Freddie Purr-cury by Debbie UK

This is the story of mine and Freddie's VERY much whirlwind relationship, which is coming up for its six month anniversary on Sunday 30th April..

Last year; Friday October 14th, was a horrible day which is forever etched in my mind because firstly my beloved Dad was admitted to hospital following a stroke, and at 4:50pm that afternoon I also had to make the heart wrenching decision to say goodbye to my beautiful 16yr old rescue mini panther Milly after 5 years together as she'd suffered a very sharp decline in health due to kidney problems.

I was utterly distraught, and so not ready to be suddenly cat-less, but living in a third floor flat I knew I couldn't adopt just "any" cat as it would be wrong to deprive them of outside access if that's what they were used to.

So after a few days of continued crying over losing Milly, I decided to look into registering with local rescues just in case any had an indoor-only cat needing a home.  I didn't expect to have any luck, but something made me click on a Google search link for "overlooked cats", which led me to a rescue in Dorset, and a very handsome FIV+ tuxedo CHONK known at the time as "Captain Purr-Paws ".

I instantly fell in love and sent them a message to see if he was still in need of a home, and long story short, I went to meet him about a week later, and he came home with me that same day.

He was apparently originally found on the streets in West Bromwich of all places, and brought to a Midlands vet by a concerned member of the public, where he was treated for various ailments, and subsequently diagnosed with FIV.

They couldn't house him up there, and had the Dorset rescue not taken him it's likely he'd have been destroyed, which is shocking really as FIV is anything but a death sentence!

Anyway, the adoption process was quite rushed really, and I knew this probably meant he needed a lot more vet treatment, but since coming to me he's had some teeth extracted and been wormed/given an MOT and deemed in excellent health, and is now enjoying a very happy, relaxed, spoilt life with a very devoted human slave!

And yes, I renamed him Freddie Purr-cury in honour of the cat loving, delicious Diva frontman of Queen!

Oh, and the most wonderful part of our story is that, after I adopted him and was presented with his "medical history" paperwork, it turned out that the vets he was first taken to in the Midlands had given him a "guesstimated" birthday which just so happened to be the same as mine.

7th October.

If that wasn't proof of it being fate that we found each other then I don't know what is, and I'm still positive Milly-Cat had a 'paw' in helping us find each other when we needed each other.

Love from Debbie C, and Freddie P.

Xxxx