Boris was picked up by an RSPCA inspector as an injured stray back in January. He had a nasty neck wound and was generally a bit battered from living as a stray for however long.
We got him treated, neutered and vaccinated, and discovered that he was FIV positive, quite common in unneutered stray toms. Unfortunately this would mean he would have to be rehomed as an indoor cat due to the contagious nature of FIV.
Boris was not particularly friendly towards humans, understandable as he’d been living as a stray probably without much human contact. But we knew we would have to try and bring him round and restore some trust in him if we were going to find him a happy home.
He went into a foster home where, over the next three and a half months, he gradually started to come around. Initially he hid away and the foster owners barely saw him during the day. He caused us a few headaches as he scratched open his neck wound a couple of times and we had quite a hard time trying to get him into the cat carrier to get him seen at the vets again!
As his confidence grew, he would start to come and sit with the foster family in the evenings, but still dart off at any sudden noises or movements. They persevered and once they started to introduce some enrichment toys to entice Boris out and keep him entertained, he started to be a lot more sociable and it felt like he was finally happy to be in a home.
We were then contacted by the lovely Lauren & Amy who had been looking for an indoor cat for some time and loved the sound of Boris. They knew it might be a while before he really settled with them but they were prepared to put in the work. And it’s paid off as you can read below from Lauren & Amy’s update.
“He is still a bit shy but his confidence has grown massively and he is very happy in his new home. His neck has got much better, but still needs some antiseptic spray every now and then.
He loves to play with catnip toys and balls. He explores all over our flat but his favourite place is under the clothes horse!!
He loves Dreamies! We love Boris and it’s fabulous seeing his confidence grow every day.”
If you are able to donate a little money so we can look after other cats like Boris and find them the loving forever home that they deserve, please click this link to our Just Giving page.
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