Jaspar's Story

My name is Liz and I live in the West Midlands with my husband Martin our four children, two staffies and all of our ragdolls. Jasper joined the family when I had two kittens, both littermates, Kye, a blue mitted with a blaze and Mickey a cream mitted, who we sadly lost (to FIP) not long after we rehomed Jaspar. We now have four ragdolls, but that’s another story.

They bring so much joy into our lives and we cannot imagine our life without them and I couldn’t believe it when I read on the forum that ragdolls were often in need of rehoming, it just didn’t make sense to me.

I made up my mind there and then that I would approach Helen and offer a needy ragdoll a new home.

The first raggie that Helen told me about wasn’t to be; he had been returned to his breeder and he had settled in so well that she decided to keep him so at least he had his happy ending.

I spoke to Helen again and asked if she had any other cats for rehoming. This is when I learnt about Jaspar; she told me he was a seal mitted with a blaze and that he was almost 7 and seemed to have a sensitive tummy. She asked if I minded his age and did it bother me about his tummy troubles. The answer to both of these questions was no I wasn’t in the least bit bothered.

At this point I hadn’t seen pictures of Jaspar so I had to wait, very impatiently I might add, for the email. When the pictures of him were emailed to me I thought he was absolutely stunning, he looked so regal. I wanted him and I didn’t rest until I had made arrangements to go and see him. Arrangements were made (very quickly) for my home check, which was done by Nicky of Onceupona ragdolls.

As it was so far to travel I would be bringing him back with me, if his owners agreed. We travelled to Norfolk, which is (4 ½ hours drive away from us); there we met Jaspar’s owners who could no longer keep him due to their child having an allergy. He wasn’t as outgoing as I expected but I fell in love with him and it was agreed that he could come home with us. It was very hard for his previous owners and a very emotional time, I felt like I was taking him away from them and shed a few tears too but I did my best to assure them that I would look after him. We exchanged email addresses and I keep her informed of how he is getting on.

He cried a little in the car but I was able to keep him calm. He travelled really well. When we arrived home I put him in our bedroom with all his familiar things to help him settle. I swapped our cats bedding with his to help them all get used to each other and a couple of days later, we introduced them. There was some spitting and batting as is to be expected when introducing new cats to an established household but things soon settled down.

I did however find that Jaspar was not too pleased with being brushed, he loved his head and ruff to be groomed but it was a no-no for anywhere else, and to clip his nails, oh dear he just didn’t like it, but I persevered. Although it took months, we are now at the stage where he will accept brushing on any part of his body, the only grumbles we get now are if he thinks he shouldn’t have his legs brushed any more and he tells me off and puts his head on the brush so that I have to brush his head again.

I was so used to having really affectionate raggies that Jaspar came as a bit of a shock, he was so aloof and just wanted to be left alone, obviously he was not impressed with being moved from his family and I really felt for him, he had been taken away from everything he had ever known. I was aware that he was an aloof cat as when we met him he ran off and hid when I tried to approach him at his old home. We affectionately called him grumpy, but really he just makes me laugh when he looks me straight in the eye and swishes his tail in all directions, he seems to be saying “go on then try and touch me”. I so wanted him to be happy and join in, but he always held back.

He didn’t want us to pick him up or stroke him apart from on his head, so we just carried on and gave him the time and space he needed. Each day I would stroke him further and further down his body and boy did he tell me off, some days he even attempted to bite me. My perseverance paid off and he now loves his cuddles as long as you don’t pick him up and allow him to approach you that is unless he’s in a really good mood and he will then come when he’s called, and he loves to be groomed now.

He did have a problem with toileting in inappropriate places for quite a while, but we just cleared it up and acted as if nothing had happened and he has stopped doing that now.

He doesn’t have problems with his tummy now either as long as he is kept on the same food, but he does have chicken, tuna and coley as a treat from time to time and quite often tells us when he thinks treat time is overdue by trying to get in the cupboard where the tuna is and meowing and patting us. I do use a little hairball food mixed in with his normal food which helps him control his fur balls.

He is now a very affectionate and loving ragdoll and we love him very much, we would not be without him and to be honest I can’t remember life before we had him as he has become such an integral part of our lives. He has even been on holiday with us in our touring caravan and he absolutely loved it.

For anyone reading this I can thoroughly recommend a rehomed ragdoll. I feel honoured to share my life with my raggies and I am proud and feel a sense of achievement that I have been able to give Jaspar a second chance in life.