Cleo's Story (RSPCA Animal Centres)

Member Name: jaxm

Product:	RSPCA Animal Centres
Date:	22/01/04 (118 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Giving distressed animals a new life

Disadvantages: None - unless you dislike animals

Back in June we lost Hobo, a black and white moggy we'd had for 17 years. He was crotchety, dribbly and had cheesy feet - but we loved him. Following his demise (he had a heart attack or a stroke) we felt the need to take another cat; not just for our benefit but as company for the cat we still had.

One Saturday morning we ventured to our local RSPCA Paws Centre at Norwich and talked to a very nice and friendly gentleman. Having taken a few details about our circumstances, he told us that we should follow him through to the area where the cats were kept. I was dreading it - I just had a feeling that I'd be unable to pick just one; but the RSPCA guy immediately led us to cats which would be suitable for us. We had a male cat already, so it was recommended we had a female this time around. We had no children, so an older cat was then recommended. Eventually, we were shown two beautiful little female cats. One called Tigger and one called Rachel. Tigger was apparently rather dominant and may not have got on with our cat, so it was recommended that we took Rachel.

Rachel was a long haired tabby and white and had been picked up as a stray. She wasn't particularly pretty at the time we saw her as her fur had had to be shaved in places. She didn't like being picked up either, which had put several people off. The RSPCA guy said that she'd been in the Paws Centre for three weeks which was rather a long time so they wanted to rehome her a s a p. We decided there and then that Rachel was the girl for us.

As our visit had taken place on a Saturday morning and the Centre closed at lunchtime that day and didn't open again until Monday, a special concession was made to us. An inspector came out to our home immediately and gave us a clean bill of health, and we were then told that we could pick Rachel up on the Sunday morning. As the Centre was closed on that day, we would need to go round the back and knock on the

gates - someone would let us in, go through the paperwork and let us take Rachel.

Rachel is now called Cleo, and has been with us for about eight months. She's a gorgeous little thing and I wouldn't part with her for the world. She's wonderfully placid but winds our other poor cat up mercilessly. The first night we had her she managed to dial 999 by jumping on our phone in the lounge, and a few weeks ago she managed to set up a timer on my hi-fi (which I didn't even know I had!) so that Classic FM played at midnight. She's a real character.

I have to say that I'm extremely impressed with the way the RSPCA handled the matter. I thought it would be very distressing to see all the homeless cats, but we were deliberately led only to cats that were suitable for us. It's also wonderful that they arranged to check out our home so promptly and that they were prepared to open up their doors specially for us to collect our new addition.

I'm sure if Cleo could speak she'd love to say a special thank you to the Paws Centre in Norwich.

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