Neil Featherby
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Category Archives: Success stories
Doodlebug
There is only one thing we like better than telling about the amazing wildlife rescues we can do thanks to you and that is getting updates from people adopting from us!
Doodlbug was a cat regularly being bred to make money for her owner. A volunteer befriended and persuaded the owner to allow us to neuter her for free! Lyz went to collect her for neutering, it was an abusive environment (out of control young family) and we felt she could not return to this. After long chats with the owner, they agreed to allow rehoming to happen. Doodlebug was aggressive and scared and wasn’t the nicest of house guests here at the sanctuary, but with time she improved and was rehomed. Sadly, returning as she was struggling to be a friendly pet. After returning to the sanctuary a couple of times she was returning for what we thought was the last time and allowed to be here for the rest of her life. A resident who can be who they are!
Little did we know…..
When we rehome a pet we ask what personality the new owner wants. Then to our surprise, the perfect couple came along!! She has her chance and they get the perfect pet for them :)) She is a madam and they wouldn’t have it any other way! We are all different and we all have a special place in this world!! 🙂
Here’s what her new owners had to say:
“Hi! I adopted a lovely kitty from you in October, doodlebug (the parrot/ shoulder cat!) now called Pickle! I was told by Lyz how missed she is at Hallswood so thought I’d send over some photos of her and let you know she’s very happy being the queen of the house. She’s still feisty when she wants to be but Pickle’s a real softy and loves snuggling up in bed and being cradled like a baby in fact she’s almost completely stopped being a shoulder cat and prefers being cradled, I think maybe she was a parrot for attention!”
What a happy ending!
To help us help more cats such as Doodlebug, please consider sending us a donation to our PayPal. You can either send direct to [email protected] or use the link PayPal.me/Hallswood
Thank you <3
Gizmo
Happy caturrrday from Ginger George!
The farm owner had him trapped, neutered and chipped. It was felt he was too wild to tame.
He made himself a nest in a Laurel tree. He was fed there by one of our fosterers
She was prepared to give him time and space to get used to indoor life and her. To begin with, he was quite scared and skittish but with lots of patience, Lesley won him round.
Old does not mean not worthy
Hallswoods belief is that everyone deserves a chance - sometimes that means a warm safe home with us for the rest of an animals or birds life 🙂
Most time that will be at the sanctuary, but sometimes a volunteer or member of staff will help out.
This is a story about Rachael and Raymond 🙂
"My job every day at the sanctuary is to check all the animals as I go round and feed and water them all. One day back in October I went in to feed the racer pigeons. I saw this pigeon sitting on the floor at the back of the aviary. I thought the poor little thing had passed away as Lyz has told me many of the pigeons in there are quite old. I walked up to him to pick him up and he was alive! So I took him in to the hospital and was told to put him on a heat mat to warm him up a bit. He was in the hospital for a few weeks after that. So I said to Lyz I would love to take him home. She said I could! So I called him Raymond. He is very old man and he can't fly or perch very well . But he is happy eating drinking and cooing at my house. Since he has been in mine he walks a lot better than what he did do. He still can't fly but he walks around the living room like he owns it lol."
What bird is your favourite?
I must admit I do love pigeons. They have the most beautiful shiny feathers!
xxMaria
Did you know that many of the pigeons brought to us have canker? You can find the tablets we use for this on our amazon wishlist 🙂
https://amzn.eu/9uE8XXQ
Happy ending for Bear
Bear lived unhappily in a multi cat household and spent a lot of her time at UEA. One morning in late June she was clipped by a car . A lovely lady took her to Eaton Vets where it was discovered she had smashed her top and bottom jaw and broken a few teeth.
Unfortunately the previous owner was unable to pay for her care and we stepped in. She had surgery to repair her injuries and stayed at the vets to recover. Bear was then moved to one of our fosterers and stayed there to recuperate. She was well enough to be adopted in early August.
She now lives as an only cat in the countryside far away from busy roads. She is an absolute love bug and makes her new owner laugh every day. She’s brightened up their lives. She loves sitting on the side of the bath waiting for her owner to finish. Recently she’s taken to stealing all the candles in the house together with earrings!
I just love writing these happy stories Bear is one lucky kitty xx
It’s the cats that choose
This story is about a girl cat who was abandoned by her first owner when they moved away. Just 2 years old she was very lucky to be adopted by an older couple and she ended up spending the next 9 years with them.
Sadly due to ill health, they were unable to continue to look after her.
After spending a bit of time with one of our fosterers we found her a forever home.
To say that it was love at first sight is an understatement – As soon as the lady walked in the cat walked over to her and didn’t leave her side. This was clearly who she wanted as her forever human!
Many rescues have very strict rules as to who, where and how they will adopt and this lady had been turned down by many others due to her address.
After chatting with her, getting the full picture, we realised that she would be more than suitable to adopt this cat.
We find that often you need to find out more and hear the full circumstances of a potential adopter before you make a decision. Someone might sound perfect on paper but turn out to be wrong for the cat in question – another time it is the total opposite.
They say that cats choose their owners and it is certainly true for the cats in our care.
From grrrr to purrrrr
A beautiful young cat was surrendered to us after biting both the owner and her child.
We took her to a fosterer who started to work on taming this lovely girl. It turned out that she was really sweet but a strongminded girl and that the constant attention from a young child very likely was the source of the problem. Quickly she went from a growling cat to a relaxed girl loving a bit of fuss, as long as it was on her terms.
After advertising that we had a young cat up for adoption we received a message from an older lady who recently lost her cat. We did a home-check over video and she passed with flying colours! After a successful meeting between the lady and the cat adoption was agreed.
This is how we rehome. We match the animal with the right human. This is why we say we don’t rehome based on colour or looks, but rather personality and suitability. We believe that it is much more important that you get an animal that suits you and your reality. Limiting yourself to “a ginger fluffy kitten” might just mean that you are missing out on that perfect match.
This is the update we received when we asked how things are going.
“Just beautifully! She is so funny – she’s very fussy and playful and pretty much ruling the roost – she strongly disagreed with staying in one room and rumour has it that she has very much taken to an afternoon read in bed with the new owner”
This match has not only transformed the life of this supposed aggressive cat but also this lovely lady.
It turned out that this cat was not aggressive at all, she just didn’t suit a busy household with children – no fault of neither the cat or the previous owner.