I received a frantic call this morning from a lady who said her cat had gone beserk and she had locked him in a shed.She told me that the cat was three years old and she had bought him as a kitten but that he had attacked her whilst she was feeding him(very uncatlike behaviour!)He had also scratched the 12 months old child the previous day.
I went round to the house, wondering what on earth was going to face me inside the locked windowless shed.What I actually found was a large handsome black cat looking totally bewildered, he let me stroke and fuss him and pick him up, struggling only at the last minute when panic set in as he was placed inside the cat basket. The owner was virtually wringing her hands in agitation and insisted she was petrified of him! She added that she also had a four years old child, that would make the baby 12 months when she bought the kitten into the home and now there is another toddler crawling about. Cats generally are not keen on children of this age, they can unwittingly be rough as they grab on to the furry creature which tries to jump out of the way of searching hands. Perhaps this was the problem, if they are mishandled as kittens it can have a long lasting effect on their temperament. Time will tell, he is calm and quiet at the moment and has shown no signs of aggression towards us or the other cats with whom he is sharing a pen.
I have no problem rehoming animals where there are children but for the sake of everyone concerned it is best to have an age limit, we think pets should be introduced into a home when the youngest child is school age or as near to that as possible. Once in a while I have made exceptions but not with a kitten or a puppy and not with
child as young as 2 or even younger. The chances of the placement working out would not be high and it is hard enough to find permanent homes. When we adopted this policy around 20 years ago,we immediately noticed the number of returned animals decreased dramatically so the proof is in the pudding!
Wednesday:
A bit of a mad day, trying to find places for three dogs in desperate need of help.First was no problem, she was definitely for me - a little dachsund cross female I have named Cassie after my old Dachsund long deceased.PIcturted here in Meis arms. The staff atLiverpool used to call my dogs the 'bedroom bunchies!' because I always took the little dogs which were admitted to the shelter into the house and subsequently my bedroom!Nothing changes. This one was an unclaimed stray from a dog pound, she is adorable, only about a year old but she could be pregnant so needs to be checked out at the Vet.She has already made herself at home with Paddy and Patch.The second is another adorable terrier cross, Tully is 6 months old and there is already someone interested in him so he will not be in his foster home for long.Third is a collie female pup aged 4 months and as we have several people after collie females she too should leave our care very soon, that is unless her foster mum falls in love with her? That is so easy to do and is usually why we lose our foster homes almost as soon as they begin to foster.The last foster person we lost was Kim who kept the first dog she cared for, admittedly he was a stunner and fitted in so well with her own dogs she could not bear to part with him.Both Kim and her husband still help the shelter with transport and working hands on with the animals so we may have lost a foster home but gained two helpers instead so I cant complain too much.
I had some good news this morning. The situation with my proposed book has not been moving forward as I have been trying to find a celebrity to endorse it with little success.The theory is apparently that the publishers are more likely to take notice with a celebritys name attached to the manuscript. I wrote to a few with no success but the one I really wanted was Paul O Grady because he is a fellow Liverpudlian and an animal lover ,was the first person to sponsor an animal at Freshfields and he has been good enough to feature the Liverpool dogs on his show. After weeks of waiting and feeling despondent that I was not getting anywhere, today I heard that he is happy to endorse it so now he wants to read some so he can decide what to say. I am so thrilled especially as he is such a busy person with a current television show.So many celebrities are unapproachable and it is good to know that some are genuine.
Another three of our ponies have gone to their summer fields this morning. Our 'foals' (who are not really foals anymore but coming up to 4 years old) left us , unfortunately the box was not big enough to take the three so Celt and Shamrock went first and then driver Phoebe returned for Merlin who was most unhappy to be without his companions even for the short time it took to to take the first two and return.He was clearly distressed so he will be happy to be back with his pals now.
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