14/10/11: Bad news of Sigi’s old friend Mikesch came through today. The problem with his nose had finally been diagnosed as cancer, but Wiebke, Sigi’s Mum was going to help him and we were feeling positive. Then I received this email:
Yesterday we were at the oncology to fix a date to start the examination against the cancer on Mikesch´s nose. During the examination the doctor found big new tumors in his lungs. So… he won´t be examined anymore. The only thing to do is to give him a cat paradise on earth as long as he is fit enough. The doctor says it could be quick but it could in the best case take half a year.
This IS very sad, but I happy that Mikesch has found Wiebke and his new little friends in time. He is loved and well looked after at the end of his life.
01/10/11: Yesterday I received 2 more lovely photos of Siggi, and one of his new mature friend Mikesch!

Siggi Loves Sleeping
23/09/11: Now we have more great photos of Siggi. I LOVE the ones of the garden. This little Spanish boy seems to have the perfect home. Katje has accepted him and old boy Mikesch now seems to be part of the family. All is very well in his little world, and I know that Montse will be very happy to see him looking so contented! For the very latest news direct from his Mum, check out the last comment below. Siggi has become quite the little hunter!

Siggi With Mikesch
16/08/11: Siggi’s Mum has sent the latest news below. He has caught his first bird so is feeling proud, and he has a new 13 year old cat friend Mikesch. Siggi’s Mum is helping him because the lady who had him before is now too old to take care of him properly and he is a little sick.
24/07/11: Now it seems Siggi has been helping with laundry, has caught a mouse, and is still enjoying playing with water!

Pulling Down the Laundry

Laundry Not finished Yet

First Successful Hunt Of A Mouse

Playing With Water

Exhausted
19/07/11: Since I updated this post, Siggi has improved his climbing skills, caught a frog, proudly seen off the neighbours friendly but big dog, enjoyed lots of hide and seek with Katje AND developed a fascination with water. Check out all the great updates from his new Mum below!
03/07/11: More fantastic new photos arrived last night of Siggi in his new home. It is great that his Mum is sending us so many updates.

Computers Are Boring

In The Garden

In The Garden

Reading Is Boring

SO Tired

Stroking Time
29/06/11: Siggi is learning to hunt and climb trees, AND he likes the family hedgehog. See his Mum’s latest updates in the comments below.
23/06/11: Siggi definitely loves his new housemate Katje, rushing up to say hello hello when she got back from the vet. Katje is still being a little cool but is now sharing her ‘kills’ with him. Read more in their Mum’s latest comment below, snd enjoy the great new photos of our boy!!!

Cleaning The Bath

Katje Loves Catnip On Paper

Siggi’s Favourite Place

A tired Boy

Watching Katje
19/06/11: Siggi is cheeky, playful and very communicative. Read more about this lovely boy in his Mum’s comments below.
17/06/11: Yesterday Sigfrido’s Mum put another great update on this blog. Sigfrido is LOVING his life with her. Please look at the comments below to see all her diary entries. Today I have some great new photos of Siggi in his garden with his new friend Katje, who has now become the ‘grown-up’ cat in the house because she is not the baby any more!!! She is SLOWLY accepting her new friend, which is good as Siggi has fallen in love with her and wants to be with her a lot. He of course is used to being with lots of cats, whereas Katje has been an only cat up to now. She will need a little more time to be completely convinced.

Siggi In His Garden

Resting After lots of Play

Siggi In His Garden

Sleeping Next to Katja While She Isn’t Looking
07/06/11: More new photos arrived today, and his new Mum is writing a diary of his new life on this blog post. Check out her comments below.

I Will Win!

Playing Together

Watching The World Go By
05/06/11: Already I have the first photos of Sigfido in his new home, and another great email from Martina in Germany.
“Greeting from prince sigfrido….
Do you know that sigfrido likes nippling and sucking on the fingers, which he made with me with at the beginning half the night?
hihi, the new mum have fingers toooo!
i find sigfrido looks happy, katje his new girlfriend a little hiss on Sigfrido, but is fine
it was good that he was first with me, here he learned that people and cats are good to him he is loved here all….
you have no need to hit the other cats
I am happy for the prince, he is a beautiful cat!”

