Although Haworth Cat Rescue is primarily a rehoming centre, offering sanctuary to unwanted cats and kittens whilst new homes are being sought, there are inevitably a few cats who cannot be rehomed due to age or infirmity. Some of these cats go to long term fosterers, the remainder stay at the centre with our Secretary and Treasurer who live on the premises. We will introduce you to these permanent residents over the next few weeks.
One such permanent resident is Vivian, a little black cat who was found in a shoebox in a local park along with her sister and brothers when she was about 2-3 weeks old. The kittens had been dumped, presumably because of the cat flu from which they were suffering, and whilst three of them made a full recovery, by the time Vivian was found, her eyes had become badly infected and sadly she had become totally blind.
Vivian and her siblings were hand-reared, and right from the beginning, Vivian was the leader of her kindle. Being hand-reared made her bond well with humans, and she is regularly to be found grooming one of her humans who hasn’t met her exacting standards of cleanliness. At the age of 5 months, Vivian had her empty eye sockets sutured closed and once the fur grew back it hardly seemed noticeable, in fact many visitors don’t realise until she bumps into something, and some don’t realise at all! One day when she was still very small, a visitor asked what that “black blob” was (she was curled up asleep at the time), and the nickname “Blob” has stuck with her ever since, although she gets called Miss Vivian Smythe-Blobbington when she’s in one of her posh moods.
Vivian is now nearly eleven years old and the longest resident at The Farm, which makes her the alpha-female in the small group of cats residing there. She rules with a paw of velvet and the other cats submit to her gentle leadership.
Vivian loves to be cuddled and brushed, she loves sitting with her nose in a human ear(!) and she loves lying on her back and having her tummy stroked.
She is a wonderful example of how cats cope with disability. Because they don’t have the same sense of self-awareness that humans have, they don’t know they are different and so they work with what they have. She doesn’t know she’s blind, so she doesn’t worry about it – she has an increased sense of hearing, smell and self-awareness.
Vivian is a delight to know, and the fact the she is now technically classed as a “senior Kitizen” is largely ignored by all, including Vivian herself who counts chasing dud crumpled-up lottery tickets amongst her favourite pastimes.
All our permanent residents feature on our sponsorship scheme - please contact us if you are interested in sponsoring one of our cats.
