I’m Ria, myself and my partner Nathan are Teddy’s (formerly known as Huggy) Mum and Dad! We brought him home on 4th December 2022.
Thank you for your letter – we’d be glad to give an update on Teddy. I could honestly talk about him day and night so prepare yourself for a bit of an essay! I’ve also attached some images.
He’s been an absolute delight from the very first moment we set eyes on him – a true love at first sight. When we opened his carrier after we’d got him home, we’d prepared ourselves for a very nervous little boy who wanted to hide away for a while, while he got used to us and his new home. We found he was quite the contrary – he jumped straight up on the sofa and snuggled in beside us. He’s been just as settled ever since!
Although we liked the name Huggy, we decided on the night he arrived that the name Teddy suited him to a tee. It sounded enough like Huggy to not cause him too much confusion and with his beautiful long fur and snuggly nature, he seemed to us like a Teddy-bear (which is also one of his nicknames).
Due to his diagnosis of FIV, we worried about how he would feel about staying indoors 24/7, especially since he’d been living outside for such a long time. He scratched at the window a little on the first night, and we quickly realised that it was because he needed the loo and wasn’t sure where he was supposed to go! Since that first night, he hasn’t scratched, cried or made any indication that he wanted to be outside, or that he is unhappy indoors. It turns out he quite enjoys the luxuries of indoor life!
He’s got a tall cat tree near the front room window that he likes to scratch and climb – and at the very top is one of his favourite napping spots. We also like to hide treats on his cat tree for him to find – though they don’t stay hidden for long! He has a bed beside the TV unit that he only uses begrudgingly on the rare occasion when there is no space for him on the sofa! His favourite toys are his scratching box, his fluffy dangler toy, his catnip banana and his long catnip fish.
My partner works from home every day and I work from home twice a week so it’s rare that he’s ever on his own. He likes to be where we are in the house and he’s got his own big cushion in our home office to join us during our working day. He seems to be more comfortable eating when we’re in eyesight or earshot, and the same for when he uses his litterbox. There have been a couple of occasions where we think he’s waited for us to come home to do those things, so we wonder if he has a little bit of separation anxiety.
He was quite a big boy when we first got him and we were advised to encourage a bit of weight loss for his health. For that reason, we’ve got an eating schedule that we stick to and we only give him a small amount of treats each day. He has a small sized (50g) pouch of wet food each morning for his breakfast, and then a regular sized wet food pouch (85g) at lunch and at dinner time. Alongside his water bowl, he has a small bowl of biscuits available throughout the day but he rarely ever shows interest in them – he likes to wait for the good stuff! The only “human food” we ever give him is a small amount of lean cooked meat every now and again. We play with him every day to make sure he’s moving and staying as fit and healthy as he can. He’s still on the bigger side but he’s definitely a slimmed down version of when he first arrived.
He had a vets visit in January, as his eyes began leaking and looking sore. The vets diagnosed conjunctivitis and prescribed a week’s course of eyedrops, which he didn’t enjoy but took like a champ! His eyes soon cleared up. We also noticed when he arrived that one of his canines is shorter than the other. We mentioned this while at the vets and she said it looks like something that may have happened whilst he was living outside, in a fight etc. She advised that whilst it isn’t causing him any discomfort now, he will eventually need to have it removed. It’s looking like it’s going to be an expensive procedure so we’ve already started putting a bit of money aside each month to prepare for it.
Now that the weather is improving, we’ve bought him a harness and short leash to enable him to spend time with us in the garden – our back garden is a small fenced lawn. He absolutely loves being outside with us and has taken to wearing a harness and leash very well. It was lovely to see him close his eyes as he was enjoying the breeze, and to see the wind blow through his fur. He also gets very excited on the grass and likes to roll around on it! I always worry that he’s missing out due to his FIV, so it feels great to give him some safe, controlled fresh air time – and he seems to really enjoy it. We’re looking forward to more of this as summer arrives!
He’s the absolute apple of our eyes and we can’t imagine life without him – we’re very lucky that he’s ours and can’t thank you enough for bringing him to us. If there is anything we can do to support Lincoln Cat Care, please let us know.
Kind regards,
Ria
