Ballad of a Rescue Cat

This is a poem I made up,dedicated to the many cats I met ,who were waiting patiently for their forever home and to all those others in the many rescues who work so hard to give every cat a chance to be loved.



Another day
Could this be the one
The one Ive waited for?
Will someone come
Come for me
To take me through their door?
My friends and I
We talk and talk
In the long,long hours of the night
And most of all we talk about
What it would really be like.
Some of them said
There`d be "a cosy fire"
(Whatever that is ,it sounds nice)
There`d be a mum
Perhaps a dad ,too
To love me the rest of my life.
We are loved and cared for,
All of us
But it`s difficult, you see
Because there are just so many of us
And I want someone just to want
ME
Another day
Could this be the one
The one Ive waited for?
Perhaps it`ll be YOU
Coming for me
Today
As you walk through your door.


I worked as a volunteer for an animal rescue from 1996-2005.I had previously been a teacher for 29 yrs .so was used to waking up with my head full of stuff.
I found myself ,one morning, waking up with most of this poem in my head-I jotted it down and made a few very small changes.
The magazine" PAWS 4 RESCUE "contacted the rescue I worked for,asking if we would like to advertise in one of their forthcoming editions.So I wrote about the rescue and put 2 pictures in,as they had asked.
The first was of Jessie,a lovely white cross breed dog who had been homed 5 times and returned for various reasons-We were really desperate to find her a forever home.
Then along came a lovely couple and within weeks she was a changed dog.The photo shows her by their Christmas tree on her 1st real Christmas.
The 2nd photo was of the 2nd dog I fostered -Roxy.
She was brought to us by the "owner" who said that the kids were fed up with her and we could have her!!!!
She had blue lines of emulsion paint along her back-where the kids had decided to paint her,
She came home with me and was an angel.We had our 2 dogs who accepted her from day 1,plus our 2 cats who just looked at her as if to say-Oh ,another one of those"
She slept in the kitchen,never cried at night ,the other 2 showed her how to go out and have a wee instead of doing it indoors.She looked a bit like a cross between our 2 dogs-so when we took them out the kids in our road would ask if our two had had a baby!(We even managed to get a photo of the 5 of them sitting together)
I had the job of delivering Roxy to her new home-I was so upset as we had all bonded with her.
I knew as soon as I met this new owner that it wouldnt work out.She showed no affection towards Roxy at all,nor did her child.I cried as I left her ,
The new owner contacted me a week later to say that she couldnt keep Roxy,as she was starting full time work-when I asked when ,she said tomorrow!!!!!
I jumped in the car and was at her house 10 miles away in less than half an hour-couldnt wait to get her out.
So Roxy came back to us
Her 2nd home was SO different-the family were lovely and bonded with her straight away.
We still exchange Christmas cards and they love her as much as we did.

I put the poem in ,along with the info on the rescue and it was put in the 2002 edition

Maureen

Awh thats lovely and bless you for fostering

What a lovely poem, brought a lump to my throat.

Sounds like you've done a fantastic job helping so many dogs & cats over the years ~ you should be truly proud of yourself

The fosterer I got the tripod from had started to keep a book with photos and a description of all the moggies she'd fostered over the years (I think Suki was one of the first). Her description (and bearing in mind I got her over 8 years ago now and can still remember it vividly) was "black and white three legged purring machine."

Was funny really - the rescue bods were resigned to her being in for a fairly long duration as she was black and white anyway so less easy to rehome, plus the disability - and when I met her, she turned on the full charm offensive and was rehomed that evening to me (they skipped the home check - rightly or wrongly - as I'd basically answered every question on it off my own bat when I'd made the initial enquiry call!)!