Friday, March 29, 2024
cats for adoptionrescue stories

Rescue Story: Willie, Boss Cat

one-eyed tabby cat
Willie supervisin’ operations.

Willie, it turns out, is a skilled supervisor and all-around charming kitty, not too old and just a little worse for the wear. How he ended up hanging with a stray and feral group of cats being fed by a kind woman is only a guess, but you can be sure there’s a story behind it.

The kind-hearted woman in question was feeding her cats and setting traps to catch those who needed to attend the next day’s TNR clinic. Willie simply appeared in one of her traps, though she’d never seen him before.

Another rescuer, Lynn, was transporting cats to the clinic the next day and would take them home to her husband’s workshop to recover indoors overnight before being taken back to the kind woman who fed them.

Willie took a slightly different path, though. He was a little torn up and his eye hadn’t looked good, sunken and shrunken from presumably an older injury. When she picked him up Lynn was also told, along with his testicles, his injured eye had had to be removed and she would need to try to give him pain medications and antibiotics.

one-eyed tabby cat
Willie turned out to be pretty friend.

“I had no idea if I could even touch him,” she said. The cat was a total stranger, picked up from someone else and even a stranger to her, so she had no idea what is attitude had been before surgery. Handling a cat after surgery can be tricky to begin with, but a potentially feral or unsocialized cat right after surgery? That’s a tall order. The other cats would stay overnight and go back outside where they’d been, but Willie would need more permanent accommodations for a while. Lynn and her husband had recently added a room onto their home for the foster kittens and cats, but with a cat directly from the outdoors with unknown history the better place was back into the workshop by himself.

“I took him home, got him set up in a cage, put on some gloves and tried to pet him,” she said. “He never once growled or hissed at me. I rub his head and he seems to care so I quickly gave him his meds.”

Success that first time, and in the course of days, “he was waiting for pets and scratches but was afraid to come out of the cage.”

Willia-cage

What to do? He might go back out since he didn’t have a home, but though had healed well he was so nice and had obviously been someone’s cat, and our TNR group tries hard not to return friendly cats to colonies if there is a foster and a possibility of finding them a home. And having been beaten up, apparently by another cat, he would not fare well.

A one-eyed middle-aged cat could have a problem finding a home, but that could be overcome. Then, because he was to be adopted at some point, FIV and FeLV tests were done and he turned out to be FIV+. Until he healed and his temperament was determined he had to be kept in quarantine, so he stayed in the workshop in his cage.

one-eyed tabby cat
You need permission to come in here!

“Then about a week ago [around Christmas] he came out and ran all over the shop,” said Lynn. “Had cobwebs all over his head. He loves hanging out with my hubby. Likes to actually rest his head on tools and molding that Brian is working on. His little feet make biscuits all the time. He is putting on weight and his coat is starting to shine.”

one-eyed tabby cat
Willie uses a sander as a pillow

You can see from his photos that he’s a happy, friendly cat. It’s one of the happy parts of the TNR process that we discover friendly cats all the time, down on their luck after being abandoned by people or having been lost. Unless there is absolutely no place for them at all they stay in foster until they find a home.

But even though Lynn and Brian love him to pieces and Willie is happy supervising the guys in the woodworking shop they can’t keep him. The FIV is no problem but it reduces his immunity, and they foster cats and kittens all the time who need medications for various illnesses which could be transmitted to Willie.

one-eyed tabby cat
Willie works on some sanding.

And the shop is not a good place for him either because it’s just a side occupation for Brian, and it’s only heated when he is working there and very hot in the summer. The tools are dangerous and the stains and finishes have strong fumes.

Willie still needs a little medical care, having a few teeth removed, and he also needs to gain some weight. Once he is totally recovered and has all his vaccines he will be searching for a special home with a special person.

“He is such a great boy. Personality Plus!” said Lynn.

Willie is in the Pittsburgh area. If you think you could give Willie a great home, contact me.

All photos courtesy Lynn Choltko Cullieton.


Read more stories in my weekly Rescue Stories series
and read about my Rescue Stories series.

Can’t adopt? Foster! Can’t foster? Donate or volunteer.

There are so many ways you can help cats who need homes and care. You may not have room to adopt another cat, but can foster a cat or kitten for a few weeks. If not that, you can volunteer at a shelter or with a rescue, or donate. You do this because you love your cat, and by doing so you help all cats. No matter which of these actions you take, you help to save a life, and make life better for all cats.

  • Adopt one of the cats I’ve posted here, or from any shelter or rescue near you, or from Petfinder, to open up a space for another cat to be rescued and fostered.
  • Offer to foster cats or kittens for a shelter or rescue near you.
  • Volunteer at a shelter or rescue.
  • Find a group of volunteers who work with homeless cats and help them with their efforts.
  • Donate to a shelter or rescue near you.

If you can foster kittens or adults cats to help prepare them for a forever home, please run to your nearest shelter and find a cat who needs you! Anyone can help with this effort at any level, even if all you do is donate to a shelter or rescue so they can help to pay for the food or medications needed for their foster, or the spay/neuter/veterinary care during a clinic.

Need to know more? Read Fostering for Your Shelter and Fostering Saves Lives


All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.


Subscribe to The Creative Cat on your Kindle

Start with a 14-day free trial. You can cancel at any time during the free trial period. If you enjoy your subscription, do nothing and it will automatically continue at the regular monthly price of 99 cents. Click here to subscribe to The Creative Cat on your Kindle.


Do you appreciate the stories and images we offer you each day?

Support The Creative Cat

© 2014 | www.TheCreativeCat.net | Published by Bernadette E. Kazmarski
Weekly schedule of features:
Sunday: Essays, Pet Loss, Poetry, The Artist’s Life
Monday: Adoptable Cats, TNR & Shelters
Tuesday: Rescue Stories
Wednesday: Commissioned Portrait or Featured Artwork
Thursday: New Merchandise
Friday: Book Review, Health and Welfare, Advocacy
Saturday: Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat, Living Green With Pets, Creating With Cats
And sometimes, I just throw my hands in the air and have fun!
FACEBOOK | TWITTER | LINKEDIN | ETSY SHOP | PINTEREST | TUMBLR | STUMBLEUPON | GOOGLE+ | EMAIL

HOME

Bernadette

From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

6 thoughts on “Rescue Story: Willie, Boss Cat

  • Anne Slevin

    Willie will be in my thoughts and prayers. I am hoping the New Year finds him with loving people who he can share his love and inner strengths with. He is beautiful!

    Reply
    • We hope so too, Anne. A cat like Willie totally deserves it.

      Reply
  • dood….heerz R new yeerz wish for ewe that yur in & chillaxin in yur new for evers for ever by mid januaree
    de best oh all fishes buddy ♥♥♥♥♥ heerz two a burd free, happee, healthee N blessed 2015

    Reply
  • How sad that Willie ended up in the system,probably through no fault of his own.
    Humans are not very nice sometimes.
    Glad he was rescued and got care.
    I hope he will get a good home soon too.
    Nancy and the kitties

    Reply
    • Willie would be hard to resist. I hope we can find a shop for him if not a forever home!

      Reply

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this:
Verified by ExactMetrics