This is Cinder's story.

We sadly had to have our previous rescue, Midnight, put to sleep (NYE 2020) and didn't plan on getting another cat for a while. 

Sam knew that we were interested in another black cat when the time was right and approached us about Cinder. She was a feral who had been living on a farm before she was rescued. She was about 9 months old and pregnant, however the rescue didn't think she could carry to full term because she was such a small cat for her age and so the pregnancy was terminated.

We agreed to take Cinder and she was dropped off at our house on 14 March 2021. Cinder came with an igloo bed and a large dog crate to live in. She was very small and very scared. She would eat her food and use the litter tray but otherwise spent her time inside the igloo. Whenever we opened the crate door to give her food, empty the litter tray or attempt to touch her, she would hiss, growl and swipe at us. Because she had lived on a farm, she wasn't used to being touched by anyone.

We kept trying to stroke her but she was having none of it. This continued for another week or so and we were beginning to wonder if we should give her back to the rescue. I called Sam to talk it over and she said we could send her back or we could give it one last chance. We decided to give it another go. Armed with oven gloves and a soft toy, we opened the crate door and stroked her at arms length with the toy.

We continued doing this for longer amounts of time and finally managed to stroke her without padded gloves. We removed her igloo and gave her a cushion to lay on so that she could get used to seeing us in the room and also the different scents and noises. Gradually we plucked up the courage to pick her out of the crate and sit her on our knee for strokes, and also let her roam around the lounge to get used to us. We soon  found out that she had a lovely loud purr. She found her safe place was on a dining room chair under the table. We gradually removed the crate from the room and eventually she would start to come out from her safe place on her own. We then gave her the freedom of the house and off she went exploring.

Eventually the time came to let her go outside - we opened the back door and she ventured out, but kept returning. She got braver and jumped the fence and disappeared from sight. A few minutes later, a little black face appeared at the cat flap and with some guidance, she made her way in.

She has since developed into a loving pet who purrs a lot, she loves making biscuits, she will roll over onto her back so that she can get her belly rubbed, she sleeps on the bed or on our laps, she loves being outside and has so much fun running around playing. She has caught a few mice and often sits outside "chattering" to the birds on the bird feeder. She is still very wary around strangers.

We are so pleased that we decided to try just that little bit harder with her because the reward has certainly paid off. She just needed lots of love and attention, but most of all patience.