Hello! I'm not exactly a new member as I joined this forum in 2010 but I haven't posted since then and a lot has changed since then so I want to kind of re-introduce myself.
So back in 2010 my cat Cheeky vanished, which is why I joined in the first place, to spread the word. Sadly, I never did find him and I highly doubt he will ever return.
I kind of inherited him from someone else in the first place before I had any sort of clue about cats other than they were cute and furry and quite mysterious. So all my advice came from this person who I inherited him from. The advice, I realise now, was extremely outdated and mythical. This person told me I should not have Cheeky neutered as it would spoil his personality. I think this is how I ended up loosing him in the first place (not to mention the countless injuries he sustained from fighting).
It also turns out that the person I inherited him from actually took Cheeky in as a stray. So I have no idea where he actually first came from or whether he ended up finding his way back to his real home or even if his nature was to just move on a lot.
He wasn't microchipped so I don't know anything about whether he was owned previously or not. I regret not having him microchipped, again I got some weird advice on this; "it makes them ill". He did have a collar with his name and my address and telephone number on but it turns out my nasty neighbour (who thankfully has moved) stole his tag so even if he was found, there was no way they'd know where he came from if he managed to get a long distance away.
So anyway, at the end of summer 2010 my (now) husband suggested we look into getting a new cat as he knew how upset I was about Cheeky. I schooled myself on all things cat for months and decided the best thing to do would be to adopt from a shelter.
We rang Cat's Protection League at the end of October who were initially fantastic. In November we got a call saying a cat fosterer had 6 month old kittens that they thought we'd be suited to. However, I knew we were going to be away for a week that month and didn't think it would be fair on the cat to be left alone so soon. We told them about this and obviously they couldn't just hold the cat until then so we said we would pass this time but would be interested after we came back. They said to call them when we returned as they thought it was likely they would soon have another available that would be suited to us.
However, this is when things went bad with them. My husband telephoned them shortly after we returned (I think this was actually still technically November, although extremely late in the month). A lady (who I assume we never spoke to before) answered the phone and was extremely rude to him. He explained who we were briefly and she snapped "NO. We don't give 'kittys'(?) for Christmas". He tried to explain we had been in touch since October and about us being away in November but she just snapped "No, absolutely not!" and put the phone down much to my husband's surprise and my disgust. I can't believe that people who work for a charity that apparently wants to find cats new homes could act this way! I can understand how it must be a case of being cautious around Christmas (although I think this may have still been November) but to be so utterly rude especially after explaining the situation is just wrong. So we never went back as we were too put off.
So we ended up buying a kitten instead. In January my husband went to see a lady who was selling a 3 month old kitten. She was just starting out as a bengal and bengal cross home breeder who took her cats to shows. She had initially planned to keep this kitten, but his mother fell pregnant again really quickly and had become very aggressive towards him even at a distance. His mother was a Bengal cross and his father a ginger tom, so he's a bit of a mix. He settled extremely quickly and never stopped purring since the day we brought him home! His name is Simba
I was initially afraid to make him an outdoor cat, and thought I would probably keep him as an indoor cat only. I decided to keep him in until he was at least a year old at any rate. However, this is where things went a bit crazy.
Whilst he mostly looks like a regular ginger cat (apart from a few markings that are not too distinct) he started displaying some bengal traits. He would jump in the bath with me. As soon as a tap turned on anywhere he would be rolling around under it. He could jump extremely high. He seemed to want a lot of stimulation and would still be going crazy even after he had worn himself into a panting state. I made sure to have him neutered early on and microchipped. I assumed neutering would calm him down but it didn't. Whilst he was not aggressive, when he was playing he would often hurt us. He was always very loving and purrs constantly but it was like he just couldn't get enough exercise indoors (he would continuously run up and down a LOT). I decided I couldn't keep him indoors forever so as soon as he turned 1 I unblocked the cat flap and trained him to use it which he picked up instantly.
It was the best thing I could have done for him. He is now so much calmer indoors as he gets all his exercise outside (which includes the weirdest thing I have ever seen - not climbing but RUNNING straight up trees and then turning somersaults at the top branches). He has made friends with the neighbours cats, which includes a little girl ginger cat who is exactly the same age has him and they roll around together over and over all the time. He seems very content. He has however started doing something recently that I will be asking for advice about today.
But for now here is Simba:
