Cat shelter near Melbourne, Victoria ... Adopt a rescue cat from Ingrid's Haven

Renni's Happy Tail

Renni and Skye

Hi Ingrid,
I know it's been a while since we adopted Lawrence - now "Renni" (in February!) - and I have been meaning to let you know how he was going. Renni is living the life of luxury, he has the run of the house to himself, and gets let outside during the day when we are home. We kept him indoors for about one month when we first brought him home as I feared he might get the wanders. Gradually we let him outside for short periods of time until he got used to our boundaries. These days, he loves wandering around the front yard - when it's not raining - and doesn't tend to go far. One day I heard him growling and looked over to see him telling another cat off for coming near our place! He didn't run after it, just told it to go away as this was his house!!! He has managed to get on the roof a couple of times but the last time we left him up there for a while ... and he hasn't done it again since!

Renni

Since we brought Renni home we also got our dog (Skye, the golden retriever). Skye and Renni are best buddies - when Renni wants to be. At first, Renni wasn't impressed that he had to share his space with this goofy hairball (Skye is only one year old, so still a puppy really), but over time I observed them having a smooch and now they will share Skye's rug at night when I let Skye in. Renni is still boss though, it's funny to see him boss a dog five times the size of him.

When we first brought Renni home, he never played with anything and we figured it must have been his age, but over time he's learnt what 'playing' is and often chases his little 'mouse' around the house, or something imaginary. We get the impression that he never played much in his life so it took him a while to work it out. He's also developed a liking for small cardboard boxes, often ones that are smaller than him! Lately while the dog is inside, he runs and hides around a doorway and pokes his head out, trying to get the dog to chase him. The poor dog doesn't know what to do as Renni used to tell her off for following him, so they are still trying to work out a 'playing' system!!! It's hilarious to watch!

Renni has bought so much love into our house, whenever I've had a difficult day at work I come home and his antics and affection cheer me up and help me relax. He is a bit of a piggy, we often sit on the couch eating dinner and he tries to swipe things off our plates with his paw the cheeky bugger. He LOVES chicken scraps, he can smell raw chicken a mile away, better than the dog. One particular evening Renni came into the kitchen, discovered I was preparing chicken for tea, went back out to the lounge and brought the dog back in with him! He has become quite vocal too, particularly at dinner time, but I encouraged that by meowing back to him! Both Tim and I think that he acts a bit younger now, he is fitter from going outside regularly, and seems to have more energy now than when we first bought him home, but I guess that was partly due to him settling in and realising this is his home.
Renni Renni

I have attached a couple of pictures of Renni for you. He did put on a bit of weight after we brought him home but he's on a bit of a diet now (which he's not exactly impressed about)! He's been such a lovely cat, thank you for letting us adopt him.

From Lisa and Tim
August 2008