Thalia is our oldest cat. She is 15 years and 7 months old. We got her and her brother Castor when they were twelve weeks old.When her brother was alive, Thalia was often mean and spiteful to our other cats, all of whom are non-pedigrees. However, since he died in 1997, she has warmed towards them and gains great comfort from Jason, Abbie, Megan and Sylvia with whom she, usually, chooses to cuddle up.
Unlike many Siamese, Thalia has a limited vocal range. She speaks in a raucous voice and delivers her words in a staccato manner. If she becomes excited during a conversation, she starts shouting.
Like many older cats, Thalia has a few health problems. She has an overactive thyroid and is asthmatic. Fortunately, she is rarely troubled by these conditions as they are kept under control by drugs.
Thalia leads a pampered life. She has breakfast every morning in her, heated, bed; her friends wash her; she only goes outside when she chooses to; and no-one disturbs her when she is relaxing in one of her many favourite resting spots. When she feels like a little exercise she can either go for a stroll in her garden or stay indoors and play with her cat nip toys.
Immediately after Castor died, Thalia decided to start sleeping with me at night in the spot that he had occupied. Now, with the pleasure of feeling her soft, warm body and hearing her contented purrs, I find falling asleep has never been easier.
Gemma is our second oldest cat. She is three months younger than Thalia. She is part Oriental Tabby.
Gemma was the second cat we adopted from a rescue organisation. She and her brother, Sam, arrived when they were only six weeks old. Neither Gemma nor Sam, who we also adopted and who, sadly, had to be put to sleep when only eight months old because of an incurable lung disorder, were fully weaned. We also quickly learnt that they were not housetrained. Gradually, their toilet habits improved but, even today, Gemma sometimes chooses not to use the litter tray.
Despite being born indoors and growing up with people around her, Gemma is an extremely nervous cat. She fears many things, especially the carrying box. Given her terrible ordeal when being moved from her original home, this is not surprising. She did not wish to be caught and had to endure being chased by her family from room to room until, eventually, cornered in the bathroom.
Once Gemma got to know and trust us, she started to show us that she was an affectionate cat who enjoys human company. She began to talk to us and, when younger, loved to sit on my husband's lap when he was working at the computer in the office and sleep on his legs at night. She demonstrates her fondness for me by gently pushing her head into my hand while softly purring.
Gemma has one curious habit. She cannot eat the meals I put out for her unless I stay with her while she eating. Interestingly, if she steals food, she is able to eat alone.
When we got Gemma, we hoped we could provide for her a home for life in which she could be happy. Despite her continued nervousness, thankfully, we see many signs that she is.
Sylvia was just 8 weeks old when she came to live with us. She was rescued from gravel pits near where I live by a Croydon Cats Protection colleague. She was the sole survivor of a litter that had been killed by dogs and youngsters with airguns.
Sylvia has very strong views on what she will and will not let happen to her. When she was a kitten, she spent part of each day in a pen and part exploring. Once, when she thought I was trying to put her back in her pen too early for her liking, she bit my finger and would not let go. As an adult, she comes and goes as she pleases during the day and, at night, chooses to sleep under a chair near our bed. She loves being stroked but hates being groomed. If I ignore her warning growls, I am likely to get bitten.
Surprisingly however, at the vets, Sylvia behaves like a perfect angel and on one occasion was used to give a trainee nurse experience of handling a cat that is having blood taken. My vet calls Sylvia his favourite feline patient because, without fuss, she allows him to do to her whatever he wants. All the time, she beams at him and purrs.
Clearly, Sylvia has both a "public" and a "private" face. Whatever face she chooses, she will always be a very much loved member of our family. To share her life is an honour.
Jim (left), Zak (below), and Fliss (right) are a closely bonded, happy family. We are fostering them until we can find them a new home. They have been with us for almost a year. Before we rescued them, they had lived miserable lives. They had lived rough in an area where many cats were neglected and had survived by eating scraps and avoiding the people who wanted to harm them.
When we found them, Zak was desperately ill with Feline Infectious Anaemia, Fliss was trying to raise a litter of kittens and Jim was so terrified of humans that he spent most of his time in hiding. Despite not having experienced much kindness in their short lives, Zak and Jim quickly learnt to trust us and they are now friendly, affectionate and, sometimes, enjoy cuddles. Fliss is still wary of people and tends to shy away from them. However, at mealtimes, she is very forward and demanding and lets us know if we are being too slow serving her by dancing at our feet, shouting.
