Four Cats, Two Outcomes

With stray cats on the increase, we often receive calls from concerned people who see the collarless felines in their gardens.

We recently had a group of four sisters come into our care. You can read their full story below, but having had them treated, microchipped and neutered, the two pairs of siblings will have different outcomes with one pair up for adoption and the other returned to their original environment, where they are most likely to be happy. 

With increasing cat numbers (plus dogs & rabbits) needing welfare from us, our costs are growing too. We spent three times us much on animal welfare in 2022 as we did in 2021. If you are able to assist us to continue to provide all the welfare that is needed, please click on the donate button below. Many thanks.

Bonnet, Bunny, Kitkat and Esther are four cats who had started begging for food from a lady’s house in Thornton Heath and being concerned about their health as potentially unowned cats, they contacted a local charity called The New Moon Rescue, to help them. 

New Moon Rescue did an amazing job catching them and we worked with them to provide space so we could get them checked out. 

While in our care, we had them neutered, vaccinated, microchipped, flea treated, wormed and tested for FIV and FeLV. 

It was only a matter of time before these sisters were going to multiply if left unneutered on the streets, and four young healthy cats could easily become twenty in the space of a few months if they all fell pregnant at the same time!

While it was great to have them in our care, we started to see that they weren’t as friendly as initially thought, and we quickly realised that the youngest of the four cats, Esther and Kitkat, had absolutely no interest in interacting with humans and didn’t show us any signs that they were happy or relaxed. 

After discussing what would be best for their welfare, we decided to approach the original lady who had been feeding them to see if they would be interested in taking back 9-month old Esther and Kitkat, as we knew that was the last, and probably only, place they had felt comfortable enough to be themselves. 

As luck would have it, the lady was eager to help and understood that these cats had grown up under specific circumstances that had stunted their socialisation. 

As Esther and Kitkat were a younger pair of siblings, it is likely that they experienced less interaction with humans during their socialisation period (which is between weeks 2 and 7), and Bonnet and Bunny happened to have more socialisation with humans during that time in their upbringing. 

Esther and Kitkat are now back where they are most familiar, except they have been adopted by a wonderful lady who will feed them and keep an eye out for them. They will of course be given the opportunity to interact with humans if they would like to, but this way they can do it on their own terms!

Bonnet and Bunny, having clearly had more socialisation during that critical period, started to show positive signs quite early on and would come out for food despite still being a bit shy. Bonnet in particular was the boldest and would rub up against our legs when going to feed them! 

To get Bonnet and Bunny more out of their shell and to see what they would be like in a home environment, we sent them to one of our amazing fosterers named Sophie. 

Sophie took them into her home with delight and since then we’ve been pleasantly bombarded with photos of them wreaking havoc!

After witnessing how badly socialised Esther and Kitkat were, we expected Bonnet and Bunny to take a few weeks before being ready for adoption, but they exploded with energy after only a weekend with Sophie. 

Bonnet is still much bolder, but Bunny has gotten more and more comfortable and will happily sit on the bed with Sophie while she reads. 

They have both shown all the textbook signs that they are relaxed. You can see that they are both learning everything about furnishings and facilities such as washing machines, as Bonnet and Bunny separately had to figure out what on earth this spinning contraption was!

We are really proud to be able to provide alternative outcomes for the cats in our care, as it means we can focus solely on their welfare without putting all cats onto the same conveyor belt which might actually make things worse for them. 

This is a wonderful example of how each cat is individual and should be treated as such.

We are now looking for a home for Bonnet and Bunny to go to together, and in particular we are looking for a home with outdoor access, no other cats or dogs, and unfortunately no young children because these cats will need to be the ones initiating contact if they want it. 

They are 1.5 years old and have oodles of energy so will provide you with a lot of entertainment just to watch them explore every nook and cranny! 

Please email us on enquiries@rspcasouthlondon.org.uk if you’re interested in giving them a home, or if you would like to make a donation to help us continue helping the animals in our branch area then feel free to have a look at our JustGiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/rspcacroydon-crystalpalace.