Sophie & Otto

28/05/11: These 2 are now really growing in confidence fast in their new foster home.

They now sleep on their foster Mum Bettina’s bed and like to play with her feet! Fantastic news. Bettina sounds lovely, which is also great news for Bertie, whom she is going to adopt.

17/05/11: Sophie and Otto are 2 more cats from the PAws cattery in Mojacar who travelled to Germany at the end of January.

We were all keen for them to go as they had been in the cattery for over 6 months at that stage, and Otto in particular had become more withdrawn after a spell in a commercial cattery, but their new life in Germany did not start well, as they were more nervous than expected when they arrived at their first foster home.

Sophie and Otto were 2 of a small colony of cats fed by an English woman in a village near Mojacar. They were brought into the cattery in the summer of 2010, because they were thought to be at risk from Spanish neighbours whilst their ‘friend’ was on holiday. PAWs then decided to try and re-home them as they were all attractive, fairly friendly cats. It was at this point that things first started to get more complicated.

Toby and Otis, 2 of the group, were diagnosed quickly with cat flu, Toby quite seriously, so Otis had to be separated from his brother Otto. Later Sophie’s 2 babies, Amy and Zoe, also developed symptoms but fortunately less serious ones.

Sophie and Otto remained healthy but the risk of cat flu delayed any attempts to re-home these 2 who became increasingly close, particularly after Zoe and Amy were moved to a new foster home. It is possible they had started to become a little institutionalised, after so long in the cattery, and I think this all contributed to the stress of the recent transport for them, as they had become so used to living in a safe confined space, and Otto in particular has always hated cars, and cried literally all the way to Munich, with just short breaks.

I knew they had not settled well in their first few weeks in Germany, but when I checked on them after 2 months, they were still hiding from their foster Mum, who herself was becoming very anxious, not being used to such nervous cats.

We were all worried but I trusted Kerstin and the other German girls to resolve things, and the latest photos from their new foster home show 2 much more relaxed cats. Within days of arriving there they had come out of their room into the rest of the apartment, and when Kerstin visited them a couple of days ago, both she and their new foster mum could stroke them both. These 2 have never been the most confident with new people, but seem now to be progressing well. Kerstin thinks that in a few more weeks they will be ready for re-homing, and I hope we will get this beautiful pair finally settled in a good life together. They will be re-homed together, because they obviously love one another, and we would never consider splitting them up. We will wait for the right family who will love both of them, and until then life is looking much better, and we can all heave a sigh of relief. Sophie and Otto will be just fine!!!