Connor’s Story

We first got to know Connor when he stayed at the Cat’s Whiskers a few times – a handsome, gentle, friendly black cat, very easy to get on with and to love.   And according to his records, a Black Bombay cat.   About 18 months ago, Connor’s mum asked if we’d like to adopt him.   Connor’s family had dogs too.   They had recently lost one of their dogs and acquired another puppy and whilst Connor had been fine with the previous dog, things took a bit of a turn as the puppy started to grow up and become boisterous, and Connor became unhappy, staying out of the house a lot of the time and losing weight.   Additionally their second dog has ‘guarding issues’, and the family felt there was a danger of Connor being sidelined whilst they managed the dogs.   So they reluctantly took the sad decision to rehome Connor.   Tempted as we were, we knew it wouldn’t be fair on Sonny (and, at the time, Sindy too).   So we said a regretful ‘no’ and set about trying to find him a new home.

 

We talked to all our customers who we knew had lost cats of their own in the recent past, and shared him widely on FB, but with no luck.  In the meantime, Jane had completely fallen in love with him – as she does with all black cats! – and based on his temperament (he is a very social cat and actively seeks out the company of others) and the easy-going personalities of her existing 4 cats, she reckoned it would work out for them.   So in April last year, Connor came to stay at the Cat’s Whiskers for a few days so Jane & Pete could really get to know him, and one day before Connor’s 7th birthday, he went to his new home with them.   Jane says she’s never stuck to the guidelines when introducing a new cat into an existing gang, and has usually just let them get on with it and sort themselves out.   But given the importance of this, they kept Connor separate from the others for 5 days in the lounge with the door shut.   The others knew he was there and could smell and hear him – and Jimmy spent most of his time standing outside the lounge door!- but they didn’t meet.   Jane says ‘after 5 days, we thought we should give it a go.   We opened the lounge door and Mickey was the first in.  He just went up to him, sniffed him, they rubbed noses and got on as if they’d been friends all their lives.   I was so worried about whether this would work, and very tearful when it looked as if all would be OK’.