adoption & rescue
In November last year, Phoenix arrived at an AfriPaw-TEARS outreach pet clinic in Vrygrond, after surviving a devastating fire which destroyed several homes in the neighbouring, low-income community of Overcome Heights in Cape Town. The cat’ s owner was deeply concerned for his condition and brought him in early that morning so he could receive urgent veterinary care for severe burn wounds. On examination, he was found to be dehydrated, lethargic and very weak, and was transported to the TEARS Veterinary Clinic for emergency treatment.
Phoenix remained under close observation and received intensive veterinary care until he was well enough to be moved to the cattery, where he continued his recovery in a quieter, more comfortable environment. His owner decided to surrender him to TEARS to give him the best possible future, as he was concerned for his long-term safety. He entrusted the TEARS team to find him a secure, loving home where he could thrive. While he waited, Phoenix continued to recover, his strength returning and his wounds healing.
Meanwhile John and Valentia, from Kirstenhof, felt ready to adopt cats again.“ I was not even a cat person until I met Valentia,” says John.“ Now I am a huge cat lover. I love that they each have their own personalities. After losing our cats last year, Valentia started looking at cats on the TEARS website. We were only looking for older cats or long-stayers, and we wanted two cats,” he says.“ Valentia had her heart set on a long-legged red cat called Brandy, from the TEARS website, but we decided to check out all available cats at TEARS before making a decision.” So they drove out to TEARS.
The two walked around and saw the brother and sister cats, Ahia and Mufasa, that they had been interested in.“ They were so cute, and we took them,” said John.“ Then, we were walking through to where the red cat was [ which they also ended up adopting ], and that is when we spotted Phoenix. He had a little mark on his face from where he
66 www. petpals. co. za