Donnie’s story
Donnie was handed in as a stray to a well known animal charity, who receive millions of pounds in donations and funding every year. Sadly they decided that as Donnie tested positive to FIV, he was unrehomeable and they were going to have him euthanised, this is after they had paid for him to be neutered, flea treated, worm treated and have is first vaccination!
Luckily New Hope Animal Rescue were contacted and they took him in temporarily until a rescue space could be found. We offered him a space as soon as New Hope contacted us.
Donnie came into Goldie’s Cat Rescue care on the 5th of January 2015. We took him to two different vets and they confirmed that he was in great health and definitely did not need to be euthanised. He had his second vaccination and he was ready to find a forever home of his very own. Luckily it did not take too long (as I was so close to adopting him myself!).
Donnie’s happy ending
Karl said that he had been following Goldie’s Cat Rescue on Facebook for sometime and was considering adopting a cat but was waiting for permission from his landlord. Karl had his eye on Donnie as he could be a house cat due to being FIV+. As soon as Karl received written permission from his landlord, he contacted Goldie’s Cat Rescue, and Karl says it was the best thing he has ever done.
After the home visit, Karl went to visit Donnie and fell in love with him immediately. So much so, Karl adopted him and took Donnie home that very night! Karl said he felt sorry for him as he had been with Goldie’s over a month and he thinks people were put off a bit with him testing positive to FIV. Karl looked into it before he adopted Donnie and found that most people had said that they had noticed no difference to a FIV- cat. Karl says he can now vouch for that, ”I don’t even think of him as an FIV cat…he’s just my Donnie”.
Donnie took a few days to settle in his new home, and spent the first 4 days under Karl’s bed. Now though he follows Karl everywhere, sits by him all the time and is straight on his lap when Karl sits on the sofa. His personality has really coming out and he’s a cheeky little cheeky boy sometimes but he just looks at Karl with his lovely green eyes and his heart melts.
Finally, Karl says ”I would recommend anyone to adopt a cat from Goldie’s Cat Rescue. Ehren, Joy and all the other volunteers are the best bunch of people ever and really put their all into everything they do for all the cats they have”.
Thank you for giving Donnie an extra special forever home Karl.
If you would like to find out more about FIV, then follow this link: http://www.catchat.org/fiv.html