Sigfrido In His Forever Home

Sigfrido In His Forever Home

Sigfrido With Katje

Sigfrido In His Forever Home
04/06/11: Sigfrido has his forever home. Since travelling to Germany he has been fostered by Martina Pulver, who named him the ‘prince’!
I think this was something to do with his initially slightly dominant attitude to her other foster cats, and of course his handsome looks! He was finally put in his place by another of the boys. As Sigfrido came from a rescue home with 70+ cats I was surprised he was being stroppy, but maybe he saw his chance with only a few cats to finally assert himself!
Anyway now he will have plenty of space and a nice girlfriend. This message came from Martina just now:
“short info, prince Sigfrido is on the way to his new home….
a very fine home with a big beautiful garden..
he gets a girlfriend the same age.”
I am hoping for photos of our boy in his new home soon, but for now here are some lovely new ones from his foster Mum Martina:

Sigfrido Happy In Germany

Sigfrido Happy In Germany

Sigfrido Happy In Germany

Sigfrido Happy In Germany

Sigfrido Happy In Germany

Sigfrido Happy In Germany

Sigfrido Happy In Germany

Sigfrido Happy In Germany
03/05/11: Sigfrido is another cat rescued by a lovely Spanish lady in Almeria. She fosters all of her cats in her own home, and has recently taken in 3 from me, despite being already over-loaded.
Sigfrido was found as a big kitten, along with his siblings, in a park in Almeria.
I met him a couple of weeks ago and he is a lovely friendly little chap, now about a year old. He kept coming back to me for more cuddles as if he was asking to be chosen. I definitely did chose him! He will find a home easily in Germany, so already has a foster place sorted, and is on the transport list for the transport this Saturday. I am happy to be able to help him and Montse his Spanish foster Mum.

