Furdie joined us from the rescue on Saturday 11th February 2012, one month to the day since we had lost Tommy. I had seen his picture on the website and loved him since the moment I saw him, even more so when I first met him.
However, we could tell by the end of the next day that something wasn’t right, because he had visited the litter tray so many times. He was booked in for a vet appointment on Monday evening when a blood test was carried out. We got the results back from this on Wednesday, and the news wasn’t good because he was suffering from kidney failure.
Furdie was put on Fortekor and special food, but he was a kitty of very decided opinions, and he refused outright to eat the food. When we had another blood test done a month after the first one, the vet said that his results were just as bad, and that it was unlikely that he would survive a month.
While all this was going on, we were still trying to settle Furdie in, but he was obviously frustrated. He was constantly climbing/pulling down the curtains and spraying up the furniture, the doors and the walls – our house seemed to be under a constant onslaught.
Furdie in the early days
Furdie climbing the curtains
Jim decided after a month that Furdie should be allowed to go out, however on his first excursion he didn’t come back home. He had gone out at midday, and I went out looking for him every 2 hours from 3 o’clock onwards until 1 o’clock the next morning, but there was no sign of him. Then I was up at 5 o’clock the next morning. By 7 o’clock I had spoken to a dog walker explaining why I was up so early on a Sunday and she said that she would look out for him. By 9 o’clock we had printed off 200 leaflets which we went around and delivered to our estate.
We spoke to so many cat owners and some who had even seen Furdie earlier that morning sitting on someone’s front doorstep, but he was no longer there. We returned home at about midday to print off some more leaflets, when we got a phone call from a couple who had received one of the leaflets, opened their front door, invited him in, and when he had walked straight in they shut the door behind him and rang us. We went round with a cat basket, and picked him up immediately. The relief of getting him back was immense.
After this, Furdie only got to go out on his harness and lead for a couple of months. Rory and Sweepy would accompany us on those walks, and occasionally Tabs too. We became quite well known on our estate, and quite a few people asked us why Furdie was on a lead when the others weren’t. We would explain that it was because he didn’t know his way back home whereas the others did.
Furdie and his entourage out walking
However, Furdie was still very frustrated, and it was because of this that we eventually got a GPS tracker device, and after a few trial runs, Furdie was allowed his freedom again.
Furdie enjoying his freedom
This way we could check where he was, and most of the time it would work. Furdie could go where he so desperately wanted, and we could get him back for his tablet and bedtime.
This seemed to work like magic because all of a sudden the spraying and house wrecking miraculously stopped.
He made so many friends. We found out because the GPS tracker attracted quite a lot of attention, and people called us because they didn’t understand what the unit on his back was. There were so many nice ladies out there who were keeping an eye on him.
Furdie’s blood test results didn’t get any better, and in July this year he crashed and had to stay at the vet’s on IV fluids. While he was there all the nurses fell in love with him. He just had that kind of effect on people.
When he came home he seemed much brighter. He and Charlie enjoyed spending time in the garden in the sun together, and Furdie still enjoyed visiting all his lady friends. We knew this from a combination of the GPS tracker that he wore and the phone calls that we got from them letting us know where he was.
Furdie and Charlie catching the sun in the garden
Furdie crashed again at the end of August, but we still felt that he didn’t want to give up, so he stayed at the vet’s for a second time on IV fluids, and seemed perkier again when he came home.
Unfortunately, it was only a couple of weeks later that he went downhill very rapidly, and this time we had no option, and he was put to sleep on Saturday, 8th September 2012.
He was only with us for 7 months, but he had such a big effect on our lives. He had such determination and charm. He confounded the vets and lived life to the full for 6 months longer than they said he would. He was a very special boy.
Our very special boy
We went on a holiday several weeks later, and I didn’t really want to be there, but if we hadn’t then we wouldn’t have seen this.
Furdie’s Rainbow
I don’t know what it is about my babies, but they seem to specialise in double rainbows.
