Very sweet and cuddly cat, loves to be held close

The sadness of cat rescue
The sadness of cat rescue. Photo by KOMUnews
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The sign reads “Very sweet and cuddly, loves to be held close”

This is a very short post. It is an image post. I bumped into this picture while searching for something else. I thought it was poignant. It somehow sums up what is uncomfortable about cat rescue despite the excellent work and committed effort put in by many animal rescue employees.

Most cats find rescue centers stressful even the ones who aren’t cuddly and sweet. They all have emotions and feelings. The most common feeling for a rescue cat is probably anxiety because they are in a strange place with strange and sometimes loud noises. The whole rescue experience is bound to be stressful for cats who thrive on familiarity and routine.

The amount of space available for each cat is probably well under the ideal and the cages probably have nothing inside them to stimulate a cat. This is not a criticism of cat rescue. It is the way it has to be. The criticism is often with the former owner.

The cat is called “Natalia”. She is a DSH (domestic short hair  – in other words a moggie) black and white. She is a bicolor cat and to me she is beautiful. I want to hold her close and cuddle her.

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7 thoughts on “Very sweet and cuddly cat, loves to be held close”

  1. I’m glad our UK shelters are no kill,imagine having to go along the cages choosing which cats lived and which cats died.
    I’m with Ruth and Dorothy why why why?
    The only answer is because too many people don’t value animals lives like they do humans.
    Look at the people complainig that they have been unknowingly eating horse meat,as if it’s Ok to eat cows and sheep and pigs and birds but not to eat horses.
    Sheesh …..some people make me sick.

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  2. this picture is, unfortunately a common one. as dorothy said its a good tool to ‘pull at the heart strings’. at only 3 months old, hopefully it wont be too long before someone decides to take her home to spoil her rotten with as many cuddles as she can cope with.but its the older ones you see with this pleading attitude, ‘please love me, please hold me’ and to see them passed over time and time again is heartbreaking. you have to harden yourself to some extent because you could’nt do a proper job otherwise, but those little faces really get to you.

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  3. You are so right Marc, it must be very stressful for cats hearing dogs barking, I hate it at our vets when there are dogs in the waiting room too and some people think it’s funny they bark, not giving a thought to the cats there too.
    Kays Hill new cattery is well insulated from dogs and no dogs go in there ever, it makes for a much more relaxed atmosphere for the cats and it would be wonderful if all catteries were like theirs.
    It’s been a long hard struggle for Kevin and Leanne and still a lot more to do, but with their determination it’s now the best ever Rescue place for cats around our area.

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  4. This is sad. Whenever we went to the shelter to see the cats most of the younger ones were reaching their arms out to try and touch us like they wanted to play. You had to be careful not to be clawed. It’s terribly sad but they were the little ones and they were ok i guess – the older ones were just as far back as they could be sitting on their litter boxes and so on looking scared. That was also very sad. I have never gone to get one cat without almost coming out of the shelter with two. Those little arms reaching out is just something else. They were usually mostly black – lots of little black arms reaching out to touch you whichever cages you were nearest to both at your level and down by your legs. They were also try to touch eachother from cage to cage.

    I will say this. The shelter has to be hard in huge part because of dogs. Whichever shelter I have been to the cats are usually a wall or door away from a room full of constantly barking dogs. This must be very incessant and weird for the cats. I have no idea why the dogs are always barking constantly – I guess dogs just like to bark – or they are calling for humans or barking at eachother but its like a chorus of barking dogs from when you are 50 feet away from the shelter until you leave. This would make me insane and I am not even a tiny cat who is afraid of the dogs. I don’t know if they can sleep with this. And everytime the door to the dog room opens it gets louder. And then a dog or two get taken through the room and the cats all freeze at the back of their cages til the dogs are out of the room again. Obviously they get used to it after a time but I am all for dog shelters and cat shelters and dog vets and cat vets. I think at a cat only shelter the cats get a better deal and get cat people looking after them and everything is best for cats. Same at a feline specific clinic, I think the cats are guaranteed a cat loving doctor who knows specifically everything about cats and so is sort of specialised in a sense. And the cats are calmer because the placeis calmer and so on. I am sure dog people would feel like a dog only place is ideal for their dog too. Obviously this is not always possible but it does exist and I like the idea.

    Natalia looks like a very sweet cat. I bet she is wonderful to spend time with if she is so cuddly even in a shelter environment.

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  5. You got me on this one. Who doesn’t want to see a cat who is cuddly and wants to be held close? It made my chest hurt to see her there. Someone who works in the shelter is smart. It is a good marketing tool. Not all cats want to be hugged. It is a good adoption magnet. I’m going to picture her adopted, sleeping on a big bed with lots of cuddly love.

    I agree with Ruth. Why, why, why? I love this beautiful bi-color moggie.

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  6. It breaks my heart to see cats in cages because the person they loved and trusted doesn’t want them around any more.
    It must be so frightening and bewildering for a cat used to home comforts to be suddenly one of many looked after by strangers.
    They become institutionalised with time and many never do get another home and even worse many are killed to make room for more.
    What is wrong with the human race that this is happening!!!!

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