my story

It all started with Julius. Julius Caesar. 

He came, he saw, and he conquered my heart.

At the time, I was running a seasonal community re-homing center.  

I got a call from one of the baristas at the local café, where a cute cat was hanging around. 

He seemed super-friendly at times, skittish and wary at other times, but the bottom line was that the café’s owners did not want him around.  Could I help?  Of course!

Well, Julius and I went to the vet.  I found out that he was about 3 months old and I got him cleaned up, vaccinated, castrated and ready to find his forever-home.  

But I was striking out.  No one seemed to want a kitten or cat just then.  Poor little guy!

So I thought about it, and decided to try to take him in myself.   

Oh boy was that the wrong move!  (And now I know why!)

My older cat wanted nothing to do with him. It was all hissing and yowling from the very start.  

I tried all the “cat whisperer” tips on introducing cats that I could find on the internet. 

Nothing.  

My other kitty at the time (a smaller female) was terrified of him.  

But Julius was just a cute and friendly bag of beans, sometimes verging on being a little terror with all the energy he had inside of him.  Just like his namesake!  And, just like his namesake, 

he had irrefutable charisma and charm. 

What to do?

I looked into all the other permanent re-homing centers in my area.  They were all terrible! (Animal shelters in the country I am currently living are still far from being cat-friendly!!) 

I finally found one that claimed to have cats’ best interests at heart.  Hm.

Well, sometimes even the best intended claims and reality end up being very, very far apart.

While they claimed to understand cats it was clear even to me that they knew nothing about the species.  They took him in, locked him up in a 60cm x 80cm cage and left him there “in quarantine” for three weeks!   

They did this despite the fact he had just been in quarantine with me.  

They did this despite the fact I described his lively character and his needs for exercise and attention. 

They subjected him to unnecessary and expensive tests I had just done at my vet (FIV, FeLV) -and that were stamped in his passport.  

Then they were “surprised” that a highly energetic cat was going nuts inside his cage – from a build-up of energy, from distrust, from fear.  

Instead of listening to me or working with him, they just labelled him as “untamable, dangerous and not suitable for re-homing.” 

It was heart-breaking.  

The sweet and rambunctious Julius had been labeled as “feral”.  

In my heart and in my soul I knew he was a community cat. He was not a true feral. They just did not know what they were talking about.  They had no clue about cats – or just didn’t care. To this day I suspect a little of both.

It was at that point that I vowed I would never do this or let this happen to any kitty under my care again.

(Now don’t worry, the story has a happy end.  I doubled down on my efforts to find him a home and he now lives with an elderly pair, in the countryside, who both spoil him rotten!  He is a happy, socialized, amazingly loving cat!)

The result for me? Well, I went back to school to learn about cats formally.  From all angles.  Especially feline behaviour and cognition. To understand cats better:  why they are the way they are, why they do what they do, and especially to learn formally how to prevent situations like the one I inadvertently created for Julius. I wanted to learn and to be able to make cats’ lives, and our lives with them, even better.

That is how my journey began.  

That is my story.

And now I want to share what I learned, to help other cats and their humans, to live better lives, together, in harmony and understanding.

One paw at a time.