Fifty Shades of Tabby

Dobby
Also known as “Dobby!Dobby! No Dobby” as he postured to spray something he knew he shouldn’t. Or “Mr. Dobbelina Mr. Dob Dobbelina”. Was pulled from Hawksbury pound on the 14th of December 2017. He was about 3 months old and was born in September 2017 sometime. He was incredibly ill in the pound as an orphan solo kitten with multiple infections. I nursed him 24/7 and Bubba came good.

He was named Dobby for his big red ears and his wee little goblin face. He spent Christmas with us that year and relished in baubles on our stick Christmas tree and he loved wrapping paper.

He became best buddies with Gremlin who’d I’d rescued a couple of weeks earlier. Gremlin passed away from FIP in 2018 at 5 months old. Because of his exposure to feline coronavirus/FIP his adoption profile was suspended for a while just in case.

Not long after that Dobby ingested 8 hair ties and required emergency surgery. He lived in a cat tent with a cone on being fed shredded poached chicken by hand for a month or more. He grew used to that treatment very quickly.

After this he became a problem child and started marking all things. Who doesn’t want to adopt a spraying teenage cat with a rubber fettish/pica?!

Dobby was LOVED by Biggie, CodyCat and most of all Sassafras who was his and Little Man Gremmie surrogate daddy. While Dobby has been sick, both Cody and Sass have been giving him whole head and face cat baths. And Pretty, has been concerned too. They loved him so.

I always joked that Dobby wasn’t the brightest of boys. He thought everything in a package was food. Kitty litter bag? Might be food. Salad bag? Foods. All things might be food. He was an optimist. He always believed in the possibility of food.

He was Goldilocks. You open a can, he wanted to inspect. Right on the counter. You put said can on a plate and serve it on the floor for everyone and open another can. Dobby would be straight back on the bench bc the next can might be bigger and better and nommier than the one before. He truly was Goldilocks.

He was sweetness on legs. All vets commented on his beautiful calm nature and temperament.

He would snuggle with me. In winter I would wake up to find him sleeping in my arms or sometimes on my face.

Dobby was a sprayer. And he knew he shouldn’t but he did it anyway. No Dobby. Dobby. No. No Dobby. He’d spray and run. I’d threaten him with big snacks and tossing him outside. But he was Dobby. He was my miracle trouble furkid.

Dobby was almost 6.5 years old. He had perfect bloods. He was in perfect shape. All his bits were working as they should. He was hydrated. His glucose was healthy. His temperature fine. But some random invisible unknown infection took its hold.

I did all the things. Visited the vet 5 times trying to solve this infection this week. Plus his illness in December last year and the big infection about a year ago that really was difficult to fight off. Dr Lani said that it was something he’d probably had for a while that was under the surface. Lurking. And then took a hold.

Today Dobby just wouldn’t fully wake up. He was curled up sleeping soundly in his cat carrier (his preference of safe quiet place) next to my pillow. I tried to gently wake him so I could give him some dine with gravy and water. And his meds. But he just wouldn’t stir. I pulled him out of his carrier. His eyes were still dilating and even and he’d semi stir, but he was stuck. Like yesterday but he didn’t come to like yesterday. I wanted him to sit up like he did yesterday but he didn’t. Yesterday he rallied and today he just couldn’t.

He had 6 and a quarter years of love and food and snuggles. He had more time than he would have had had I not stepped in to help him because no other rescues had space or time for a single sick solo kitten. He had a home despite the fact he was a such a problem child.

I loved him so damn much. And while I sometimes fanaticised about having no more spraying I would happily have another decade of Dobby spraying things and me shouting at him No Dobby No or singing “Mr Dob Dobbelina” to him.

Goodnight sweet boy.
Dobby.
Mr. Dob Dobbelina.

Finding Toby. I found Toby in a cat colony that was living in an Aldi car park. I found him in mid-August. At this colony there was a white pregnant cat I named Zoe and we turned out to be too young tabby boy kittens. Toby of course as well as a big dark charcoal tabby tomcat. 

I first caught the mother cat as a priority. She had her kittens eight days after I caught her. It took me four weeks to catch her from initial sighting to trapping. I then was able to catch one of the tabby boys who had a seriously fractured femur. I had to leave Toby and the other  juvenile kitten behind because I lacked the space.

 It broke my heart that I couldn’t bring Toby inside. But with mother, cat and her kittens as well as a dog attack victim (big tomcat who was adopted shortly after) I had nowhere to put him. We were able to find a foster home for him and that’s how he was able to enter into Urban Kittens Rescue.

As a street cat, he was a little bit sensitive initially to overstimulation, but as you can see from these videos, he was a beautiful sweet boy who just had to get over his survival instincts.  Those instincts kept him alive on the streets and led him to me.

Once he was rescued and in foster care with the amazing Chris, he could learn how to relax and not have to be in survival mode.

❤️

RAFFLE TICKETS - BUY ONE AND HELP CATS LIKE ZOE!❤❤ In order to help as many pregnant cats or Mums and bubs on the street we need $. The more $ we have the more help we can provide. Mum Zoe had 5 gorgeous kittens last Sunday in a safe and comfortable foster home. A little over a week ago she was a dumped, pregnant stray on the streets scrounging for food. 😢 Luckily one of our amazing team Gaby came across Zoe and after a few nights was able to trap her and get her settled before her bubs came. Zoe is one lucky cat. ❤ There are hundreds out there who are not as lucky and as a rescue group we just want to be able to do more! Our current raffle has some great prizes and you can find all the details here - https://events.humanitix.com/urban-kittens-great-online-raffle-event?fbclid=IwAR1nP_t7JhYdsSF0MroaP6vrwBodtEciCt7X68yzbWd6-7dJ66XuREw6ix0 Just a $10 ticket makes a huge difference to the funds we have available as kitten season commences. If you haven't already we ask you to think of Zoe and buy a ticket today (stay tuned for more updates on Zoe and her bubs over the next few weeks 🙂)

Just some ridiculousness with our current temp foster Delicious from Urban Kittens - Rescue group. He was found all alone at West Blacktown Veterinary Clinic. And being the awesome caring clinic they are they reached out for this little man. He’s now a fat 500g and experienced his first cat snuggle last night! Post bottle, post play snuggle-a-thon!