Cats have a habit of popping up into people’s lives at the right moment.
Mary Medricky and her husband David had been thinking of getting a feline friend after being catless for a while. David favoured the Maine Coon breed, a large and handsome long haired pedigree cat who can grow to 10kg in weight.
What they ended up with was quite the opposite. Instead of an enormous, finely bred prince or princess, they found themselves adopting two tiny kittens who “have no idea who their father is,” as Mary points out. But despite their humble origins, they’re as cherished as any regally bred puss.
Scrolling through Facebook one day, Mary came across the heart rending tale of a litter of five stray kittens found at Spark Arena in Auckland, born to a young mother who had clearly been dumped. They were in a bad way, scruffy and starving. Their rescuer, who has cared for and rescued abandoned cats for years, had nursed them back to health and found foster homes for three of the kittens, but was still looking after the other two.
“Sparky was the runt of the litter, weighing only 350 grams when he was found. He was on death’s door, so weak that he had to be fed with a syringe. But with the rescuer’s dedicated care and his strong spirit he recovered and grew until he was ready to be adopted, along with his brother, Freddy.”
“I showed David the story and asked how he felt about giving these two little rescued kittens a loving, permanent home. We’d always had adult cats before; a couple of older cats turned up on our doorstep and we had adopted others from SPCA. So young kittens were a new venture for us.”
Talking to the lady who had found the kittens, Mary and David were really impressed with the work the cat rescue people do, and with the efforts made to place cats and kittens in the right home.
Mary and David may be new ‘kitten parents’, but they are doing everything right by their new charges. The kittens have been microchipped and are on a worming and vaccination programme, and most importantly, have been neutered to avoid creating more homeless litters like theirs. Still only six months old, they are very carefully and gradually being introduced to the outside world.
“They are both loving life now, and eating like there’s no tomorrow,” says Mary. “Their weight’s increased to three kilos and the vet says they’re going to grow to be big cats. They’ve outgrown the scratching tree they were given and we’ve had to get them a bigger one so that they can fit on the platforms.
“Sparky is still a little smaller than Freddy, but he’s bolder than his brother and into everything – Freddy tends to hide when the grandchildren come around.
“We’re so pleased we were able to give these homeless kittens a new life. They’re giving us a huge amount of pleasure with their antics, and are a real joy.”
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