When we came over to Lincolnshire nearly 20 years ago we brought 12 rescue cats with us.
Nermal, Boris and Ginger we talked about last time. Here are some more tales.
Plum was a little black kitten with a bit of white. He looked like he was wearing a little dinner jacket.
He had been found at the Liverpool docks. He had a crust of flea dirt covering all his coat and his left front leg was paralysed.
When we washed him the water turned red from the digested blood in the flea droppings. When you went near him he went off like a little firecracker, hissing and spitting.
Over the next few weeks he grew stronger and became more used to us.
He kept falling over his paralysed leg so we made him little vests out of socks. In the end his leg never returned to function so we amputated it.
He was always a great friend of Nermal.
He died when he was about 12. We still have his little vests in the loft!
Peggy was brought in by the RSPCA with a broken back leg. She was a strange mix of ginger tabby and grey tabby with bits of white.
She had one ginger front leg and one grey one which made her stand out. She was a truly lovely little cat and soon became very special to us.
However she was not so keen on our other cats whom she just tolerated. She was a real people cat. We put a plaster cast on her back leg.
The leg healed well and you would never know she had ever broken it. And guess what is in the loft? Yes we still have her plaster cast.
Lily was a very small black and white little kitten who was very under nourished. She was totally blind. At this stage she was very friendly and we had no expectation that her sight would return.
As time progressed her condition improved and to our surprise she suddenly recovered her sight. At this point she became totally wild and would not really come near to us.
She attached herself to Plum and they became inseparable for the rest of their lives.
Another of our rescues was a very old and cantankerous cat who was brought to the surgery to be put to sleep because his elderly owner had died. He was 19 years old and we thought he would be a short term commitment. He regularly missed his litter tray and took random swipes at us.
We loved him nonetheless and although his original name was Marty, we affectionately called him “the old b*****d”.
He lived with us for five more years until old age overtook him.
As he didn’t like being brushed he would build up tats over his back and one of our overriding memories of him was his fur smouldering away when he lay too close to the fire.
There was also Milly, Fluffy Tailer, Kissy, Beauty and George Barnacle to complete the 12!
Alder Veterinary Practice, 58 Bourne Road, Spalding, PE11 1JW. Call 01775 766646. Opening hours 8.30am to 6.30pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 10am alternate Saturdays. 24 hour emergency cover.