Despite having being confined to our garden chalets and runs for so long, Jim, Zak and Fliss remain contented. They have plenty of toys and a radio to keep them amused and we visit them frequently throughout the day. They enjoy watching our cats come and go, the birds in our garden, sunbathing on their scratching posts and, at night, hunting the biscuits that we throw in for them. They get very excited by the hunt and it comes to an end only when they have found and eaten every biscuit - even those that have rolled beneath their scratching posts. To get these, Jim, Zak and Fliss have to lie flat on the floor, stretch out their arms as far as possible underneath the posts and blindly tap the area with their paws. When they feel a biscuit, they triumphantly, hook it out and quickly devour it. Jim also get excited trying to get biscuits out of his ball that has a hole in it. He gets them out by batting the ball around the floor. While he is doing this, Zak sits close by in the hope that he will get to eat the ejected biscuits before Jim.
We are looking to home these delightful cats either as indoor cats or where they could go outside but not have contact with other cats. This is because Zak and Jim have slightly weakened immune systems as a result of having the FIV. However, they are in good health and it should comfort anyone who offers them a home to know that cats with the FIV can live as long and as healthily as non-FIV cats if properly cared for.
After all the hardships these cats endured before coming into care they richly deserve a permanent, loving home. We hope it won't be much longer before they find one.
Tanya (left) and Felix (right) are mother and son and are two of my foster cats. They were rescued from a home where they had been living in squalid conditions. The person who cared for them was not their owner. They and a number of other adult cats had merely moved into his garden shed. He had taken pity on them and was happy to feed them. However, when kittens started to appear, he became alarmed and called my rescue organisation for help.
At the time Tanya and Felix were neutered, they were also blood tested for the Felv and the FIV. Unfortunately, both were found to have the FIV. This meant that they could not go back to where they came from. As neither cat was seriously physically ill, there was no question of us putting them to sleep. We took them in for rehoming.
After eight months in care, during which time, both cats developed into friendly, affectionate and playful creatures (although still shy with strangers), we found them a wonderful home with a young couple in a flat . We thought it was for life. Sadly, after less than a year, they came back to us for rehoming after their family had lost their jobs and home.
Now, we have managed to find Tanya and Felix another home. Again, it is with a young couple who live in a flat. One of them is very experienced with shy cats. She also has a positive attitude towards cats with FIV, having previously lived with one.. They plan to collect the cats at the beginning of August when they have finished work on their flat and the one who is a teacher, is going to be at home for a month. Everyone has their fingers crossed, that, this time, this will be Tanya's and Felix' permanent home.
This our wonderful boy Jason. His nicknames are JJ and JC Boy. He is four years old. He, like all but one of our other cats, was rescued by Croydon Cats' Protection (CCP). He came into care after his original family moved house and left him behind. He had lived rough for three months, surviving by eating scraps and when he came to us was emaciated, covered in scabs, had a greasy coat and was very depressed. He was also very ill and had to spend several days in the vets.
When Jason was reported to CCP, no one could get near enough to pick him up; he was that nervous of people. Consequently he had to be trapped. However, once ensconced in one of our outdoor cat chalets, his temperament changed completely. Whenever I used to visit him, he would immediately climb onto my shoulders, wrap himself around my neck and purr loudly in my ear. When, later, Jason met my husband, he did likewise to him.
Jason is a sensitive cat who suffered severe trauma as a result of being abandoned. For the first few months he was with us, this caused him to become distressed each time he saw us going out and to be clingy when we returned. Now he realises that we are not going to permanently leave him, he is so relaxed about us going out that he rarely bothers to get off the sofa when we leave or be immediately affectionate when we get home.
Jason has a strange sense of humour. He likes making me get up from my work to open the patio doors to let him in (even though he could use the cat flap), and when I do, he laughs and scoots off down the garden. Even though I know he is, usually, only kidding about wanting to come in, he always looks so pitiful when sitting outside, that I always have to open the doors for him.
We have been able to provide Jason with a warm. comfortable home, a lovely garden and field in which to play and hunt, plenty to eat, the company of other friendly cats and a family who absolutely adore him. We hope we've made him happy.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
I would like to thank Flippy for giving me this opportunity to share with you in pictures and words my wonderful feline family.
I also want to thank my furry friends for being endlessly patience when being photographed and being a constant inspiration for stories. Without them, there could be no "Telling Tails".
Read Sheenah's stories: Telling Tails