Handsome Sigfrido

Handsome Sigfrido

Handsome Sigfrido

Handsome Sigfrido

Handsome Sigfrido
I have some news of Sigfrido whose new nickname is Siggi (it´s shorter).
Siggi loves flies… he hunts them until he is able to catch them between his paws. Then he takes them in mouth… but he doesn´t kill them. He just takes them to another place to play, spits them on the carpet and continues playing. Today we went out in the garden the first time. He could discover the garden on a leash for cats what he did very well and very brave. He got to know our left-hand neighbor and got wet paws what he didn´t like but to play with his teaser-toy in the garden while the new family is watching and caring for him was a pleasure to Siggi. With his new girlfriend he is very friendly and careful. Just sometimes, when he is playing or too curious, he gets too close to her what she doesn´t like at the moment, and then she tells him to go away by hissing at him. This morning she found herself attracting Siggi to play. As soon as she recognized this, she stopped it and looked around as if she says “Me? Nooo, I wasn´t playing.. look, I´m just washing my fur.” I hope they will get good friends, but we know that it will take time.
Will leave the next news, too.
Wiebke
Hello,
Lovely to know that Siggi is very well and making new friends. Thank you for giving him his lovely home, and we look forward to hearing more news!
Sandra xxx
Siggi loves being brushed and was allowed to sit beside our Katje to watch out of the window while it was raining outside. She was a bit confused that he just jumped there (without asking) and sat down without upsetting her. He enjoys the short times outside with his leash. As soon as he steps out of the glass-door, he lays down to watch the world and Katje. A short time later he starts to discover the grass and when he has enough he pulls on the leash to get in. And he has a new favorite food. Reindeer… it took him seconds to eat it.
Last night Katje brought a mole. When Siggi saw it he sniffed at it, nudged it but may have thought “Hm, it doesn´t move. It isn´t interesting.” Katje did the same but was very proud of her victim. Things that move are more interesting for Siggi. He hunted a spider and finally killed and ate it. Whenever both cats get in contact there is a welcome-sign. They sniff at each other ´s noses and then continue walking. No hissing anymore, what makes me happy. They both discovered sitting on an open window with a fly-net. Maybe there is the best place to enjoy rain without getting wet.
Will send some new photos today:)
Greets Wiebke
Sigfrido has a problem with the length of his legs:) While walking around he often expects his legs to be longer… the result is a funny stunt and a wondering cat. Another favorite activity is watching our gerbil Sally when she is running around in her cage. He can sit there for hours just watching and dreaming of eating mice… We hope he will enjoy his time as an inside- and outside cat. He loves the walking times outside and started playing with the grass and the bugs in the grass. Also both cats are sitting together outside, one with a leash, one without. Katje plays tricks on Siggi by hunting his tail and running away Every single piece of grass that is long enough to reach Siggi´s nose is eaten, must be very tasty grass outside here.
We took a very long walk outside this morning, both cats played together in the garden. Katje hunted the toy and won in the end so that she pulled the toy behind her what made Siggi hunting it. Nice to watch them playing! Sigfrido finally became a selfconfident member of our family what he showed by hissing at Katje the first time (she caught his leg to upset him). Now they are both exhausted by the long play and sleeping on their places. In the evenings, when Katje is allowed to play outside on her own Siggi sits at the window watching her. I think he is a bit jealous and can´t wait till he is allowed to play outside on his own, too.
The last days Siggi became a brave inside- and outside cat. He fought his first fight with the neighbor cat and got to know small and very big hedgehogs. He learns a lot from Katje although she doesn´t seem to like that. She is often upset by him and goes away. They play together when one of the humans is with them but when they are on their own Katje doesn´t search for the company of Sigfrido, but he does, he seems to love her and to want to be with her. We hope they will get a bit closer by time but as long as both are happy cats it is okay for everyone. Siggi is so playful and since he is a member of our family our “tiny” Katje has become adult and reasonable and is now the leader of the cat world. Maybe she doesn´t want to seem childish when she´s cuddling with us while Siggi is watching. Sigfrido´s fur changed into a darker shade and he is no longer too thin because he eats very well and likes nearly all kind of food. He has found his own places in the house and in the garden, the roof of the neighbour´s shed is one of them. At night he sleeps beside me and stays there till I wake up. Will send a few new photos of Siggi:)
