I thought I would share two delightful bundles of fur who have found their way into my life.
My beloved Lucy, 18 years old, succumbed to kidney failure at the beginning of this month and was pts. She'd been with me since she was 4 months old and, following the death of my husband and during the lockdowns, was a gentle, loving companion who gave me the only reason I could find to get out of bed some days.
I knew I had to have another cat; a house to me is not a home without one (or several). To my horror, the rescue charities refused my application because the road I live on is a rush hour rat run and close to a main route into the city. Even if I'd agreed to have an indoors-only cat, the view was that it might escape and get run over. (I'm tempted to start a whole other thread about rescue centres where they'd rather keep cats in cages than let them go to loving homes).
I was desperately miserable; I've had cats all my life and never ever thought I might be refused one. I cried on a friend's shoulder about it and, unbeknown to me, he put an appeal on his village Facebook site for an adult cat in need of a home. I have specific reasons for not being able to have a kitten at present.
An hour later, he put me in touch with a woman whose relationship and home had broken up and was desperate to re-home Oscar and Mollie so they didn't have to go to a rescue charity.
They've been with me for 5 days now and are a challenge and a delight. They've suffered a lot of upheaval in the past few weeks and it's going to take them time to settle in and adapt to a new life but they're beautiful, friendly lap cats and I'm sure we can make it work.
Oscar is 10 and bigger than he looks here - about 6kg - a gentle, loving boy with a lovely purr.
Mollie, the little one on the windowsill, is 6, a tiny, slinky little puss with a very determined mind of her own.
I feel as though I'm on a voyagé of discovery with my new feline friends and I love it!