Welcome to Catster’s Wednesday Cat! Every week, we’ll share a story from one of our cat-loving Catsters. This week’s story is about Isabel and her cheeky rescuer Millie.
Hello, Casters! My name is Isabel Ruddick, and I’m the Marketing Director at Catster. you may also recognize me Catstar YouTube Channel. I’m a certified cat lover and I’m so excited to share my experiences as a lifelong cat owner with you.
I’ve loved cats ever since I can remember. My family always had cats, dogs, rabbits, and fish. I love all animals, but cats have always been my favorite animal and pet. When I was a child, when an adult asked me, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I would answer, “Of course, a cat!”
Now, let me introduce you to my cheeky rescue cat, Millie.
Millie is my beautiful 6 year old white/tabby cat. She has domestic short hair and her cuteness is unparalleled. Let me tell you how we met and quickly became best friends.
It was 2018. I studied Psychology and English at North West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa.1 I’ve always had cats, but I’ve never had one of my own. As a student and living alone for the first time, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to rescue a cat.
I asked my boyfriend (now fiance):Can I go to the shelter this weekend to play with the cats and bring one home?” He said this because he had never had a cat (or any pet) since he was a child.Of course you don’t.” He is such a keeper. We planned a visit to the shelter and were both really looking forward to it. A few days before we were supposed to go, a friend of his called him to say he had rescued a kitten from a kitten that was born behind the bar where he worked. bar called Die Mystic Bohr (Mysterious Farmer) And it happened to be my favorite bar in town!
According to a friend, almost all the kittens had already found good homes, but there was only one left, and no one seemed to be interested in her because she wasn’t as beautiful as the others. What are the chances?The same week I decided I wanted to get a cat, a friend called me and said she had a cat. It was fate. I had to meet an unwanted kitten born behind my favorite bar.
That day we went to his house, went into his sealed room, and found the tiniest kitten with the dirtiest little mouth hiding between his shoes in the closet. My heart instantly melted and I fell to my knees. She was very scared and a bit wild so I knew I had to take my time. Luckily, I know cats well, so I knew how to introduce myself. It took about an hour before she smelled my hands. From that moment on, we both knew we would be best friends forever.
I got up and drove to the nearest pet store and bought a cat carrier, soft blanket, food and water bowl, litter box, and cat litter. We went back to my friend’s house, gently picked her up and put her in her carrier. She was coming home with me.
I couldn’t understand why no one wanted her. She was the cutest, dirtiest little stray cat I’ve ever seen. I named her Millie. The next morning I took her to the vet for a general exam and first vaccinations. Veterinarians say she is about four weeks old and extremely malnourished. The baby probably only had bar scraps to eat for the first few weeks of his life. I don’t know if Millie was probably a kitten and never drank milk. The vet gave me everything I needed to nurse her back to health and that’s exactly what I did.
Today, six years later, she is the happiest, healthiest, sassiest little cat in Cape Town and I love her more than life itself. All the people who turned her down can be gut-wrenching, because look at her! She’s so beautiful that it makes you cry (and sometimes does). Just kidding. While we were traveling together, I cried many times thinking that I would never see you again. If I hadn’t found her, where would she be today? I don’t even want to know.
All that matters is that we found each other.
I truly believe that fate brought us together, and I’m so excited to share our story with my fellow Catsters. Any stories you would like to share, such as the journey of getting to know each other in Potchefstroom, returning to my hometown of Johannesburg after graduation, meeting other cats, (by chance) becoming a mother cat, and moving across the border to Cape Town? There are many. Fly on a plane, live on a golf course, become a YouTube star.
stay tuned!