Good for Siggi becoming a big brave boy, and funny that Katje has quickly become an adult. My boy Oscar did the same when we adopted little Fleur our 4th cat. He became a man quickly and when our older female cat was angry with her he became angry with Saidie! Until this Oscar was our baby!!!
Have to tell some funny news: Yesterday when I was sitting at my desk Siggi found the strings on the arms of my T-shirt ant pulled them like he wanted me to come with him. A few minutes later I stood up and… Siggi took my place on my chair immediately. Now I know why he wanted me to move by pulling my shirt And Sigfrido has a new favorite place to sleep and to play: in our bath tub. He loves lying there just watching us. He also talks a lot. When he is playing outside on his own and he discovered something he runs into the house quickly to one of us and talks like he wanted to tell stories about his adventures outside. Short time later he leaves for the next tour to come back when the next adventure has taken place.
Sweet, cheeky boy. My little girl Fleur sometimes gets onto my office chair behind me, and if she wants more room she bites my bottom until I move!!!
Lovely that he keeps coming to tell you about his fun!
Thank you for all the great updates.
So cute that Fleur knwos how to get you away from HER place:)
Siggi flollows Katje everywhere. He is a bit clumsy and she is often too fast for him but he tries to follow. Sometimes he gets lost on their ways and comes home a bit sad that he lost Katje.
When Katje had to go to the doctor a few days ago, Siggi was so happy, when we came back home . He ran to her and gave her his nose and poor little Katje (she had a problem with her throat, but it´s fine again) didn´t know what was happening to her, but she couldn´t hide that she was happy, too. She still doesn´t want him to come too close but she likes to show him her world as an adult cat. Today while I was doing the housework, Katje killed and brought three animals, two mice and one bird. She presented them to Siggi with big pride before she finally killed them or ate them. Siggi sniffed on them… and didn´t like those dead things and went away. One day he will learn how to hunt, Katje wouldn´t accept a boyfriend who wants to save her victims:)
Does sound like Katje is becoming quite fond of Siggi. Sharing her kills is a very good sign. My little madam Fleur is still not being nice to baby Dusky, our foster kitten. She is still hissing at him. She is however curious and is slowly getting closer.
Siggi started being a hunter. His victims are fireflies and butterflies and he has a lots of fun jumping through the garden and trying to catch them. He hasn´t caught one of them but it doesn´t matter for him:) In the evenings or when we come home after work and call “Katje” to come home we can be sure that Siggi is with her and follows her home. Yesterday he watched her climbing a huge tree in the garden. She was so proud that she can do it and he just has to watch, Siggi was lying in the grass under the tree and looked up to his friend. He is also practicing climbing up a tree but he still has a problem with the length of his legs:) And it seems to be too warm for the boy, he starts panting after playing in the sun. Or maybe he does it because Katje sometimes pants after a very long play and he copies her behavior. What he also loves is following our African Hedgehog on his walking tours. We will take some new photos and send them.
Good for Siggi. He is learning to be a proper hunter. This and climbing trees with be all new to him. He has been inside all his life!!
I do not have a garden, but my apartment is on the top floor, so my cats run all over the roofs of 5 apartments and can climb and hunt insects and sometimes small birds!!!
Wow, amazing… I think Siggi was too clumsy for it, he has already climbed the roof of our shed but that is a very small and climbing-friendly roof. A few minutes ago I watched him climbing over the fence of our neighbor.. the first time he was successful. Normally he just tried and watched Katje while she was climbng the fence easily.
Siggi was successful for the first time. He hunted a frog and was very very proud. The neighbor told me that Siggi loves sitting on the small lake in the garden and watching the animals in the water. And Siggi loves water. When I water our tomatoes, he always joins me and tries to catch the water what makes him getting wet and he loves it. This morning he watched our hedgehog taking a bath, both weren´t afraid but curious:)
Siggi got to know our friend´s dog and he was very brave. He directly hissed at the dog and the dog went backwards what impressed Siggi, so he continued hissing and watching the dog escaping from him. Te dog is very tall and I think that´s why Siggi is now the proudest cat in the world. He himself made the dog escaping. What a pity that he don´t know that Tarek (the dog) just wanted to be friends because he loves cats. While cat was hissing at dog, Katje was sitting on the roof just watching the scenario. The most favorite play or Siggi at the moment is hunting water. Now it is raining.. the right weather for him. What he also discovered is watching our lemmings in their cages and dreaming of having them for breakfast. You can see he improved very well at being a hunter in the last few days. In the evening he often plays hide and seek or runaway with Katje and he also explored the other cats and houses in the neighborhood. Everybody, except of the other cats, love him.
