About A Boy

It's the FF mum here today. The cats let me take over to write a post that has been a very long time coming. While I have wanted to tell the rest of his story, I just haven't been able to bring myself to do so before now. It was updating his sister's story the other day that finally gave me the push to do so.

 If you were visiting here in November 2009, you would remember a lovely little kittenboy named Freddie. Freddie was brought into the vet clinic I worked in after he was found on the pavement by a young family. He was very cold, and the immediate priority was to try and warm him up.

 You have to be very careful warming a kitten as doing so too quickly can shock their system. The safest way to do so is through skin to skin contact. For a few hours I had Freddie bandaged to my chest inside my t-shirt, and could slowly feel him getting warmer. Once his body temperature was about normal I was finally able to give him some formula. You can't feed a cold kitten as their digestive system is one of the first things to shut down and they can end up with milk congealing in their stomachs. It's a balancing act between trying to warm them safely, and knowing that they need nourishment or their blood sugars will start to really cause problems.

 Thankfully we were able to get over the first hurdles with Freddie, and he began to thrive. He grew into one of the sweetest, most gentle kittens we have ever known.

 As Freddie grew older it became apparent that he was deaf. While white cats are often assumed to be deaf, of the 5 white kittens we fostered at the end of 2009, Freddie was the only one affected. It's been suggested that the hypothermia he experienced when tiny contributed, but we'll never really know. At one stage a fire marshall came in to test all the fire alarms in our complex. Fui, Suey and Lishy didn't come out of hiding for hours. Freddie slept through it.

 Freddie was the first kitten we fostered to crack Suey's tough shell. She fell a little bit in love with him, and ever since has been much friendlier to foster kitties. Lishy took particular delight in snuggling up with him.

 Freddie's sisters were adopted before him, and once it was just him on his own he really started to settle into our family. He had free run of the house except for over night when he happily retired to his crate. He would actually put himself to bed most nights.

He was the subject of a thousand conversations with myself about how one more wouldn't change things too much, look how easy it had been going from a two cat family to a three cat family. Surely one more wouldn't change things. But we had to be sensible, as a family we move around a bit and we rent, and four just seemed like it would tip the balance too far and make it difficult for us to find a home when we were in a new city.

 Freddie didn't make it easy though. He was out to prove that he belonged with us, I think! I was secretly relieved every day we didn't receive an adoption application for him. He was a lovely little cuddlebunny and took good care of me after I'd had minor surgery.

 We finally did receive an enquiry about Freddie, and it looked good. My friend and fellow foster mum Greta and I both grilled him, and made two things very very clear. If we were to allow Freddie to go, he absolutely must remain an indoor only cat, with possible access to a shaded outdoor enclosure. Freddie's pale pink skin made him extremely susceptible to skin cancers. Both Greta and I had been involved with cats who were euthanised due to awful facial tumours, and we didn't want that for Freddie. With him being deaf, he wouldn't be able to hear cars and would be at much greater risk outside than a cat with full hearing.

 The other thing we made very clear was that if for any reason the family could no longer care for Freddie, we would take him back with no judgement and no questions asked. The couple agreed to our conditions, and after another meeting, took Freddie home.

 All went well at first, and at one stage we even got to see him again as Freddie stayed with us for a long weekend while his family were on holiday. It was lovely to see him again, as we had missed him very much when he left.

 I received an email last year from the man who had adopted Freddie to tell me that they had sent Freddie to live on a farm with a relative, and while there, he was hit and killed by a car. He had been allowed frequent outdoor access, it wasn't an escape. It absolutely broke my heart when I found out. I felt like I'd let down a little cat who I desperately wanted to keep with me. Freddie would have been 18 months old when he passed away. I had been avoiding posting about it, but I thought it only fair to conclude his story on the blog after he had so many wishing him well when he was a baby.

Sleep peacefully Freddie. In our hearts you were always ours, and I know we'll see you again one day.