Two senior cats from the RSPCA Northamptonshire branch have been rehomed after an appeal reached a student vet nurse in Norfolk who offered them the perfect retirement home.
Lucy Marheineke from Kings Lynn rehomed Leon and Nikita on Friday (October 16, 2020) from the RSPCA Northamptonshire branch where they have been cared for ever since their previous owners could no longer care for them.
Due to their age, the staff at the branch were very keen to get the 21-year-old cats into a loving home as soon as possible and following an appeal to find them a retirement pad, Lucy and her partner Ciaran came forward.
Lucy said: “I spotted the press story on Leon and Nikita and emailed the branch straight away. I’ve already got a 14-year-old cat called Herrman from Cats Protection so I’m used to having an older cat. I work at a vets and I’ve cared for the older, slightly broken cats so I knew I could help Leon and Nikita.”
The friendly brothers licked Lucy and seemed to take a liking to her straight away. Once home, they ate some food and curled up to sleep on their beds almost immediately.
Michelle Billingham, from the RSPCA Northamptonshire Adoptions Team said: “We are just so thrilled that we could find such a perfect home for Leon and Nikita. We’d like to thank everyone who shared their story. They are just the sweetest pair and really deserve this second chance at happiness.
“We have now launched an appeal to help other golden oldies just like Leon and Nikita whose medication, specialist food and treatments can be quite costly for the branch.”
RSPCA Northamptonshire launched their ‘Senior Kittizens’ fund on their Facebook page this week which will help fund the cost of caring for older cats. To support the branch text LEON 5 to 70450 to donate £5. Texts cost £5 plus one standard rate message.
Leon and Nikita’s rehoming success coincides with the RSPCA’s rehoming campaign Adoptober which shines a light on the animals needing homes across England and Wales and encourages people to adopt, don’t shop. The charity has seen a surge in people interested in getting a pet over lockdown and stories like this one shows why rehoming a rescue pet is so important.
This July saw Google searches for ‘Kittens near me’ increase sixfold compared to the same period last year (a 667% increase)*. During the lockdown, there has also been an 188% increase in searches for kittens within just a few months.**
There has also been more than 45,000 incidents relating to cats reported to the RSPCA so far this year (up to 29 September) and the RSPCA currently has 878 cats in its care which is more than any other pet rescued.
To offer an RSPCA rescue cat a new home please visit www.rspca.org.uk/findapet to find your purr-fect match.
*‘Kittens near me’ Google search: July 2019 - 3k compared to July 2020 - 23k.
**April 2020 - 17k and July 2020 - 23k
