Mittens the magnificent!

This is a story about a really special cat who'd become something of a fixture at Chestnut Cat Sanctuary.

Mittens is special, not just because she's a lovely dark-haired cat: she's also polydactyl, which means she has more than the usual number of toes on each foot - six in fact!

She came to us on 2nd November 2007, with 4 tiny kittens. And on May 1st 2008, after a long holiday with us, she finally found a fantastic home!

Her new owner, Carrie Williams, emailed us the day after to let us know how Mittens was getting on.

Hi, I'm Carrie, and I adopted Mittens yesterday. I know you'd like to hear how she's getting on. The short answer is, fantastically!

The long answer is below ;-)

When I first spotted Mittens on your website, I was immediately taken by her “thumbs”. I’d seen pictures of polydactyl cats before, and always thought they were really cute and unusual, so she caught my attention straight away.

When I came to the sanctuary though, I found myself with an agonising choice. How do you pick a cat? I visited with two - Mush and Mittens. Mush was immediately friendly, running up to me meowing and asking for fuss, but Mittens was more aloof. She let me stroke her, but only for a little while, and then smacked me away, and went back to looking out her window.

It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. While Mush was lovely, and I would have been happy to take her home, I didn’t really feel a bond with her, but there was something about Mittens that drew me to her, even though she seemed completely indifferent to me.

One of the ladies encouraged me to sit with her for a while, and she settled on my lap while I had a cup of coffee. She seemed quite happy to sit there, but wasn’t really responding to me stroking her, not purring or anything. I remember saying, “I like her, but I can’t tell if she likes me!” Eventually though, after much dithering, I decided to take a chance on Mittens.

How glad am I that I did? I came back the next day to take her home, after getting only four hours sleep through nerves and excitement. She was still really quiet. In the taxi going home, she was just staring out of her carrier. She never made a sound.

I let her out in the living room, behind the couch, where I’d set up all her stuff, thinking it would be a quiet area for her if she wanted to hide away a bit.

Hiding was the last thing on her mind! She came out of the box with her eyes so wide, and made a beeline for the patio doors to look out at the garden. She looked round at me like she just couldn’t believe it!

I watched as she did a circuit of the room, sniffing at everything, and then she came over to me, jumped onto my lap and I could hardly believe this was the same cat who was so quiet and subdued in the sanctuary! Purring, headbutting, snuggling, rolling over for tummy rubs! It was amazing!

I’m stunned at how quickly and easily she’s settled in. She hasn’t eaten much yet (too excited, I think!), but she has plenty of fat stored up, so I’m not worrying about that. She’s been drinking, and she used her litter tray this morning. When I got up today, she greeted me with meows and purrs, and followed me around everywhere, doing the leg rub thing.

As I write this, she’s snoozing on the couch on a blanket next to me, and she just spontaneously started purring. She likes to play too, and I think she’ll be a pretty fearsome hunter when she gets to go outside.

I’d like to thank everyone at the sanctuary for taking such good care of her, and encouraging me to take a chance on her. You’ve helped me find the perfect cat for me, and you’ve helped me make Mittens really happy!

 

Thanks Carrie. We're going to miss Mittens but we're just so happy she's found a loving new home, at long last!