Success Stories
Here you can see the cats we have helped before to find their forever homes or recover. Of course, not every story has a happy ending, but it has always been better than never trying to make a difference in the lives of the cats at all. The more we try to help the cats, the more we succeed at helping them.
Peggy
We were contacted by an association from another town about a 5 week old kitten that had been run over and couldn't walk. She had a broken pelvis and broken legs.
We collected Peggy and were initially told that she needed one of her legs amputating. We weren't ready to give up that easily and after further visits to vets we were told she still had nerve function in her leg which gave her a big chance of recovering from the trauma.
So the treatment began. Multiple times a day we gave Peggy physio on her leg and slowly she began to regain some use of her leg and as the breaks healed she began to start walking again. Before we knew it she was running and jumping everywhere, there was no stopping her and that energy has never faulted, Peggy is the most full of life of all the cats we've ever had in our care and adored by everyone even our biggest grumpiest dog allows her to nuzzle up to him and jump on him.
To see Peggy go from this tiny little baby dragging her back legs along to the little gymnast she is now is amazing and exactly the reason we do what we do.
Peggy will always have a slight limp but it doesn't stop her from doing anything and we have since discovered that when her spine and pelvis was healing 2 vertebra fused together trapping a nerve. Which may give her a little trouble from time to time but rest will have her back on her feet in no time. Because of this Peggy will stay with us permanently because she will require treatment for this problem. She now has many siblings to chase around with.
Wobbles
We were contacted by someone who had found a tiny cat on the streets that couldn't walk properly. They had taken him to their local vets. When we collected him we was informed he had something called ataxia and he had no chance of survival and we should just put him to sleep. We took wobbles home to see what happened with him. We researched his condition and found it is very common in cats and is very survivable with different variations of severity.
Wobbles has something called cerebellar hypoplasia it is a neurological disorder that is caused by an unvaccinated mother becoming ill whilst pregnant. It causes the baby's cerebellum to not form properly which then causes balance problems when the baby is born. There is no chance that once he was weaned from his mother that he would survive on the streets with this condition. Once we knew what it was we immediately took him to see a neurologist in the city. After a very thorough check up we were assured that he had every chance of survival and a normal life if just a bit of a wobbly one. He is not in any pain, to Wobbles this is just his normality.
Wobbles continually surprises is with his determination. He is a normal playful kitten who doesn't let the big ones push him around. He maybe small but he is mighty. He can jump astonishingly high to get on the sofa and he can run incredibly fast especially at meal times where he makes it very loudly known he wants feeding.
Wobbles will stay in our care because of his condition.
Peggy And Wobbles
Peggy and wobbles came in to our centre roughly about the same time. Both with mobility problems. Theres about a month difference in age so it made sense to let them play together and help each other. They banded quickly and became very close siblings.
Peggy and wobbles will stay with us permanently because of their ongoing health issues. They have integrated perfectly into our home with our other cats and dogs. Peggy is as playful as ever and has even learnt to switch on the battery operated cat toy for all the other cats, where as wobbles likes to find whatever heater is on and lounge as close as he can to it or enjoy snuggling in my blanket with me for warm cuddles.
Ramón
Ramon is one of the babies we raised from birth. After being asked for help with a heavily pregnant street cat we caught their mother. When we got her to the centre she was already in labour and it seemed had been for a while. After a little time observing her and consulting with the vets it was determined she needed medical intervention. We rushed her to the emergency vets where she had an emergency C-section. There were 7 babies in total but sadly 3 had already passed. The mother had been through such a traumatic time that she rejected the remaining 4 babies. They were all really weak but we had to try our best. We took them home and began bottle feeding them. We had another cat in our centre who's babies were being weaned already so we thought we would introduce them slowly to her. She didn't hesitate. Sheba, our super mum, immediately took them as her own. Without her we really don't believe they would have survived. They thrived with a mum's milk.
Ramon was quickly adopted by Jose who instantly fell in love with him. Ramon now lives his best life with his new brother, Rafa.
It gives us great pleasure to receive updates on his adventures with Rafa and Jose.
Sheba And Her Babies
Sheba was abandoned on our doorstep with her 3 newborn babies. Sheba was an amazing mum and all of her babies thrived. Sheba also went on to foster a further 5 babies who would not have survived if it had not been for our hero mum. One of Sheba's babies, Bob, and one of the foster babies, Runt, have been adopted by one of our wonderful staff members. Ramón, another of her foster babies, also found his forever home. Sheba, Dora and Mumbo are all still awaiting their forever homes, as are Bean, Petee, and Stripe, who were all fostered by Sheba. They are all so sweet and loving. Mumbo and Dora have their mothers calm, caring nature while Bean, Petee, and Stripe have a playful and energetic streak. They are all truly a pleasure to be around. If you are interested in adopting one of them, see the "Our Cats" page.
Runt And Bob
Runt and Bob are two special cats that have both found a home together and bonded as sisters with one of our valued staff members.
Bob was one of the babies left on our doorstep with her mother, Sheba, and siblings, Mumbo and Dora. She was named Bob after being mistaken for a male the first time her sex was checked, but her owner kept the name. Bob has always been such a heavy sleeper that we have had a scare on more than one occasion, but she has always been a very loving and sweet girl. As time passed, she grew to be the smallest of her siblings.
Runt was one of the babies the was fostered by Sheba, so she grew up around Bob and formed a bond with her. Runt was, as her name implies, the runt of her litter and is still the smallest of them, even if she could easily eat for two. She was fed with a syringe alongside her siblings (Ramón, Petee, and Stripe) by the staff member who adopted her as the time they shared formed an unbreakable and loving bond.
Both cats are very happy with their owner, and they are spoiled rotten thanks to their irresistible charm and playful, loving personalities.
Mi Secreto Cat (Gordi)
This beautiful girl came to us from the streets very heavily pregnant. We were asked by a local cafe to help catch her as previous attempts had gone terribly wrong. We came up with a different solution that kept her calm. Within minutes of us leaving after setting up the cage for her we got a call saying she had gone in immediately. We were elated at this quick success and collected her straight away. When we got her to the centre and got to have a good look it became clear she was already in labour.
We kept in contact with the vets regarding her progress but after a couple of hours it was clear she was in trouble. We took her to the emergency vet on call, who quickly decided an emergency C-section was needed. Everything was made more difficult as this girl was totally feral having lived her life on the streets.
She came through the surgery well. She had had 7 babies 3 of which had already passed and the other 4 were unlikely to make it either.
Sadly because of the terrible trauma she had been through she rejected all of the remaining babies. The vet said her reaction was one shed never seen before. Usually mothers who reject their babies will still acknowledge their existence even if it is only to bat them away. This girl had no reaction whatsoever to their cries or their presence showing how much trauma she had been through herself.
Mum stayed with us until she had completely recovered from her surgery. We released her back to the cafe where we caught her.
We are beyond delighted to say she has made this place her home. She is part of the furniture now or should we say she now owns the furniture there. She has had a complete change in personality since being sterilized. She lounges all day every day amongst the clients allowing some of them to pet her. She is very happy as are the wonderful ladies at Mi Secreto who have allowed her to be part if their establishment.
(As for her babies it was also a happy ending and you can read the stories of Runt, Ramon, Stripe and Petee on their own success stories).