The best place for sleeping seems to be my laundry basket and when I pegged out my laundry he avoids me getting bored by catching the clothes and pulling them down from the laundry rack. Big fun for him:)
Will send some new photos.
Hello and sorry i haven’t been replying. It’s all been a bit hectic here with our latest transport and lots of new kittens. Siggi sounds like he is ‘having a ball’! English expression. A ball is also a BIG party here!
Montse his rescuer here was very proud when I told her he was climbing and had caught a frog. Great that Siggi and Katje are playing a lot now. Kisses to all from a very hot Spain!
Hello, I followed the news about the transport.. so great that all went well.
Siggi takes his role serious. Yesterday night when we came home late he was practising to hunt. It was so funny to watch him jumping through the garden without a real victim… he was just practising. Katje brings her victims every day and Siggi slowly begins to understand and he definitely wants one of those tasty “pets”, too. Today he was fascinated by some grasshoppers and I had to rescue a baby frog before Siggi could hunt him. Tonight I will send some more photos to Martina. I´m still trying to to take a photo of him while he is playing with the water in the garden, but he is too fast.
Greets from a quite rainy Germany, but that the right weather for Siggi:)
Hello, here come some latest news of Siggi:
He is very well. He finally brought his first bird (okay, it was a baby-bird and I rescued it) and was very very proud of it. Yesterday he got the last injections at the vet what he didn´t like but he was brave.
At night Siggi practices hunting until he gets tired and comes to my bedside to sleep. Katje still doesn´t want him too near but sometimes we catch her playing with him in the cat-tunnel and hunting feathers is a pleasure for both of them. There has been another cat in our house for 3 weeks. Mikesch. I´ve known him for 13 years and the last two years he used to live with an old neighbor. 3 weeks ago I found him in a very bad condition, because the woman he lived with is too old to recognize that he needs special food and a vet. So I cought him and brought him to our home and since then we have been to the vet a thousand times. His nose looks like it is rotten and a big piece is missing. The vet doesn´t really know what it can be, it isn´t cancer and it is no auto-immun-weakness. The first moment I brought Mikesch in our house Siggi didn´t like him. He hissed at Mikesch all the time and was a bit afraid of him, too. But after three weeks, they eat next to each other and tolerate each other what I recognize as a success. The worst thing is that Mikesch has to stay inside because of his illness and that´s hell for him as he has been an outside cat for the last 13 years. So the mood between the cats is a bit aggressive some times but gets better every day. Siggi is very social and even Katje, who knows Mikesch from the neighborhood, accepts that Mikesch needs some more help and a place in their home. Yesterday I had to look twice, as I couldn´t believe my eyes: each cat has it´s own feeding dish but yesterday they eat out of only one at the same time. Without any stress. What a great moment:) We don´t know yet, if we can keep Mikesch but we try to give him the care and the food he needs and the time to grow a bit healthier. He will not go back to the old neighbor and if we are lucky he is able to be an ouside-cat again what would loosen the situation and the sometimes unhappy mood of Mikesch. Because Mikesch isn´t allowed to go outside, we installed a cat-flap with microchip-sensor. We wanted to do this long time ago and finally we did it. Mikesch has no chip so Katje and Siggi had to learn to go through it and to be on their own witou a door-opener. It took Siggi just a few minutes! Katje still has to learn that she can come in through the same flap. Now she just sits there and calls one of us to open the door. But if she watches Siggi going in and out all the time, she will learn it, too.
Now Siggi is sleeping and dreaming of his night-hunts, even Katje is sleeping (next to Mikesch, so good to see that the stress has gone). Siggi´s fur got a very dark shade and he eats very well. The vet says his weight is alright now and that he is a very beautiful and healthy cat. I will send some new photos the next days.
Well done Siggi, but good that you rescued the bird!
And well done to you for helping Mikesch. He sounds an old character.
Has your vet checked for fungus on his nose? I am sure he has! It is quite common here in Summer, and often comes on the nose first.
Siggi sounds like he is having a great life thank you.
