Try it for yourself.

We were allowed to take it home for the weekend.

“Peet” wasn’t phased by anything; not by our dog, not by our cat, and was in fact quite happy to go in the bath!

Erm … Maddie – what are you doing?

Courageous little creature, that’s for sure.

(I so want to be a pet in my next life)

A typical morning welcome

On Monday afternoon (I came home early) we spread some pamphlets and spoke with the neighbors. We figured that maybe she was trapped somewhere (like a garage), or was hurt and in hiding. Nobody had seen her that day though.

On Tuesday morning I spread some more pamphlets now in a bigger area. I was also allowed to place a pamphlet at the local dairy. Her collar had a phone number on it, so we checked the phone all day for messages but nothing.

By Tuesday evening we started to really worry about where she was, and then out of nowhere a call… A little girl had found Maddie’s collar just a few streets away. My idea was to distribute more pamphlets in that very area, whereas my wife wanted me to check that street. Find out exactly in what sort of area she had gotten lost, and see if she was even still there somewhere. So I went to check, and it was so dark I couldn’t even read the mailbox numbers so I had no idea where to even begin.

On a whim I yelled “Maddie!”, and it was immediately answered with a loud “Meow, meow”. I couldn’t see her because she was hiding in a tree behind some leaves. When I did find her I couldn’t get to her as she was up to high. After some time she figured out how to get down on the fence from where I could grab her. She never stopped meowing until we got home.

PFEW!

Once home she was spoiled with food, milk, and lots of snuggles.

In the end we concluded that she must have gotten into a cat fight (lost her collar, scratches), got lost, and hid under a car (stains on her fur) and in a tree.

The moral of this story
We love this cat!

Maddie catching up on some sleep

Harry’s tail travelling here at roughly three times the speed of light (estimation)

All it takes for this to happen is the presence of an old yucky tennis-ball. Makes you think ay?

Warning
Cats do NOT have happy indicators; they have grumpy indicators instead.
(You have been warned)

My wife took her to the after hours emergency veterinary where she was operated on for approximately 1-2 hours.

We’re not entirely sure what happened but we think she either jumped/fell on a nail, or perhaps fell out of a tree and was subsequently punctured by a branch or something in her belly.

Because it was an after hours emergency the bill was high and she also required follow up assessment and treatment, etc.

While I was at the regular vet I started talking to one of the doctors and asked her what would happen if someone couldn’t afford the bills. There are basically two options. The first option is to ask the SPCA to pay for it, but that unfortunately means you have to relinquish your animal. The second option is to put your animal to sleep.

These are incredibly tough decisions to make (especially in the current economic situation). Nobody wants to give up someone they love, and I can only imagine what kind of impact this must have on somebody.

In the process of raising money we tried to sell several things and told people that we needed the money for Maddie. As a result we received a lot of support and people shared the stories of their animals with us.

As far as us goes the bond between Maddie and us is a lot better. She is way more snuggly around us now, so something good came out of this after all.

Maddie is sitting right next to me as I type this article and is about to swipe the mouse cursor again – Sigh!

A labradoodle is a cross between a labrador and a poodle.

It’s basically what you get when your wife asks you what kind of dog you want and you reply with “a medium sized, black, snouted, intelligent family dog”.

Harry loves his toy duck.

The first time he walked around with it he tripped over it though (mainly because the duck was bigger then Harry at the time). Harry ’solved’ the problem by trotting until he was big enough to carry it normally.

Duck toys don’t last very long anymore these days so we’ve stopped buying them.

Harry is very cute and fluffy making him an instant hit with other people in the park.

Harry and Olly grew up together and would often snuggle up on the couch when it was cold, but they would never really admit that of course.

She is no longer with us, but I wanted to share her story nonetheless…

It all started when my wife rescued her from two cats that had dragged her into a friend’s house.

At first I was very negative about having her (because of costs, poos, etc), but after I got to know her I really started to like her. She was always following our dog around making lots of “peep, peep, peep” noises. Maybe because she thought he was her mother or something.

One night she just died, we don’t know why, and I felt really sad and guilty for not having given her a better welcome.

I guess the moral of the story is don’t take life for granted – instead embrace it and enjoy it (whether it poos on the carpet or not).

She’s a Tonkinese with a lot of character already. Tonks are known as lively, friendly, talkative, and intelligent cats.

Maddie likes to run around like crazy, get into well everything really, and loves to bite my toe at approximately 3 am. (Sigh)

Maddie was born on 25 September 2008.

Introducing Maddie…

She jumped on this herself and I only spotted her because the seat was still swinging.

Sweet dreams Maddie…