Kats & Kits: August 2006

This is a new picture of Tinkerbell and Tuppence, we featured them in an earlier posting when Tinkerbell had had a very difficult birth. As you can see they are both doing very well now.

Our new arrivals are a mother and kittens from the RSPCA that we are caring for until they go on to a foster home. The mother has had a very hard life with numerous litters of kittens. She and the kittens will now get good veterinary care and the mother will be neutered before she is re-homed.

In my last posting I said we often know little about the background of the cats that come to us. One exception is Georgie, an amazing little tortoiseshell who is now firmly ensconced as one of Lorraine’s bed cats after sixteen years living outside. We were approached by a friend who told us that her mother lived on a farm where there was a sixteen year old cat who lived outside on what she caught for herself, only occasionally taking a little dry food. Two or three times a year she would go into the woods to have her kittens, not coming back for several weeks, until they could come with her.

Although she had lived as a farm cat, her feisty personality had made a great impression on everyone - they had begun to worry that, at sixteen, she might not come back as she was very old to still be having kittens. We were asked if we would have her and it was with some trepidation that Lorraine and I drove to the farm to see her.

The farm was very remote with a large wooded area, there were two farm cottages and a few outbuildings and that was all. A lady came out to meet us and took us round the back of one of the houses, and there in an old greenhouse sat this tiny cat with three beautiful kittens. She was very skinny with a big tummy but very bright and certainly did not look her age. We were both very taken with her and her family, and straight away said we would take her and the kittens.

The journey home was quite a long one and we were expecting her to be upset, never having been in a basket much less a car before, but she took it all in her stride and made no fuss then or when we put her in her pen. She got herself and her kittens organised (we later realised what a good mum she was), had a good feed and settled down immediately. After worming, de-fleaing and good food she looked a different cat.

She also had to go through a very late neutering and we were very worried but no need, she sailed through that as well.

Three years have now passed and she's 19 years young and playing with the energy of a cat half her age.

What was the date we brought her home? It was Lorraine’s wedding anniversary and what did she have as a present? Georgie - and that is why she is still with us and has never been re-homed.

Very often when cats come to Kats & Kits we know little of their backgrounds. Sometimes they are strays who have been fending for themselves for a long time and are in poor condition, others are luckier and find compassionate people who do their best to find out where they belong. Almost all Vets and Cat Rescues are able to scan animals to see if they are micro chipped, they also have lost and found books, so this a good port of call if your cat is missing or you have found one.

Cats curiosity can get them into trouble, sleeping in sheds or garages that are then closed, jumping into vans and cars and being driven away, even getting into containers and travelling half way round the world. When a neighbour`s cat went missing it made it’s presence known in the middle of the night, in the wardrobe of the house next door.

What do you do if your cat is missing? Look thoroughly in sheds, garages, cupboards even chests of drawers and get your neighbours to do the same. Next, quickly put up posters and put flyers through letterboxes, you might be lucky and find someone in the next street who is looking for the owner of cat she has just found, yours. In any event do not give up easily, keep ringing the vet and the neighbours, it has been known to take weeks before the cat is found.

If you find a cat then do the same things, ring the Vet, get in touch with a Cat Rescue, ask your neighbours, put up posters and send flyers. There is a good chance that someone will know of somebody who has lost a cat.

Not even a late shower could dampen the spirits at the Kats and Kits Summer Sale. The team would like to thank everybody for their support in making this year's sale a great success.

Anne Savin was a founder member of Kats & Kits. Sadly she is not with us anymore, but is remembered with great affection by all who knew her. Always cheerful and good humoured, she gave us great support from day one, never missing a meeting, taking immaculate minutes, which she typed up on her ancient Remington typewriter. I think secretly she thought we were rather disorganised, but was much too polite to say so.

When we started to fund raise, regular Sales seemed the easiest option as everyone could contribute something, whether time, enthusiasm or chocolate cakes. Miss Savin had the perfect place to hold them.

Her cottage was situated in a small private road just off a busy street in Devizes, so we would set up our tables outside her front door and sell whatever we had made, cushions, bags, cakes, jams, puddings I seem to remember apple crumble was a great favourite. We would dig plants from our gardens and beg for unwanted gifts to use as raffle prizes. While this was going on Miss Savin would make us refreshments even hot water bottles on cold winter days, she would drum up custom by asking her church ladies for coffee and then of course they had to buy. The raffle was her forte, arranged so that the winners got a prize she thought was appropriate for them. No one must be disappointed.

Kats & Kits is fourteen years old this week. Many fund raising events have come and gone and we always ask Miss Savin to take care of the weather for us. Keep your fingers crossed for Saturday, I don’t want to tempt fate by saying she has never let us down.

The weather has changed dramatically, it is much cooler and feels like an early autumn is on the way. The promised rain has not materialised and everywhere is still very dry. At the sanctuary the drop in temperature has made life easier for both cats and helpers alike.

After a break for the summer holidays it is time to organise the next round of sales. Sorting bags and boxes of jumble is exhausting and time consuming but must be done as these are an important source of funding for the Kats and Kits team. The first sale is:

Kats and Kits Summer Sale

Saturday 26th August in The Brittox, Devizes

starting at 9am

If the weather is good it is usually a very busy sale and we try to provide a good selection of books, plants and bric-a-brac. We are famous for the quality of our merchandise and many of our customers are dealers hoping to find something of value that we have missed. This has been known to happen, but thankfully not often now, as we have all learnt a lot over the years.

