Dobby was found cowering in a back garden by some of our supporters. He was in a terrible state when he arrived at SHUA in early July 2006 - as you can see. When we opened the carry cage we saw a gorgeous, but emaciated, boy peering out at us nervously and our hearts melted. His skin and fur were in an appalling state - like nothing we had ever seen before. We named him Dobby - any self-respecting Harry Potter fan out there will have already noticed his similarity to the house-elf character.
Dobby didn't seem to be in any pain or discomfort so we rehydrated him, gave some food and took him to the next surgery at our vets for a check-up.
Well, what a sight it was when we offered Dobby food for the first time - we've never seen anything quite like it! He was cramming the food into his mouth so fast that he couldn't swallow quickly enough to keep up and food kept on falling out of the sides! But he didn't care and just kept on guzzling until it was ALL gone. Since he was obviously making up for lost time, we put another plate of food down (mixed with special sensitivity food for his delicate digestive system). 3 whole plates of food later, Dobby finally decided that he was full and so he settled down for a nap.
Dobby was just the most affectionate little cat. He would always raise his tail to greet you and nudge his head against your hand, purring away. In fact, the only time he wasn't interested in cuddling was dinner time - and even after several weeks at the shelter, he was still guzzling his food down like it was some kind of contest. So much so that we recorded a small video clip of Dobby - his passion for food tickled us all.
Our vets were mystified by Dobby's skin condition and ran some tests. Tragically, the results showed that Dobby had late-stage liver failure. His liver was terribly enlarged and his kidneys were mis-shapen. We did the kindest thing we could and had Dobby euthanased. We all miss his cheery character and fighting spirit.
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