By Benjamin J Goodwin
I was working as a real estate agent at the time, and one afternoon I was driving into the car park at the office when I almost ran over what I thought at the time was an over sized rat. I didn't take much notice, but as I got out of the car I saw this tiny little ball of fluff run down into the drain pipe in the gutter.
I walked over to the drain hole and noticed that it was in fact a tiny 4 week old kitten covered in mud and sewerage. My heart instantly broke... somehow this poor little kitten had been abandoned and left to fend for himself.
He was a complete and utter stray, quite feral actually. But that didn't matter, I went and bought him kitten milk, and sachets of food for what was the next 2 weeks.
Every morning when I arrived to work I would sing out "Puss Puss" and he would stick his head out of the gutter to see where I was. Over the next two weeks I fed him twice daily and built up a bit of trust with him. Still in saying that he would never come within 2 meters of me.
I ended up resigning from my job, but before I packed my office- I was told that I needed to do something about the feral cat that I'd been feeding. My boss at the time said that he would call the pound to come and get it. I knew the fate that would meet that little kitten should he end up in the hands of the city pound.
On my last day at the office, I brought along a cat cage and plenty of towels. It took just under seven hours but finally he poked his head out of the gutter and I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. He tore chunks off my wrist and bit me pretty hard, but I knew the poor thing must have been terrified.
I wrapped him in towels and put him gently in the cage, taking him immediately to the vet.
He was still a very aggressive kitten, hissing and biting everyone that came into contact with him. But I just couldn't give him up, knowing what would have happened to him if I did. So over several weeks and between many cuts and cuddles later, my mother and I raised this little fella into what I would now quite literally consider to be my best friend in the world.
I have had a pretty hard run over the past 2 years, moving house 5 times and even at one stage I had no where for Puss to live- I scratched every cent I had together to pay for a kitten kennel so that he would have somewhere to stay until I found my own self somewhere to live! Puss was definitely no stranger to facing change. But Puss always stuck by me. From car rides to visit mum in the country side, to dvd marathons on the couch. There is nothing I wouldn't do for my little Puss.
He is now a completely house trained and domesticated part of the family. Every day I wake up, I honestly feel like my life is enriched by having him in it. Our bond is pretty tight and I am glad that I never gave him up!
I was never thought to be a cat man, but now I wouldn't have it any other way!!!
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Benjamin had been feeding this tabby kitten he found near an office he worked at. On his last day at the office, he knew he had to rescue the kitten before others took him to the pound. So he did.
He named the kitten Puss. It took a while for Puss who was very feral at the beginning, to finally start trusting. "He was still a very aggressive kitten, hissing and biting everyone that came into contact with him. But I just couldn't give him up, knowing what would have happened to him if I did."
"So over several weeks and between many cuts and cuddles later, my mother and I raised this little fella into what I would now quite literally consider to be my best friend in the world.... There is nothing I wouldn't do for my little Puss."
"He is now a completely house trained and domesticated part of the family. Every day I wake up, I honestly feel like my life is enriched by having him in it. Our bond is pretty tight and I am glad that I never gave him up!"
"I was never thought to be a cat man, but now I wouldn't have it any other way!"
Photos courtesy of Benjamin J Goodwin.