This is our cat. I’ve probably not told you about the cat. She’s called Poppy. When we decided to have a cat we did the same thing most people do – we looked in the local paper, visited pet shops, local breeders and rescue centres. In the end we went to the RSPCA and found our local branch to look for animals needing a home.
When we arrived there were several cats. The staff at the Burton-on-Trent branch showed us into the cattery and we saw many abandoned cats that badly needed a home. There were other people in there too, but we noticed a very strange looking black cat in the corner that most people were ignoring. They were ignoring her because she had half her face missing. We found out later that she’d got a skin problem and was probably highly allergic to dust, fleas or something else. After being abandoned she’d scratched herself more and more until she pulled most of the fur around her face out. The vet had shaved it back and had been treating it but it left her face looking like a rat with large bits of fur shaved back. Her belly was the same and it made her look a little strange to say the least.
We decided that she was the one for us. I guess we’re like that, we like the “wonky” ones that everyone else has passed by. :) The RSPCA warned us that, if it was a full skin problem, we may end up paying a huge amount in continuing vet bills (and no, you can’t get pet insurance if there’s an existing problem).
We took her on and, following about 10 trips to the vets and a huge amount of cash, we’ve finally got a good on-going treatment for her which involves half a tablet of something I can’t pronounce every other day. Her fur has now grown back, although the bits that have grown back are a white-ish colour, giving her a rather “unique” appearance :)
Why I’m telling you all this I’m not entirely sure, but I’ll confess to never, ever having a cat so nice. She follows us everywhere and constantly brings us “presents” from the garden (a bird the other day and a butterfly before that – I think she was working her way up. She even meows like crazy if the phone rings or someone comes to the door.
She seems to be fond of drinking from pint glasses. Some months ago I woke up in the middle of the night to hear her drinking from the glass I had at the side of our bed. Now it’s got to the stage where she prefers to drink out of the glass rather than her bowl! :)
