Lisa’s story: from street cat to pet
Some cats leave an unshakeable impression on you. Lisa is without a doubt one of them. A former street cat with a beautiful long coat, a bit of attitude and charisma that puts in mind a meowdel.
Lisa was first seen at the start of 2021 at a feeding location where we have been taking care of street cats with a group of volunteers for years.
As with every new cat, we first checked if Lisa had a chip - this took a long time, as she didn’t let anyone come close at first. But Lisa didn’t have a chip, so we couldn’t contact an owner. The next step was a medical check-up, but first we looked for a place to foster her so she could be socialised and adopted. When we were able to catch her, Lisa turned out to be very scared - and pregnant. Since her pregnancy was still in its early stages, the kittens were aborted. She stayed in a foster home provided by Kat Zoekt Thuis for two weeks, but she remained so fearful we decided to release her back at the feeding spot she had come to know and trust.
This turned out to be the right choice. Lisa felt free again and immediately went to look for her best friend, a white and grey cat named Willy. They have been inseparable ever since.
Unfortunately, street life remains difficult for cats. As volunteers, we try to support them as best we can, but we can’t always protect them from illness, traffic, or other dangers. Sometimes, help is made impossible, for instance if a cat won’t let us catch them or if they hide because they are feeling unwell. Times like these always weigh heavy on us. You do your utmost to help, but sometimes you are confronted with the fact that your best still isn’t enough.
An additional difficulty with Lisa was her long hair. Every year, her coat would become matted. A pet cat can be combed and its mats cut or shaved, but street cats often barely let anyone touch them, let alone take care of their coat. But mats eventually lead to painful wounds, since the fur literally gets torn from the skin.
On top of all that, we noticed that Lisa had an abscess on her chin that had ruptured and turned into a big open wound. The injury wouldn’t heal on its own, so Lisa had to be caught again. The abscess was treated and Lisa also received an extra check-up at the vet, who noticed that she had some bad teeth that would have to be pulled - an issue that plagues many street cats.
In order for Lisa to recover at ease, and to make sure she would get the medication she needed, we decided to temporarily house Lisa ourselves at DreamCATchers. We soon noticed that she missed her friend Willy immensely; she meowed for him at night. Together with the other volunteers, we decided to catch him and foster them together.