Aramis
Date of Birth: 01/06/2016
Gender: Male
Gotcha Day: 01/08/2016
Breed: European Cat
Aramis, Laila and Cheyenne were born under a barn in a village not far from Mudita Sanctuary. Their mother had been abandoned there for unknown reasons, left to fend for herself. She was a house cat who was no longer wanted, but she was not sterilised.
Eventually the owner of the barn wanted the kittens gone, and asked her neighbour if she could help trap them to bring them to the SPCA. This neighbour called us to inform of the situation and to ask whether we would be able to take them in. We were aware that any kitten under two months was automatically being euthanised at the SPCA, so we weren’t going to let that happen.
We asked the SPCA to borrow one of their trapping cages and we brought the kittens back to Mudita. Unfortunately we had to give the cage back immediately which meant that we had to release these very wild kittens somewhere at the sanctuary. Luckily we had a vacant room in which we could put them. Normally we would first keep any new (wild) cat in a dog bench until they get used to us and start becoming more social. It’s not advised to give them so much space from the get go but at that time we didn’t have an option.
The most sociable of the three siblings was Aramis who let us pet him after only a few days – it took many weeks before Ariane could do that with the other two.
We tried to have them adopted but for months nobody was interested. Most people don’t like black cats so we were practically sure Aramis would end up staying at the sanctuary. Since we couldn’t find anyone to adopt them after three months in our care, Ariane decided to keep all three. There also comes a moment when an animal has been with us too long for us to emotionally be able to part with them… The three cats had been staying separate from the other animals whilst we still sought an adoption family, then finally we started to introduce them to the other cats. They are tolerated by most but are still not fully accepted in the clowder. Therefore they spend most of their time outdoors.
All the cats are very well behaved inside, they are clean and don’t spray anywhere. They are all very affectionate and friendly once inside which is quite unusual for cats as wild as these were.
Aramis is very sweet and kind, in fact so sweet that he even (often) gets chased by cats who arrived at the sanctuary after him. He really loved Daico (the Pyrenean Mountain Dog who was around at the time) and frequently cuddled up next to him. Unfortunately he never found the same relationship with any other dog. When we go feed the goats he will often accompany us and perch himself on the wooden fence expecting a petting session while waiting for the goats to finish eating. He likes hay, and likes to sleep in it whenever he doesn’t come in at night.
He’s got such a long tail that he mostly can’t keep it fully upright so it curls somewhat and it looks like a question mark is floating around in the high grasses.