Lucy

Every now and then you come across an extraordinary animal, who shows such human emotions like grief and loss, love and empathy. Their story touches your heart, yet breaks it at the same time. Lucy is one such animal.

Lucy came to us from a Northern Victorian pound with one of her kittens from a past litter, and also heavily pregnant. One week after arriving, she gave birth to 7 babies. Unfortunately, she was not well herself, and she was unable to process that she had in fact given birth, and consequently, had five of her babies pass. Her carer came along just in time to save the remaining two, and hand feed them, but three days later they also passed. Lucy's health declined, and at its worst, her nose was completely blocked, and her eyes virtually crusted shut. A few nights at the vet and some treatment ended up doing her wonders. She came back full of life and love. A week later, a group of four kittens were found by a concerned resident on a busy road, and GAR took them into their care. A long shot, but we thought it would be a worthwhile idea, having Lucy back in full health, to try these kittens with her to see if she'd take them on, and she did, without a hesitation. For the next eight weeks, she was the mother to a lucky bunch of gingers and a tabby. As far as she was concerned, these were her babies without a doubt. Shortly after that, when the kittens were about 7 weeks old, a new group of hand-reared kittens came in to care and over time, Lucy began to clean them and allow them to feed from her as well. Lucy grieved the loss of her own kittens, but was able to care for two litters of orphaned kittens, who without her, wouldn't have survived. It is very rare for a mother cat to accept orphans more than 24 hours after she has given birth. Lucy took it in her stride months after. What an amazing woman. She deserved to find an amazing home to be loved and cared for as she has done for these babies.

When first receiving Lucy, she was stand off-ish and did not like being picked up, or petted for that matter. Gradually, over time she got used to being picked up, and loves, absolutely loves a vigorous scratch. While her babies were still in care with her, she was always quite reserved and well behaved, just being a mother cat. Now that her babies have left, and she has no responsibility, her personality has done a complete 180. She has become a kitten, as she has never really had the chance to be one. She plays constantly now, she runs at things that don't exist and she does loops around the house. Other times she'll sit on the end of the bed and just monitor, or sit in a window sill and watch the world. She wants to play a lot, but still have a pat and some attention. She has become an extremely talkative cat, and makes strange noises. She's quirky, and one of a kind, but she's gentle and loving, and would make a great companion to any house hold.
Lucy has lived with dogs and kittens, and has tolerated the dogs, but she definitely needs time to warm up to them, and understand that they can both live together, happily. She enjoys the freedom of being an only pet, after being a mother for so long, and acts as if other animals bother her, but at this switch of personality, it's obvious she gets lonely and could use a companion to live with. Hence, she'd make a great addition to a house with or without pets.

If you would like to meet the amazing Lucy, you can find our adoption application here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1_m2Zdc1C6PnG5r-KkmLiNSt2wwQDoDsJb3w99r33v5M/viewform