a new home because their person is moving and can no longer keep them.  The cats aren’t in our care but that we’re helping to find them a home… Interested parties could make contact either with us or directly to the owner (his number is below), but as he will be in London we will be vetting the potential home on his behalf.

Smokey and Murray are lovely, happy, friendly, middle-aged house cats (aged 10 and 12), full of character and looking for someone who can look after them permanently.  They’re in great shape, fully vaccinated and microchipped.  They’d make great companions for anyone who could look after them.  They live in Glasgow at the moment but they could be rehomed anywhere in the UK.

Murray likes babies and older children but is scared of toddlers (the Big Girl’s Blouse hides from them!), whilst Smokey is quite at ease with children of all ages. The cats have lived exclusively indoors, but may well get used to and enjoy access to a safe garden, once settled. They are both healthy, neutered and fully vaccinated.

Please contact us or their person, David on 07956 396 008 if you think you’d be able to offer Smokey and Murray a new home.

Name: Millie / Sex: Female / Age: around 2 years / Colour: Tabby and white / Good with other cats?: No / Good with children?: Older children

Millie is a young adult, probably around 2 years old, who was abandoned to fend for herself by people whose lives are probably best summed up as ‘chaotic’.

Not particularly fond of other cats, Millie would love to be an only cat in a household. She really likes people, despite having been so badly let down, and loves to be fussed and petted. When she first came into our care, Millie would play a bit rough; this is often a result of having been encouraged when they are kittens by the type of people who then consider it a problem when the cat isn’t small and cuddly any more (sort of like encouraging very young children to swear and then turning on them when they do it as they get older). She is learning, though, to play much more gently and would benefit greatly from being homed in a quiet, gentle, home rather than one with very young children. Millie’s favourite pastimes really do involve people: drag a piece of string around for her to chase and she’s a very happy girl. If Millie could talk ‘human’, and was asked what she would want most from life, I’m pretty certain the answer would be ”To find someone who loves me, and a garden to explore please.” As with all our foster cats, Millie is now fully inoculated and, being old enough, is spayed.

Name: Moriarty / Sex: Male / Age: 12 – 18 months / Colour: Black and white / Good with other cats?: Yes / Good with children?: Yes

Moriarty is a very friendly, handsome, boy aged around 12 – 18 months. He was on the streets, having been discarded by people who turned their backs on his confusion and distress and then pretended that he was a stray.  He is, of course, better off without such people, but so many who find themselves cast aside like this never do get help and are left to cope (or not!) with neither food nor shelter. He wasn’t even neutered, so his life would have been one of constantly fighting for territory and survival against other full toms, with several hundred kittens being left in his wake, themselves to suffer fear and persecution on the streets.

Having only been in our care for a couple of weeks, Moriarty has still to get his second set of injections before being fully inoculated. That will be done very shortly (mid Feb) and he has, of course, now been neutered.

This boy deserves to be happy, as do all animals born as a result of human error or neglect. His next, lifetime, home would be with kind, gentle, people and maybe a garden or other safe outdoor area that would allow him to get used to going out and about.

Name: Maya and Angel / Age: 2 1/2 years / 2 years / Colour: Tabby and white and white / Good with other cats?: Yes / Good with children?: Yes

Lovely Maya came into our care, pregnant, two years ago. She was later homed, after being spayed and inoculated, along with her kitten Angel, with both settling down well with their new family, which includes a young child.

Unfortunately, for health reasons, Maya and Angel’s people can no longer keep them and have asked us to find them another home. Everyone is very sad about this, but it can’t be helped. Although they aren’t back with us yet (our pens and foster places are totally full), we thought it a good idea to get them on to the website as soon as possible.

Angel was homed with her mother because the two were so fond of each other but we’re told that, although they get on very well together, they aren’t as inseparable as they used to be. If need be, they could be homed separately.

Both Maya and Angel are young, with Angel now being two years old and her mother probably not a lot older (remember, they start to breed at around 6 months!).
Angel is obviously very pretty, with her shiny white coat, and being a cat she knows it!

A home (or homes) with a garden or other safe outdoor space is a must for these girls as they are used to being allowed outside to explore.

