Friendly cat makes pals for life at Blue Cross centre

Pal is well-named – in the cattery at Blue Cross Hertfordshire rehoming centre he miaows in greeting to all the other cats in enclosures on the corridor beside him.

“He’s very chatty,” Hollie De Almeida, Pet Welfare Assistant at Blue Cross Hertfordshire, says.

Certainly, Pal, four years old, appreciates feline company. 

A stray, he invited himself through the cat flap into a house with four resident cats and befriended them all. The cat's owner realised what a loving, gentle boy Pal was and brought him to Blue Cross to find a home – and a pal – of his own.

Pal should have been a straightforward case – vaccinate, neuter and rehome. But he became itchy – scratching his neck so vigorously he created a wound.

“We’d calm the wound down and then he’d scratch and reopen it and we’d be back to the beginning,” Hollie says.

“We had him on steroids and in a collar – then we tried a snood around his neck. 

"The last resort was a onesie. But physically stopping him from itching wasn’t enough as an itch you can’t scratch causes suffering like pain. The onesie was a temporary solution but he needed medication to stop the itch too.”

It took a lot of patience and trial and error on the part of Hollie and the Hertfordshire team. But, finally, Pal's itching stopped and he was able to go up for rehoming.

“He’s such a loving, friendly boy so hopefully it won’t take too long for him to find the perfect home,” Hollie says.

And finally, after 163 days in Blue Cross care, Pal found the pals he’d been waiting for – a loving family to call his own. 

A friend in need is a friend indeed - and we're here to support cats like Pal in their time of trouble.