Brandy and Mocha's Story

Why we looked to re-homing a Ragdoll Cat

Constanca has always held a passion for cats and has re-homed many strays in her native Portugal. I myself am no stranger to feline company having had a few tabbies through my childhood and finding it much to my liking.

After moving in together and leaving our respective feline friends (with our parents) we both began to felt the loss of our fluffy comrades and began to discuss the possibility of having a cat.

Being that we both worked we felt that a kitten would be out of the question. A kitten requires so much time and love it would simply be too cruel to leave it/them for 7- 8 hours a day alone in our flat.

So we considered the next best thing offering a home to a mature cat. A cat that would appreciate the time alone, to doze on the many window ledges of our flat, to lazily gazing at the street bellow.

The search for a feline friend

Constance began her search on the Internet looking through many sites and forums offering re-homing programs. As she searched a new problem came to light, we lived on a busy road if the cat went outside would it be safe? We didn’t want to bring a new friend into our lives and see it taken just as quickly as it came. So an indoor cat it would have to be.

Ragdolls – Large, extremely friendly indoor cats, perfect!

And so Constanca began to routinely check the forum looking for the cats that would best suit us and we them. We hoped for two as we felt they would be good company for each other while both Constanca and I worked.

After a short while we where offered the privilege of re-homing two beautiful cats – Brandy and Mocha

Brandy and Mocha a long journey to a new home and family

The cats were in the care of Helen at the time and I can tell it was no fun driving from Manchester to Milton Keynes but so worth it. I remember clearly the first time we met them, Mocha shot under her blanket and hid, Brandy let out his trade mark grunt like meow (which to this day amuses me greatly, he sounds like a grumpy old man). It took Mocha a while to come out from under her cat print cover but the sight of Brandy sniffing my father’s shoes and trousers must have been too much to resist (after 5 hours of driving, service stations and the occasional stop off for direction I’m sure there must have been much to sniff). And so it was with fond farewells that the five of us left for our new life back in Manchester.

The return journey was most eventful with Mocha screaming until we allowed her to climb into Brandy’s carry cage (she hid behind him the whole journey) with him and me setting car alarms off (that’s a story for another time). Fatigued and a little stressed the two entered our flat for the first time.

A new home, family and adventure

So many new smells, rooms, places to hide (including under the kitchen surfaces! I’ll get to that in a moment) and things discover! While Cony and I sat exhausted on the sofa our two little chums ran back and forth sniffing and peering into every nook and cranny of our little flat.

Mocha soon claimed the bathroom and sat on her towel rack throne! Mine she declared with a defiant little meow! And from that night to the day Brandy knew all to well this was her room, he would learn even better the price for trespass.

So with perhaps the best room in the house taken (Well if you’re a cat it is, its dark as the light is often off, warm due to the boiler and mostly undisturbed except for showers which Mocha finds fascinating, as well as baths which are positively riveting!) Brandy as most men of his age (in cat years) did the only thing he could claim the sofa!

To this day this little arrangement stands even after we moved Mocha is still in her bathroom thou be it upstairs of our little cottage and Brandy? Sofa, dozing happily and awaiting the next victim to sit beside him only to fall the for magnificence of his fluffy belly and pay homage in the form of a tickle.

Toys, alarms and the paper blanket

In the first few weeks we tried everything to please out new fluffy friends, expensive toys, elaborate games, treats but nothing seemed to work. They ate, they slept they played for 10-15 minutes tops. But then came the string, the irresistable string, a simple plain ribbon from one of Cony’s cardigans. Red rag to a bull, honey to bears, oil to greedy businessmen! No real comparison can be drawn on the love between these two cats and this length of red ribbon.

Back and forth, back and forth in the kitchen, bedroom even the forbidden bathroom they would run desperately clawing and biting the “love string” (one of the many names the string has. Songs too, Cony has pointed out that I sing little songs as I play with the cats – I deny this of course).

One thing I did not count on, having Brandy and Mocha, was the feline alarm clock. 7:30am every morning the little princess wakes me for her breakfast. The howl of the banshee would be sweet music to my ears compared with eeeeeeeeeoew (If you watch old war films you’ll know the sound. That terrible screeching sound as shot down spitfires hurtling to the ground). Well there has to be a price for such a wonderful little ball of fluff purring night long at your feet Cony tells me (Hmm wonder if she would say that if she had to feed them).

Sean