There are bargains to be had so please visit us to buy, make a donation or, if you feel you would like to help with the cats or at a future sale let us know.

Get the map here.... Summer Sale Map

They say the bond between mother and son is a special one and so it is with Sam and Sally. Sally a very pretty, but very timid tortishell came to Kats&Kits about six years ago, she was stray and had had two litters of kittens in quick succession . She was housed with her youngest kittens and was so frightened, she would climb the wire every time we went into the pen. Eventually we tied a box for her and the kittens high up on a shelf and she seemed happier looking down on us from above. As they got older the kittens soon learnt to use a ladder to get up and down. They were easier to handle than their mum, but it still took a lot of work before they were tame enough to home. Sally however was hardly ever seen out of her box and to this day is still timid, Lorraine being the only one occasionally allowed to stroke her. The older kittens were caught except for one who disappeared completely.

About two months later we got a call to say the remaining one had been found and would we take him. We said yes, but being very short of room, decided we would have to put him with his mum and younger brothers and sisters. It was with some anxiety that we carried the basket into the pen, we couldn’t be sure what his reaction would be, though still only a kitten he had never been handled and was very frightened. In less than a minute he had found his way up the ladder and was sitting in the box with his mother and the kittens. They all took to each other immediately and when the kittens were homed we kept Sam with Sally. You will have gathered we had called the kitten Sam by now.

Mum and son are still very close, Sam goes out hunting and Sally fusses until he comes back, they sleep together and call to each other when they are apart. Sam is more confident than his mum, friendly with the other cats even talking to us as he walks by, but still will not let anyone touch him. So it is because they are both timid that we decided to give them a permanent home at Kats&Kits, where they are familiar with their surroundings and we all understand them. I have heard it on the grape vine that Sam has been seen in the company of Willow and Tibbles, I bet he hasn’t told his mum.

The summer of 2006 is proving to be notable for two things, the start of the Kats and Kit’s blog of course, and the hot dry weather. Everywhere is beginning to look very parched, the unharvested wheat is a dusty shade of caramel, and a water shortage is a real possibility. Here at the cat sanctuary we are doing our best to save water by reusing it on the garden. The flower tubs and borders look so beautiful that it would very sad if they died through lack of water. The cats of course are all quite happy, sleeping all day and coming out in the cool of the evening to watch the mice, hedgehogs and the bats swooping above their heads.

Though our setting sounds completely rural and in many ways it is, we are situated in Wiltshire on the edge of Salisbury Plain and are often aware of the sounds of guns and aircraft as this vast area of chalk down land is used as a military training ground. Because of its inaccessibility to the public it is a rich wildlife habitat and National Nature Reserve. It's other claim to fame is, of course, the ancient World Heritage Site at Stonehenge as well as the much larger cirlce at Avebury, the white horse hill carvings and numerous iron age features such as Silbury Hill and burial barrows.

Within thirty miles we have the beautiful cathedral city of Salisbury, cosmopolitan Bath, and the once industrial but now hi-tech Swindon, associated with The Great Western Railway of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and of course last but not least Longleat House and its famous Safari Park with slightly larger cats than the ones that live with us.

This is Liquorice and Bob whom we have always suspected were related but have never had any proof. Liquorice came into our lives several years ago through my cat flap. One evening I heard a loud bang, went to the kitchen, to find a large black cat sitting in the middle of the floor. I have never been sure if he came on his own or if someone pushed him through the flap because they knew I worked for the rescue. He was very large with a strange speckled black coat, a typical entire tom. After several attempts to put him back outside I realised he wasn’t going anywhere, so I decided to ask the neighbours and see if anyone knew him. He followed me up and down the garden paths like a dog, and when we had no luck followed me home again. He spent the night in the shed, and when I got up the next morning he was washing in the sun waiting for his breakfast. As you will have gathered he was a very good natured cat but quite determined to stay. While we made more enquires he came to K&Ks and was very happy with us. After several weeks, no one had come forward and he was neutered and rehomed at the local village pub, where he was a great favourite with the customers.

Bob appeared a year or two later. Neighbours came to ask me if I could do anything about a stray cat that was terrorizing their cats. We set a trap and after a few attempts managed to catch him. Cat traps are not cruel, they work by the cat stepping on a plate when he goes in after food, and this closes the door. When I looked at him I could see he looked just like Liquorice, same shape and size and same speckled coat. Bob has proved to be a character cat in every way and still lives with us at K&Ks. He is very popular with the ladies and usually has a harem trailing after him. The picture shows him going for supper with two of his girls.

We have never been able to establish if Liquorice and Bob were related but if another speckled black cat turns up, we will be very suspicious.

Kats & Kits

The Diary of a Rural Cat Sanctuary

Character Cats

31 August 2006

Updates and New Arrivals

Georgie - Anniversary Present

27 August 2006

Lost and Found

26 August 2006

Summer Sale - Latest Pictures

22 August 2006

Summer Sale under Miss Savin's Watchful Gaze

15 August 2006

Kats and Kits Summer Sale!

11 August 2006

Sam and Sally

08 August 2006

Around and About Kats and Kits

03 August 2006

Introducing... Liquorice and Bob

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