The old, old house had been turned into a rehabilitation center for alcoholics and drug addicts. How long the cats had been there no-one really knew. Nikki arrived to find a sea of cats, some friendly, some frightened, including one pitiful female in heat frantically trying to escape from seven males, a very pregnant tabby, and one rag-tag male with eyes so badly infected he staggered blindly along trying to stay out of the way of the others.

Nikki rescued those three that day, in addition to four others. All tested FELV/FIV negative and were then spayed or neutered. Rag-tag was put on antibiotics and eye ointment.

During that time, Vivien, Just Strays’ vice president, saw him sitting in the resting cage as she had seen so many others, but this cat affected her deeply. After looking at him for about ten seconds, she turned to Nikki and said, “I’m taking him home.”

Nikki and Vivien agreed that he should be bathed and re-examined. Examination by Dr. Heidi Lawrence revealed entropion eyelids (eyelashes turned under, scraping the cat’s eyeballs.) “He’s got to be in such pain,” was Dr. Lawrence’s comment. She operated the next day. Rag-tag went home with Vivien for post-operative care, both his eyelids sutured, wearing a large Elizabeth collar.

Though he had the tough look, huge head, and puffy cheeks characteristic of a previously unneutered male, his disposition was that of a sweet and mushy love. Vivien and David named him Onslow and started him out in their guest room, away from their other cats until the collar could be removed. However, he wanted company all the time, and wasn’t content to stay in a separate room. Within a few days, he was exploring his new home.

Onslow’s behavior could be summed up in two words—sniff and spray, but Vivien and David didn’t care: they’d handle it. Vivien spent many an hour following him and cleaning up after him, hoping that this was a temporary setback due to anxiety about being in a new environment and from the male hormones not yet out of his system.

The day his stitches were taken out and his collar removed, he began investigating every corner of the house, rubbing his neck in all the places he used to spray. Vivien and David realized that with his neck previously covered by the collar, he had been unable to rub his scent the way a cat usually does. His spraying immediately stopped.

With good care and love, Onslow has meshed with the other household cats, and he has been restored to good health. It’s obvious that he adores every minute of his new life. He’s laid claim to “his spot,” the space between two pillows on the bed. He’s quite a talker—chirps when he sees Vivien and David and sighs and purrs when he’s resting with them. The other night, they awoke to find him in their bed fast asleep, flat on his back, snoring loudly. Onslow has indeed found his home.

Nikki has returned to the center several times for the other cats. Every one turned out to be friendly and gentle. Each had obviously been someone’s beautiful kitten at one time. The thought of how they wound up as strays, becoming pitiful shadows of the beautiful cats they should have been, haunts us. It took time, patience, and care, but at Just Strays, they all became healthy, exquisite cats. All have been placed in good homes—their reward for the courage it took to survive day after day on the streets.