Boy oh Boy : what a pin-up black puss is Bracken!
26 October 2018
Cats Protection took into care a sad and sorry-looking black cat – abandoned, flung over a fence, with a wound to his head. His fosterer, Jenny, soon set about getting him well. But she wondered how, when the vet said he was FIV positive, she would find that ‘special someone’ he so badly needed.
But his photograph and back-story on the website tugged at the heart-strings of local school-teacher Kim Harvey and, just in time for Black Cat Day, Bracken, the boy who never even had a name, is sitting pretty as a picture in his new home in Walmley.
Kim, a Maths and PE teacher, is his proud and happy new owner – and is ‘very excited about her new housemate Bracken’. She says: “He’s still nervous and spends most of his time hiding but I’m sure he will soon be ruling the roost!
“We are both lucky to have found each other. As soon as I saw his photo on the website, something tugged at me that I had to meet him. I was getting over the loss of my last little cat who was 23 and I wanted to adopt a young and vibrant cat to help me. Bracken is just the perfect big beautiful black boy who will help fill the void in my life and I hope we have many happy years together. Oh, and it’s wonderful the adoption has gone through and he’s with me just in time for Black Cat Day.”
Fosterer Jenny couldn’t have wished for a better outcome.
“Bracken is the most beautiful black boy so Cats Protection has chosen him as their ‘pin up’ puss for Black Cat Day, 2018. And before he came into care his name was just that – puss. So I thought ‘first things first, let’s give him a real name – he deserves one’ – and so he became Bracken. He is 2 – 3 years old and was abandoned by his owners at just six months - flung over a fence when they moved house. So the poor boy has been living outside ever since. We found him with a wound to his head and, after a vet visit, were told he was FIV positive. As he was such a young cat, we had him neutered, fixed his wound, and took him in to our care.
“Soon, he was home with me – and loving the good life he’d so sadly never had. Each day he grew into a more friendly fussy fella. He is still on the shy side but has progressed in leaps and bounds. He purrs readily now, and will soon be purring for Kim, we’re sure.
“Adopting Bracken as an indoor cat, as Kim has, will protect him from fighting and from picking up injuries and ‘simple’ infections from other cats. He will make a super companion for Kim, who is already giving him the affection he so richly deserves.”
** North Birmingham Cats Protection give thanks all those who helped get Bracken well and helped him find a home – fosterer Jenny Reynolds, Lydons vets, photographer Richard Brown and the homing team.