Barney the Bully Cat Found a Loving Home

Barney very vocal

A local farmer noticed a long haired white and ginger cat visiting his farm.  He'd not seen him before but after a few visits the farmer suspected the cat was lost.  He gave the some food and let him shelter in his barn.  The cat seemed happy to make his home there and since there were no reports of a lost white and ginger male cat the farmer figured a more permanent solution was needed.

He contacted his local cat rescue which is us and luckily for this little fella I had room in my house for another.  The farmer was a cheerful soul, sorry to see the cat go but knowing he would be in good hands.

As the cat's prior home was a barn I called him Bar
ney.  He was a little nervous and hid behind the loo for the first few days.  

Eventually Barney came round and made himself at home.  Barney was a very loving cat towards humans, very vocal in his greetings and loved to be stroked.  Barney was, however, not so friendly towards the other cat I was fostering,, Sophie ,a little aloof tortie.  He made her life very difficult eating her food and seemed to have no regard for Sophie's space at all.  

Sophie quickly showed signs of distress finding high up places to sleep. Not unusual for cats but in this Sophie's  case it was a change in her behaviour.  She started staying in her littler box after doing what she needed to do which was more evidence something was wrong.

So I decided to keep the two cats separate and would allow them to "take turns" in having the run of the house while the other was kept in a separate room.  This is not an ideal situation but it reduced the immediate threat that Barney presented to Sophie.

Barney, thankfully, was adopted quickly.  The family who adopted him had owned many cats  over the years and experienced enough to recognise and handle problematic cat behaviour.   Barney greeted the family's mum with a display of his belly as if agreeing that this should be his new family.    This kind family also made a very generous donation to the charity.  I was confident that Barney had found  his forever home and Sophie returned to her usual sleeping places quietly purring away.

Enid - a quick update on the latest foster cat

Enid climbing on my exercise machine

Just a quick update on Enid the new resident foster cat. She's settled in very well and Hildy and Enid seem happy chasing each other round the house, burning off some young cat energy.

Occasionally they rub noses, a good sign of friendship, at other times I hear the sound of hissing usually coming from Hildy who is the grumpier of the two. Enid is very mischievous and loves to climb anything she can. She appears to dare herself to higher climbs and once or twice I've had to rescue her from the top of the wardrobe.

Enid was spayed last week with an overnight stay at the vets. She seemed tired but happy to be home the next day. Her stitches are healing well and I've been checking them a few times a day. I'm working on a short video to document her little "adventure" so I'll post that out soon as it's finished.

Hildy and Enid friends at last