Meet Ianto! He came to SHUA on Christmas Day. Kay was working her paid job that day (she is a midwife) and Jacqui was on strict bed rest, being 5 days post-op from some major surgery on her shoulder. A call came through from a carer at a local nursing home. The lady apologised about calling on Christmas Day but said that she had just come on duty and found a terrified small black kit-cat in the out-buildings of the nursing home.
Jacqui called Ian, one of our regular volunteers, and asked him to help. Armed with hot chicken, a torch, a carrier and plenty of good will, he rushed over to the nursing home but despite searching for more than an hour, there was no trace of the young cat.
Ian found out that the afternoon staff had put some food down for the cat and we had to guess that he had gone to find somewhere to sleep for the night. We were all very disappointed but agreed a plan for the next day - we'd be on standby and the staff would try to tempt the cat indoors with some food and then call us.
Just after lunch on Boxing Day, we got the call to say they had managed to tempt him inside. Kay had had a rather large glass of Baileys (!) and Jacqui couldn't do anything … so once again, Ian came to the rescue!
Ianto had been shepherded into the day room and so ensued a tiring game of chase, weaving around the 20 residents all snoozing in their armchairs! It took more than an hour but they finally managed to get Ianto into a carrier and back to SHUA. He was absolutely petrified and could only have been 4-5 months old, a mere kitten.
Ian helped out at SHUA every day after Jacqui's operation - ensuring that all of the cats were cleaned out and also working with his new young charge, gradually helping to calm him down and come around.
Several months on and Ianto is, dare we say it, perfect. He is very friendly, loving and playful. So, you might be wondering why he is still here? The reason is simply that we don't have many people coming forward for homes at the moment … and, of course, we rarely get homes for black cats and kittens. There seems to be a prejudice in and around Cardiff against black cats because every year, without fail, it is the black cats and kittens that get left behind at SHUA. Every other colour gets adopted first. It is just so unfair! We don't choose our friends based on their looks so why do some people choose their pets on this basis?! It just makes no sense.
Ianto gets on with everyone. Nothing seems to phase him and he would be happy to be rehomed by himself or with another cat(s). However, we should point out that Ianto is a typically boisterous boy and would need a similarly confident kitty if he was to be paired up! We did put him in a pen with another of our young males, a kitten called Lennon … Ianto LOVED having a playmate but poor Lennon found Ianto a bit intimidating. It could be that Lennon isn't yet as confident with other cats … but nonetheless we think Ianto would do better either by himself or with another cat(s) who are confident enough to tell him to get lost if they've had enough!!
If you are thinking of adopting Ianto, then please get in touch.
Go back to rehoming main page
