Wanderings: Tale of Two Cats

I don’t often do cat posts here, but just occasionally it is needed.

We first encountered Moff and Koop at the Oxford Animal Sanctuary just over a year ago - and they came to stay with us at the beginning of March 2017, so we’ve just got to their first adoption-day.

These two, we think they’re siblings, were c.19 years old when they moved in with us, so they were already well into the geriatric age range.

They had lived with an elderly Oxfordshire couple and M & K really didn’t take well to life in the hustle and bustle of the Animal Sanctuary. Most of their time was spent hiding under things or eating. Our first tasks were to encourage them to come of hiding and to lose a bit of the excess weight.

The first few days were challenging - much of our time was spent trying to figure out where the latest hiding place was and they always hid in different places (being siblings doesn’t mean they like each other!).

Once we’d got past the staying hidden 24 hours-a-day phase, we gradually introduced (or re-introduced) them to Outside. Again, this was a bit of a shock for them - probably sensory overload!

But over the months they’ve both spent more and more time out of hiding and whenever they get the chance, and it's warm enough, around the garden too. They are both past the climbing-fences stage of life, but they do know that the garden is their territory and any visitor from around the neighbourhood soon gets escorted off the premises.

I’m not sure they are ever going to be lap-cats, but they do like to sit as close to you as they can without climbing onto you.

It really has been a delight seeing them emerge from hiding and to appear to be enjoying life over the past 12 months.

And, yes they have both lost weight! And we still don't know where the names come from, but they seem to suit.