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~ A Christmas Cat Story~

Just before Christmas 2007 I received a call from Sue in Bedford who, although not actually part of RATS does a tremendous amount of work feeding and looking after various stray cats (and indeed other animals) in the centre of Bedford. She asked me if we had a space for a dear little cat who had recently had kittens and was living not far from Greyfriars Police Station at the back of an 'Irish pub'!! We had a space so Philippa and I went over to her flat where she had the cat. We also went along to where the cat had been living and were told that one of her kittens had been killed by a car and they had not seen the other one for days. Sue thought she was a dear little cat and deserved a home, so over she went to Gamlingay and Sue named her Holly as it was very near Christmas.

Libby

Below is the rest of our Christmas Cat story told by Christine Morrissey from Clapham.

On the afternoon of January 13th 2008 I visited the RATS cattery hoping to adopt a kitten/cat. I saw some lovely cats - all well care for, but one really made herself noticed. As I walked by her pen a pretty tabby/white cat put her paw out and touched me. It was very hard to leave the others behind, but she had to be the one and I adopted her.

I changed her name to Libby and after bringing her home she went to the vet for the normal vaccinations and she settled in really well. However, a short time later she appeared 'off colour' so I took her back to the vets. After some tests it was confirmed that she had FIV. I was terribly upset and thought I would lose her. But after I spoke to Liz she assured me that often FIV cats can have a long and happy life. If you keep them indoors they do not come into contact with infection (obviously they have hardly any immune system) and can live a normal life span.

This perked me up and I have to say that after taking her initial medication everything is going well. She is very playful, loves sitting on the landing window sill day and night looking out. In the afternoons most days she goes upstairs 'for her nap' and about an hour or so later - 4.30 p.m. to 5.00 p.m. - she walks back into the front room yawning!! She then settles herself on my lap and is stroked and made a fuss of.

Since having Libby I am not lonely anymore and she has brought me such happiness. I 'talk' to her and tell her we are going to grow very old together. Libby is a house cat and obviously as stated above does not go out at all.

What a lovely story, when Libby was first diagnosed I did say to Mrs Morrissey that although it was very sad, the cat would probably have a good few more years yet and this was much, much better than dying in the gutter in Bedford. From the above it looks as if she has a lovely life and hopefully many more years to go.

Christine Morrissey (& Liz Goodyear)

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