Love at first sight

When I met Simpson it was love at first sight. Even though he was
injured and in pain he still came out to greet me with a purr and I
knew I was smitten, but I'm starting in the middle of the story so let
me start at the beginning.

As long as I can remember I've wanted a cat. From about the age of five
the first item on every Christmas and Birthday present list was "A cat"
but unfortunately my father had inherited a fear of cats from his
mother and so I was never allowed one. By the time I reached my teens I
realised I was never going to have a cat whilst I still lived at home
so I stopped asking for one and instead vowed to everyone who would
listen that the first thing I'd do when I left home was to get a
cat.

When I first moved away from home at the age of 18 it was to go to
University in Bristol where I lived in a shared student house and as I
still lived at home during holidays it wasn't possible to get a cat.
After graduating I moved back home as I had a job close to my home town
and living at home was the cheapest accommodation option so here I was
at 21 and still no cat.

At the age of 24 I finally moved out of home permanently and into a
rented furnished flat with my boyfriend. At last I thought I was going
to fulfil my dream, until I discovered that under the terms of the
lease we were'nt allowed pets. However during the time I was living in
the flat I did get a part share in a cat. Our neighbours, Dawn &;
Glenn, had a ginger tom named Toby who looked like a bruiser but was in
fact a total pussycat. Dawn &; Glenn didn't have a catflap so he had
to cry to get in but he discovered very quickly that he could "knock"
at our door and we'd let him in! Our letterbox was very close to the
ground and he would push his nose under the flap, raise it up then let
it fall. Our flat was on the first floor and the door was at ground
level and, fool that I am, I would walk down the flight of stairs to
let him in! My boyfriend was as soft on cats as I am and we were quite
happy to have him curled up on the sofa with us. Dawn &; Glenn
became very good friends of ours and were never surprised to come round
to our flat for a drink and discover Toby, their cat, curled up in
front of the fire. Unfortunately Toby came to a very sad end, he was
attacked by a greyhound outside our flats and killed. I was as upset as
Dawn &; Glenn about this and felt as though I'd lost a pet of my
own.

Three years after we'd moved into the flat, my boyfriend and I decided
to buy a house of our own and in July 1997 we moved in. I lasted a
whole week before I made the call to the Cats Protection League to see
if I could rehome one of their cats! I said that I wanted an older cat,
not a kitten, as both myself and my boyfriend worked full-time, and I
would also prefer a male cat and a long-haired cat but I wasn't really
that fussed what it looked like. The lady on the phone told me they
only had one long-haired male at that time and he wasn't going to be
available for re-homing for at least a month as he was injured. She
told me he'd been handed in to them with a broken leg and that the vet
initially thought he may have been shot as their was a ouncture wound.
He'd been operated on to put a pin in his hip and they'd not found a
pellet so they dedided the puncture wound was from the bone poking
through and it was most likely he'd been kicked. As she told me this
story I could feel myself being drawn to this cat already. I'm a
complete sucker for a hard luck story and my mum had always said that
when I did get a cat it would probably be one with only three legs or
one eye! I said I'd like to see him and I didn't mind waiting for him -
I'd already waited 27 years to get a cat so another month didn't
matter. I arranged to go and visit him with the couple who were looking
after him that weekend. That Saturday afternoon we drove ovwer to their
house and they took us out to the cattery in their garde where they had
three cats - and there he was. He looked so sad, because of the pin he
was in a very small cage to stop him moving about to much but despite
that the pin had moved and was pressing on his sciatic nerve and so he
was in a lot of pain. As they opened his cage he stretched and moved
stiffly out of his cramped quarters and into the main area of the
cattery. I reached out my hand to him and he rubbed his face against it
and started purring, my boyfriend and I just looked at each other as if
to say "He's the one!". The CPL told us he wasn't going to be rehomed
till he was signed off by the vet which would be another 4 or 5 weeks
so if we didn't want to wait we could look at another cat?."no, we'll
have him" we said very quickly and in unison!

Those four weeks waiting were awful, I visited Simpson (his CPL name
was Glenn, but we'd decided having a cat with the same name as our
friend wasn't on) as often as I could and gave him a toy which he could
bring with him when he came to live with us so he had something
familiar. I bought a litter tray, a cat flap, bowls, food and a
scratching post and eventually the day arrived when we could adopt
him.

When he first came home he was very nervous, several months in a tiny
cage had made him slightly agoraphobic and he lived under our bed for a
week but hours of patient work making friends with him paid off and he
finally emerged to explore his new home.

That was over 4 years ago and now he is completely a part of my life
(unlike the boyfriend who left 2 years ago). There is no trace of the
frightened animal who first arrived in my home, just a completely
gorgeous, affectionate, and slightly mad cat.

It's so wonderful to have him sharing my life and to know I've been
able to give him such a good life after his early life experiences. And
I'm now a member of The Cat Protection League and support them whenever
I can

And I'm still in love with him!