Name: Merlin / Age: Young adult / Colour: Black / Good with other cats?: Yes / Good with children?: Yes, older children

I first heard of Merlin’s situation late one Sunday night in the middle of July 2011. He had been fed as a stray by a woman who came to my door to tell me that he had appeared back after having been missing from his usual feeding place for about ten days, but had come back covered in ticks and with both back legs very obviously injured. The sheer number of ticks on him (about 100 the vet said) indicated he had lain in bushes for several days after being injured. This woman had taken him to the emergency vet as a stray and left him there. As she wasn’t paying for his treatment she had no say as to what might happen to him and so she came to see me to ask if we would take responsibility for him.

Merlin’s injuries consisted of a completely fractured femur on one leg and a dislocated hip and several small fractures on the other, so we knew this was going to involve very costly surgery. However, Merlin’s injuries could be mended and there was no question that all would be done to get him well again. An appeal went out in the Kilmarnock Standard for contributions to the cost of his surgery and we were absolutely delighted when the full cost was met by the donations that came in! In the event, the fractured femur was held together by a metal pin until the leg mended and then the pin was removed about seven weeks later. The vet advised leaving the dislocated hip alone as to pin the joint together would impair movement to the extent that both muscles and ligaments would be compromised. Poor Merlin had to be confined to a cage for a few weeks to stop him doing anything daft but when he was eventually allowed out of the cage for short periods of time in order to build up the strength of his muscles he showed us very clearly that he had no intentions of letting a wee thing like a pin the length of his thigh bone or a dislocated hip stop him having fun! Picture one shows him not long after surgery. The second picture is of Merlin now. Kindly note the cheeky look on his face because it really sums him up. He’s an brilliant young cat, full of life and mischief and with a speed that gets him from point A to point B in super-quick time. Merlin lists amongst his many hobbies sleeping on my feet, playing with my feet when I’m trying to sleep, football and practising for his attempt at breaking the world speed record on land.

Merlin is very affectionate and sweet and would make a wonderful addition to a household that would enjoy a cat that’s full of character rather than one that likes to sit around contemplating the meaning of life. He played a bit rough at first, probably as a result of having been encouraged to do so when a kitten (this is common – then the cat gets tossed out when the people get fed up with him/her), but has learned that this is not wanted and now plays much more gently. A garden or other safe outdoor area is a must as Merlin wouldn’t be happy as a solely indoor cat.

Age: 10 years / Sex: Female / Colour: Tortie and black / Good with other cats?: Yes / Good with children?: No; these older ladies need a quiet home

Their story: Shelley and her friend Dusky had lived with just one couple since they were kittens. Their people were elderly and, unfortunately, the man died a few years ago and the woman was taken into care around June 2011. The cats, now ten years old, were put into the garden and spent several months being fed by a kind neighbour and taking shelter in the garage. This must have been so hard for them to understand as I’m told they used to sleep beside the old lady. The neighbour would have loved to have given Shelley and Dusky a home, but her dogs had other ideas and chased the cats whenever they saw them. Still, they are now lapping up the comfort of their heated pen and beds!

Although now ten, and despite having spent so long outside in the cold, both Shelley and Dusky are very healthy and fit. We’ve had them checked over by the vet and they are now fully inoculated. The girls were spayed several years ago, thankfully, so at least there was no threat of pregnancy.

Shelley, the tortoiseshell girl, is really beautiful (although I do admit to just loving torties!). She was initially very shy but is now confident and happy to be petted. Dusky is really sweet and loves to be stroked and have a fuss made of her. The fur on her back was very sparse when I first brought them in but has now grown in all thick and shiny.

These two girls have been together since kittenhood, and get along just fine, but they aren’t devoted to each other. This means they could be homed either together or separately.

The right home(s) for Shelley and Dusky would be quiet (don’t think they’d appreciate the same music as a most teenagers, really, or the attention of hyper two-year-olds!), and with a garden or other safe outdoor area to explore. They would make ideal companions for older people who don’t want to take on younger cats that could well outlive them, with all the worry that that entails.