my cats (and the importance of adopting)

I was going to write a completely different post but after seeing that it's International Cat Day on twitter I couldn't possibly write about anything else!

I have two cats that I'll introduce you to in a second but first I would just feel wrong if I wrote this blog post without talking about the importance of adopting and re-homing cats. There are so many lovely cats out there who really need homes and I don't mean to sound preachy but if you're thinking of getting a cat please at least consider re-homing because the thought of these lovely floofs not being adopted into loving families with a stable and safe place to stay breaks my heart (I may or may not have just broken down into tears thinking about all the cats that don't get re-homed). If you have the time and resources to handle a cat with behavioural problems or that haven't been socialised when young or have been abused and aren't amazing around people, I encourage you to adopt because these cats often get overlooked and can stay in the shelters much longer than others. If you can't adopt and you have a spare £3 a month you could even sponsor a cat!

Here's some sites to get you started:
https://www.battersea.org.uk/cats
http://www.cats.org.uk/
http://www.gablesfarm.org.uk/catalogue/
https://www.bluecross.org.uk/rehome/cat
http://www.rspca.org.uk/findapet/rehomeapet

(Obviously it's important to re-home other animals too but this is a post about cats so I'll try not to go off topic)

As well as all that, please make sure you are 150% prepared to take on the responsibility of having a cat and you have everything it needs. Don't just impulse get one as this can be dangerous and would likely lead to it needing to be re-homed which no-one wants.

That little ramble went on for longer that I thought it would but it's a very important topic so I'm okay with that. Now onto introducing my lovely cats to you and the stories of where/when we got them!

First up we have Tango, a (presumed) British Blue who loves sleeping, sitting on your lap when you're about to do something and sometimes being a bit of a bitch (but an adorable one).

Where we got her is actually a little confusing. My mum has re-homed cats her entire life so you'll notice all our cats have been re-homed; mostly from the Cat Protection League but Tango was half from the Cat Protection League and half from a vets as before we got her this couple kept adopting her and then taking her back to the vets when it was time for her injections. They did this multiple times until the vets said no (which in my eyes was 100% the right thing to do) which is when we found her at the vets.

The reason I say presumed British Blue is because there's no way we could actually know her breed as she was rescued from a place that was using her for breeding from a young age. We got her at (once again presumed as there's no way to know for sure) 2 years 10 months and it was clear she hadn't had the chance to be a kitten. We got her in October 2011 so now she's a bit older she does like to sleep and relax a bit more. Although her maternal instincts from being used for breeding did really show through one time when my rabbit (Maisie) was ill so we kept her inside all night and Tango snuggled up next to her and even licked her at one point like she was her own kitten (the cutest thing I have ever seen happen in my life I swear). She is such a mum's girl and follows my mum around like a little shadow.
We didn't actually name Tango. She had been called that by the people who had used her for breeding and it would have been to late into her life and frankly unfair to try and change her name. Whilst we were a bit unsure of it at first I now think it suits her perfectly (although people do always expect her to be ginger because of the drink).
She has had a few health problems and teeth problems (and has cost us a fair amount of money but it's worth it) and right now she has something wrong with one of her kidneys. She has had scans and tests but they just don't know what it is. The only thing left would be to take her to a specialist but that would cost more than we can afford right now (especially after paying for all the tests and for her to go on a drip at one point) but she is doing completely fine right now and has even put back on a fair amount of the weight she lost when we noticed there was a problem. She has also become much happier since she went on the drip for a weekend so the vets agree that we just need to keep an eye on her and only take more actions if we see alarming changes.


Our other cat is a more recent addition. His name is Rory and I'm not sure what breed he is but some kind of black shorthair. He is the most adorable little thing with stunning green eyes (but he never stays still long enough for me to get a good picture).
We once again got him from the Cat Protection League last September after deciding that we really wanted another cat (me and my mum are slightly crazy cat ladies). He had been found and rescued after having been hit by a car. He was never reclaimed by his previous owners but now he is very happily hunting outside in our back garden or lazing under my bed. We know nothing about his past but from how he acted when he first went outside and how he can get overstimulated and violent

sometimes when we try to stroke him as well as his terrified reactions to aerosols and plastic bags we can only guess it wasn't amazing.
Because of his car accident he suffers with a little bit of arthritis but we've only noticed it twice when he's come in limping after a day out hunting. But we keep a close eye on him and he's always been fine by the next day. We are not looking forward to taking him for his first trip to the vets however as he can be a bit of a pain in the ass when he wants to be.
He has also managed to make an enemy of another cat down our streets but as Rory is a bit of a wimp he'll always come running back inside whenever he sees this other cat. More often that not it's actually Tango who will end up seeing him off instead of Rory!
He's a pain with hunting, fairly frequently bringing us "presents" but we understand it's just all part of his nature and never punish him for it.
Unlike Tango, we're the ones who named Rory as there was no way for us to know his actual name and we weren't big fans of the name they gave him temporarily at the shelter (Jet). We went through so many different names until one day my brother just randomly came into my room and jokingly said, "we should name him after the best male Doctor Who companion: Rory" to which I replied that it actually really suited him. So we now have a cat named after a Doctor Who character.
As I previously said he can get a little arsey sometimes if you try and love him but when he's in the right mood he will let you pick him up and will nuzzle your face and is just the absolute cutest! He doesn't purr easily (another reason we think his past wasn't amazing) and we only recently found out the one thing that makes him purr: when he's in his lovely mood, tickle his tummy and he will let out a quiet little purr. He's the complete opposite to Tango who will purr the second she even jumps on your bed!
Back onto the topic of my rabbit Maisie, Rory seems very unsure and in fact even a little scared of her! It's quite funny to watch actually as she's a tubby little floof who couldn't hurt a fly if she wanted to but Rory is just so unsure of what she is! He has settled down quite a bit around her now but if she goes bounding up to him to sniff him he does jump a bit.

Complete honesty: Tango and Rory don't get along amazingly. We weren't sure how Tango would react to us bringing another cat into the house and it did take a few weeks for them to settle down around each other with us having to separate them for a little while but we did think this would happen and whilst they will still occasionally chase each other, it never seems truly malicious and more like playing if anything (although we will stop it) and they have shown no signs of discomfort/distress from living with each other else we would have (very reluctantly as we all quickly fell in love with him) taken Rory back as we just want what's best for these cats. But they honestly are fine living with each other by this point.

I realise this post was just me having a very long ramble about my cats but I really do adore cats and love mine to pieces so if you did read all of this then thank you! I can only assume you also have a love for cats else I'm not quite sure why you would have read all this! I hope you enjoyed finding out about my amazing loves. As for right now Tango is in with my mum (I can hear my mum talking to her - like I said we're crazy cat ladies) and Rory is sprawled out under my bed, enjoying some head scratches from me.

Goodbye!

:)