Art and Sew Forth

IT'S FURBABY FRIDAY!

And this is a first! I was so excited when I met

Lucy

on Twitter and discovered she had an Oriental cat! And Woody is one handsome boy!

Lucy will receive 50 FREE TWEETS next week for being my guest today!

Yep...I really am a BLUE cat!

I was sitting at my desk one day browsing the cats that needed a home on http://www.catchat.org when I came across the Oriental Cat Association. I’ve always loved Orientals and couldn’t resist a look. Listed on the rehoming page was a five year old blue oriental male and he had the best ears I’ve ever seen!

Real men like pink.

He was described as needing a quiet single cat home as he’d had a few problems. It turned out that he hadn’t gotten on with the cat he was living with and had a very nervous disposition. He was living in the cattery of his breeder as he’d been returned to her rather than to a cat’s home. Unfortunately this was a three hour drive for us, but we decided to make a weekend of it and go and see him.

We cats know when we find a special human!

When we arrived I was shocked to see the state he was in. He cowered in the corner with terror when we entered his cage. I’ve had cats for many years and am experienced with cats that need special care, but I thought that Woody was beyond my skills. He had even plucked all the fur from his back with anxiety. We were left alone with him for 10 minutes. During this time I managed to get him to purr, so we both decided that we couldn’t leave him there. We packed him in the car and I sat in the back with him. I have never seen such a dramatic change in a cat’s behaviour in such a short period of time. Before long he was purring and sat quietly for the entire journey.

I wish every cat would be so lucky....

He’s been with us for 5 months now and his recovery has been amazing. All his fur has grown back and although he’s still a little nervous around strangers, he no longer hides. He has a very individual character. Being an Oriental he is very loud and shouty and very attention seeking. He loves jumping, and one of his favourite party tricks is jumping onto my shoulders (I have to catch him or he falls straight off). He loves his toy mouse and often walks around with them in his mouth before dropping them in his water bowl. But his favourite game is taking me for a walk. I have to hold one end of a piece of string and he picks up the other and he pulls me round the house.

Thanks, Mom, for giving me a chance. You're the best!

He’s not the best sleeper and most nights he gets me up 2-3 times by either shouting or jumping on me, but generally he’s an absolute joy and arguably the most important member of the family.

Lucy is the owner of Milo & Saint which carries beautiful Italian leather designer handbags handmade in London.

"We have all of our handbags made in the UK to ensure an exquisite degree of craftsmanship and finish and to keep traditional artisan crafts alive."

Click on the photos to visit her online shop and see all the gorgeous handbags available in a variety of colors and styles.

FURBABY FRIDAY is dedicated to our much loved furry (or not so furry!) animal friends that enrich our lives and world and make us better people!

If you are an owner of an Etsy, Artfire, or other online shop with a pet and would like to be featured here, please follow me and leave a comment with a link to where I might contact you. Those chosen will receive 50 free Tweets of advertising the following week.