Indy is a red mackerel tabby neuter that started his life as an unwanted kitten. The owners of his mommy had not spayed her. His mommy had all the opportunity to find herself a tomcat, so she got pregnant and several weeks later four kittens were born.
The people Indy lived with found homes for all his littermates, but not for him. At the age of three months they decided to bring him to a shelter. On the way to the shelter they met a friend that thought it a pity to take him to a shelter and took him home with her. She also had a 5 month old female white kitten with gorgeous green eyes. She thought they would make great playmates. They did.
The thing she forgot was that she could not handle playful, active cats. The first few weeks went fine, but then she started to get irritated with them. She was a lady that suffered from stress and could not stand noise or a lot of movement around her.
So she started to throw things at them whenever they were very playful. But this didn't help, so she sometimes kicked at them. This went on until Indy was 6 months old.
By this time my neighbor, who was a friend of this lady, told me about the situation. We, my neighbor and I, tried to persuade the lady to give the cats up for adoption. This was best for all. While the lady was still in doubt, we tried to find adoption parents.
Suddenly one morning I got a phone call from this lady. I had to collect the cats now, within the hour. In a playful mood they had accidentally knocked over a vase. This was the limit for her. They had to go now or she would throw them on the street.
I got my carriers and went over there to collect the two youngsters.
When I got home I put them in a separate room, so they couldn't have contact with my other three cats, Tommy and Iwan, who are 13 and 11, and Simba.
Then I started treating them for fleas and worms. It seemed they were never dewormed and innoculated. The next day I took them to the vet to have their shots. After a couple of days they had settled in. I found a home for the white female. Indy stuck around. He was hissing and growling at my other cats.
The two older ones were not impressed and even sniffed at him as he was hissing them in the face. Must have been a frustrated moment for poor Indy.
Simba, my 8 month old neuter, was impressed by Indy and hissed back. But this didn't last forever. Within two weeks they were playmates and had a lot of fun. Indy didn't like to be picked up yet. He protested against that, but after a while he settled in nicely and became a friendly, playful cat. Indy stayed because I couldn't find him a home. But after a while I couldn't part him from Simba. They liked each other so much, and I grew to be fond of Indy.
So Simba and I made an agreement: Indy is here to stay.
After this decision, I decided to show him and he did pretty well. Now, there were lots of people that wanted to take Indy with them. I felt flattered, but stuck to my agreement with Simba: Indy stays.
Indy is a very active playful cat. He always likes to play. Sometimes he starts to call in the middle of the night, because nobody wants to play with him. And then he brings his favorite toy into the bedroom, begging me to play with him. I try not to give in to this, hoping this will be a passing phase. But too often I get up and play with him for a while so he and I can go to sleep again, satisfied.
He is a very special cat, this red head. I hope he will share my home for a long time, and so does his buddy, Simba.
Irene van Belzen
the Netherlands
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