I now have 5 cats because we are keeping little Dusky. My little girl Fleur who is the closest in age to him sounds a bit like Katje. Sometimes she will play a little with him but sometimes she hisses him away. She plays all the time with my big boy cats, but she has known them from when she was a kitten!!!
Oh, yes, it sound like Fleur and Katje are quite similar. It is no fungus on Mikesch´s nose, the vet took a part of his inner nose to test it. And she took blood to test all the other things like FIV and FeLV – all negative. The next suspicion is a tumor in the inside nose that couldn´t be found by the tested part of his nose. That would mean a CT but the vet told us to wait a few weeks. Now Mikesch gets cortisone because of his very bad allergy what made him licking his belly and his back till there was blood. When I caught him he had no fur on his belly and on his back. Now he eats “healthier” food (the same that Katje and Siggi eat) and his fur came back and he doesn´t lick himself so bad anymore.
And yes, Katje has known him all her life so she accepts him more than Siggi does. But we have hope that Mikesch will grow to a member of our cat-team. As I know him for all his life (he lived with my parents some time ago until he moved to the neighbor) it would be hard to give him to another place. The neighbor who he lived with the last years is very very sad that she couldn´t keep Mikesch healthy but she understood that she is too old to keep an ill cat and she doesn´t want to make him more ill by giving him the wrong food and not enough care.
Siggi has problems with the points where he got the injections yesterday, but he is a big boy and when Katje is near, he doesn´t show that it hurts a bit. Tomorrow everything will be okay again. His newest challenge is to climb the trees in our garden one time he made to the top of the tree and sat there like the king of the garden (actually, he is the king of the garden, but Katje is the queen and also wants a place in the tree).
Hello,
did you get the new photos of Siggi and his cat-team?
Wiebke
Hi Wiebke. Yes thankyou. I have just put them on my blog!
xxx
Hello,
Siggi learns a lot. Katje is his teacher. As he had to learn hunting when he came to us and has improved very much, he is now a specialist in ritual killing and every morning we find several mice – divided in many pieces and distributed all around the house. Must be a very bloody game but both, Katje and Siggi, enjoy it. They both play tricks on us by hiding dead mice under the carpet so that we step on them. It is a sad game for the mice, an ugly one for us, but I have to say that we are happy that Siggi learned that fast and became such an irresistible king of the garden.
He remembers the time we go to bed and so he is always the first who reserves the best place in the middle before anyone else can take this place:)
Mikesch is still very ill and the doctor doesn´t know if he will stay that fit for a long time. His body is fit but his nose is rotting all the time and the meds don´t help. We hope that we can find another therapy for him and until there is a decision, all the three cats enjoy their life and they also enjoy kidding and playing tricks on each other. Siggi learned that Mikesch is a member of our family, too and they accept each other most of the time.
Greets to you 🙂
Wiebke
Montse who rescued Siggi has said that maybe washing Mikesch’s nose with water and bicarbonate will help.She is a nurse. She says that sometimes changing the PH of the wound helps it to heal.
An idea???
oh, thanks. Tomorrow is the next date with the vet, I will ask him. I think it is not just a wound the upper skin disappears and beneath is infected tissue. It looks cauterized, but it can´t be. The one side of the nose doesn´t work, but the other one does and I hope the vet can save the ability to smell and breathe.
Many thanx for your help and I will tell you if it helped Mikesch.
Good luck! I am seeing my vet on Wednesday so I will ask him if he has seen anything like this before. For 14 years he worked at the dog rescue here, so he has seen a lot of street animals.
So many thanks!
Yesterday we spend the whole afternoon till 8 in the evening at the vet. Mikesch was put asleep and the cut off two other pieces of his nose and then a CT of his head was made. The CT was good and there was absolutely nothing unnormal, what made us a bit happier. Now we have to wait till Friday. The vet said there is the small possibility that it is a kind of herpes. She couldn´t find cells that show that but maybe the cause lies deeper.
Mikesch looks like a boxer now and doesn´t feel confortable with his bleeding and the need to stay inside.
Will let you know the news!
My vet has suggested Acido Hialuronico cream.
I have tried to translate this into German.
Is it Hyaluronsäure???
Oh, okay, yes, I know Hyaluronsäure. I thin we´ll have to wait with that, because the vet cut off parts of the front nose. But I have Hyaluronsäure at home and will ask the vet when and if to try it. If you see my e-mail address, you could send me yours and I could send you a picture of his nose and the news of Siggi directly. (Only if it is okay for you)
Of course!
sands@alstrays.com