Socelex Updates - Billy

In the summer of 2000 a very small ginger and white kitten was found sitting in the middle of a main road near Newport South Wales. He was rescued and taken to the home of one of our supporters.

Billy, a semi-longhaired kitten, was only about 4 weeks old. He was very friendly despite having an upset tummy and a sore rear end. We took him to the Vet who gave him some cream containing steroids. She said that the several changes of diet and circumstance Billy received before settling in at SOCELEX had contributed to his problems. He weighed only 1/2lb! We found out later that he was not lost but had been deliberately put outside!

In the following months Billy made several visits to the Vet and leapt on my shoulder each time the Vet tried to examine him!

Billy had a lot of problems with his tummy and has had periods of anorexia - yes, cats can get anorexic! We then had to tempt him with all sorts of food from chicken, pilchards, certain types of cat food to natural yogurt and mashed potato. He was very ill again that October but after taking tablets from the Vet for a bowel infection plus a lot of tempting and t.l.c. from us he improved in leaps and bounds.

By Christmas Billy was much better but still small for his age, He has a lovely personality however and loves to sit on my shoulder and rub faces, or at least he did when he wasn't well!

By Summer 2001 Billy had grown up to be a beautiful cat, still prone to tummy problems he had to stay at Socelex for some time.

Nearly 7 years on, Billy lives with us and our 5 other cats at home. He's come a long way since he was found sat in the middle of that road and now leads a very contented life.