Sooty aka Mrs Jekyll and Miss Hyde

As a child I never had a pet.  Not one.  My parents just wouldn't let me.  They used to say 'when you've got your own house you can get one then' like most parents who don't want a pet around do.  It took me until the age of 35 to finally succumb and then it was a matter of deciding what to get.  My son wanted a dog but the thought of walking it in the pouring rain, freezing cold and dark wintery nights was too much for me and so we compromised on a cat.  I decided not to get a kitten as I didn't have the time to invest in toilet training it etc and so we went for a 10 month old rescue cat called Sooty.  We picked her out in a kind of rogues gallery on the Leeds Cat Rescue website one Monday night in January 2010.  That same night we emailed the centre and got a reply back almost instantly.  Apparently black cats are hard to rehome (superstitions I assume) and they offered us a visit to Sooty in her 'foster home' in Leeds.  Awwww.  Anyway, we went to see her, loved her straight away, paid our adoption fee which covered all the necessary stuff like spaying, micro chipping, injections, vets check up, flea and worm treatment and the like and by the Friday of the same week she was delivered to our home.  The new member of the Wilkinson clan had arrived.

For the first couple of weeks she was an angel.  We had been warned that she may be nervous as she had lived on the streets most of her life and had more than likely been mistreated but she seemed fine at first.  Then, several weeks in, she changed.  She became a living nightmare.  She attacked us at every turn, scratched, bit, anything she could do.  During one dark moment I even considered sending her back. But I knew I wouldn't do that with a child that had come from a troubled background so I wasn't going to do it to her.  We persevered with her - showing affection, giving her treats, playing with her.  Eventually she began to mellow and slowly we began to gain her trust.  The longer we had her the more I loved her and it felt like she'd always been there.

These days, Sooty is still unpredictable.  She can lash out occasionally, she tries to grab our ankles if we dare to leave to go to bed and she sometimes takes a dislike to my dad when he visits. But she also sits on my lap, loves to be stroked and tickled, enjoys playing with her many toys and lays across my body as I sit on the sofa watching TV.  She even kisses me on occasion.  She loves to be where we are much of the time even if she's just laid on the rug whilst we watch TV but she also enjoys peace and quiet upstairs when the urge takes her.  I'm so glad that I persevered with Sooty because she's been a fantastic addition to our little unconventional family and we love her dearly.  Recently I took the photographs above of Sooty as she played on the rug.  As she lay on her back I noticed the little white patch on her stomach appeared to be in the shape of a love heart.  Sweet.  And significant.  Because Sooty has found her forever home with  us and despite her foibles, we will always love and care for her.  And the fact she has a personality just endears her to us even more (remind me I said that when she's grabbing my legs at bedtime tonight)

Vicki

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