Benson  Benson is a special boy who I’ve known since he was very young, but he hasn’t always lived with me. Ben originally lived with a neighbour; they adopted two adorable ginger kittens who, before very long, grew past the cute kitten stage - this is when they were moved outside, unloved and unwanted. Ben immediately did well for himself - he found my cat-flap and moved himself into the warm, helping himself to food from the residents’ bowls. His brother wasn’t so brave though. He was well fed as I put food outside for him, but the little man was too scared of my dog to actually come into the house.  As the months passed, Benson developed into a young, full of attitude, tomcat who really needed neutering - but he still officially belonged to the neighbour who had shut him out in the cold, so I couldn’t arrange anything. One day I saw his ‘owner’ outside. This person had known for months that Ben was in my house and had made no attempt to reclaim him, so I decided to ask straight out if she still wanted him. She replied that she didn’t want him, so the very next day Benson was off to the vets to be neutered. Benson has lived here happily ever since, but his brother wasn’t so lucky - not straight away. Shortly after Ben became officially resident here, his former owner informed me that she had re-homed his brother. Apart from wondering where he might have ended up, I thought no more about it. Until, several months later, I heard a familiar miaow as I returned home after walking my dog. I stopped, listened and called out and sure enough, out of the bushes came the supposedly re-homed brother cat; he was so pleased to see me that he didn’t even worry about my dog. Poor boy was very thin and not in good condition. She hadn’t re-homed him, she had dumped him. As the thin and hungry boy trotted along behind me on our way home, the name Milo came to me. Milo followed me all the way home and when I opened the door, he ran straight in and headed straight for the food bowls (he must have been in before, as he knew exactly where they were). I’d expected Ben to be pleased to be reunited with Milo, but that was not the case - as soon as they saw each other, Ben launched a viscous attack upon his brother. It was obvious that Milo would not be able to stay with me. He stayed that night before going to be neutered the next day, and within a few days, he had a loving new home. I will never understand why people take on animals if they have no intention of looking after them properly. Why dump animals when help is just a door knock or phone call away? |
