A couple of years later I opened the curtains one morning to be greeted by two yellow-green saucer eyes peering through the window.  Sitting on my patio was a sorry looking fluffy tabby cat with the most beautiful face I’d ever seen on a cat.  I opened the back door and crept slowly towards him with my hand outstretched.  He was very nervous and unsure but he let me touch his head lightly before he backed away.  I looked at my fingers and they were black with dirt.  The poor boy was smelly, thick with dirt and his body hair was matted.  I went inside and got some cat food and water for him and he devoured them quickly and left.  After that it became his routine to peer though my patio doors at approximately 10pm every night and I would take him out food and water.  Over the next few weeks he began to trust me and eventually I was able to stroke him properly and he wouldn’t back away when I approached him.

One Sunday I managed to entice him into the house and put him in a basket and took him to Cat Rescue where he was put in a pen as he was too smelly to have in the house and he hadn’t been neutered.  The next day he was taken to the vet who shaved off all his matted body hair so he looked like a poodle with a fluffy head, tail and legs and completely bald everywhere else!.  He was checked over and a nasty ulcer was found in the roof of his mouth which thankfully was dealt with easily with a course of antibiotics.  Once he was well enough he was neutered and I was able to take him home again.  We decided to call him Ciccio (pronounced Cheecho).  Ciccio and Othi became the best of friends and spent hours sleeping together and washing each other.  Ciccio is now the most beautiful cat with soft fur and curls on his stomach.  He is so gentle and so loving and is very grateful to be in a loving home.  He follows me and my husband everywhere and talks to us with little bleating noises.

Othello stopped vomiting after a year or so with us.  We had to feed him dried food for a couple of years as that was easier for him to digest but now he can eat anything and his favourite food is Waitrose free range chicken from the spit roast which he has often as a treat!

I would love my cats to live forever but when they do eventually pass away and I am looking for some new cat friends I will always have a rescued cat.  They make lovely pets and are eternally grateful and loving and it is a wonderful feeling to be able to help these friends in need.  I don’t think they ever forget how it was before they found their loving home and they adore you for giving it to them.

Suzanne