Please help 93yo Ramona to find homes for 9 stray cats she is looking after.

How often do we stop to help the elderly? Even those of us who are actually caring and compassionate people, are speeding through our busy lives wrapped up in our own thoughts, often without noticing people who may need a helping hand! Sometimes the simple gesture of helping an elderly person carry groceries, cross the road, or on the weekend asking your elderly neighbor if she needs a hand with trimming the hedge can make a big difference in old person life and make them feel that that they are not forgotten and ignored by our society.

Two weeks ago I met a tiny and frail lady in NEV Dunedin. For the past several months she has desperately been seeking help from several Dunedin organizations. She was often crying on the phone saying: “Look, I’m 93 years old and for the past two years I’ve been feeding 9 stray cats. I need help as I can’t do it any longer. I live on my own and I can barely manage to look after myself. Even simple tasks like making myself a sandwich takes me an hour as I can only move very slowly these days. To buy the food for the kitties I need to walk to the shop, I can do it slowly with the help of my walker-trolley, but I can only go out when the weather is good and can only afford what is on special, can you help me to catch and find homes for the cats?” The answer she was getting from everywhere was always the same: “No, sorry we can’t help you. We suggest you stop feeding the cats and they will go away! Sorry I can’t talk to you any longer, I’ve got another call….” Someone from elderly care at the hospital and Age Concern Otago tried to help her and called again to the same organizations on Ramona’s behalf, just to receive the same advice Do Not Feed The Cats!

Seriously, what is wrong with these people that are refusing to help a 93 year old lady? Perhaps they may not care about the stray cats, but why doesn’t it click in their brains that the lady they are speaking to is 93 years old and really in need of some assistance? How can they dismiss her calls so easily? Do they want the same treatment when they will get to that age?

Oh, well, enough about those who refused to help. They don’t deserve any more of my time on this page!

A student across the road from Ramona contacted us two weeks ago about this situation and I went to meet Ramona the next day. Ramona is absolute darling, she’s got one of her own cats Softy, who sleeps in her bed and gives his elderly mum lots of cuddles, he is probably the only ‘person’ in her life who actually cares about her.

Ramona was very apologetic about masses of old newspapers and other stuff lying around saying: “Oh….sorry dear for all this mess, I can’t sort it out…. I’m too slow at my age, can only manage to make food for myself…..come here dear, you can sit here” She sat on the next chair and pointed to her badly bruised leg, telling me that she had fallen down the staircase on an icy winter’s morning when she tried to go buy groceries. Instead she ended up at the doctors. She was upset that she couldn’t take a bath for a week, because a nurse hadn’t visited to help her.

Despite all those troubles Ramona still prefers to live on her own, making food for herself instead of going to the retirement village. She was saying that she tries her best to move and do stuff even if it take her a long time, as being independent is what keeps her going. At one point she said: “Oh, dear, don’t be like me when you old….” And I replied that I actually want to be as independent as she is at that advanced age if I ever make it that far!

We contacted Age Concern Otago as well, to make sure they were aware about Ramona and they confirmed that they are working on ways to help her. So this was good, as we really think she can do with a home help. I don’t think Ramona would be happy having someone invading her privacy every day, but if couple of days a week she will get help with cleaning, shopping, etc that will make her life much easier.

Now about the kitties she is looking after. Ramona loves cats and during her life shared her home with many of them. Currently she has Softy a 6 year old tabby male she adopted from the SPCA and he is absolutely lovely.

Living in the student area Ramona always tried to help her neighbours. She mentioned how a few years ago a young girl adopted a kitten and didn’t have money to desex it. So Ramona took it to the vet and paid for his surgery. And two years ago after the student across the road from Ramona got in a car accident and ended up in the hospital she started feeding three stray cats that he mentioned were hanging around his flat.

Since then the numbers have grown and currently 9 cats are coming for regular meals at Ramona’s. Ramona is beside herself with worries, she is not only old and frail, but also has asthma and is just physically, mentally and financially not able to look after the cats any longer. Constant stress about the possibility of more kittens arriving in spring is making it even more difficult for Ramona to cope with her illness and daily life.

She wants to have all the cats desexed and to find them new loving homes. Then she’ll be able to live her final years peacefully, knowing that they are safe and that when she is gone they will not be left on the streets to starve and die. It would’ve been so easy to rehome them if they were friendly, but the difficulty is to finding people willing to give a chance to wild and semi-wild cats.

This is why we are appealing not only to our Dunedin cat loving community, but also hopefully the wider New Zealand community. Asking absolutely everyone who will see this post to share it with all friends and family, no matter where they are as we need a lot of help here. People willing to adopt wild stray cats are very hard to find, but we can only hope that by making this post go viral we would be able to find several people who will not turn away, but step in to help Ramona and the cats she is looking after.

It will be good to adopt at least some of them in pairs, as it makes it easier for them to settle and less chance they’ll stray away again. But if you can only adopt one of them it’s going to be a huge help.

We also must raise funds for desexing, vaccinating, and treating them for fleas/worms before they can be rehomed. If you are not able to adopt, you can still help us greatly by making a donation.

For anyone in a position to adopt, we will be happy to work with you and provide detailed instructions on how to help a wild cat to settle into a new home. The process of taming adult wild cats takes months. Some of them can be domesticated completely and become the friendliest cats you’ll ever have. Others may never become well-adjusted house cats and will feel more comfortable living outside and only coming in for food. It all depends on the cat personality, but one way or another as long as you are happy to provide food and shelter they will be fine. And by doing this you will dramatically change the life of a forgotten old lady and make her happy again.

Please share this link, you never know if one of your friends will be the person with a huge heart who will open their home for one or two of these cats.

Throught this Givealittle link we hope to raise enough money not only to cover vet bills for these 9 cats, but also to buy 9 large crates for these cats. The cats will be housed in the crates with their bed, litter trays and food after they caught and will go to their new homes with the crate. This is the best way to keep them for the first few weeks to help them adjust to their new environment. The need to acclimatise to new sounds, smells and people before being let out.

Our heartfelt THANK YOU to all our supporters! You are our heroes, only with your help can we improve the lives of animals and people in our country! :-)