Size
(when grown) -
Details
Spayed or Neutered,
Shots are up-to-date,
Story
This little boy has a very fancy heritage. Benjamin Bunny is a Black Golden Shaded British Shorthair. The tip of his tail is Black, as required by breed standards, as are the bottoms of his gorgeous paws. He has a sprinkling of black hair under his golden coat -that is the" black shaded "part. As you can see in the photos, he has beautiful, plush, golden hair on his legs and body. All of this goes perfectly with his big round greenish eyes. He is an especially beautiful cat.
Unfortunately, the first year of Benjamin's life has been very difficult for him. When he was a 10 week old kitten he was purchased from a cattery abroad and suddenly found himself alone on a very long airplane flight. A month or two after that his new owner discovered he had ringworm. This very young woman loved him enormously and set about learning what needed to be done to cure him and sterilize her home. She had a very hard time, but ultimately he was negative, and she moved to a new home in California away from any possible contamination. Then his ringworm came back again. She looked for help all over San Jose and didn't find it. She needed to travel out of the country and neither vets nor rescues nor shelters would take him in. They literally all suggested they could help her "by euthanizing him". Her diary, which she gave us, shows how deeply in love she was with him. How could she do that to him? What could she do? Meanwhile, she had developed asthma and learned she shouldn't live with cats anyway.
I heard about Benjamin six days before she had to leave the country. She was distraught, feeling trapped into having to euthanize him. I said right away I would take him, but privately I worried that he had some awful foreign ringworm strain. She brought him to me just before her flight. He weighed only 5 pounds and had very little fur.
Of course we were immediately smitten with him right away-he is adorable- but we also knew we had to wear gloves and basically keep our distance from him. This was hard on him and hard on us. We treated him with lime dips and oral meds and gave him a room with a big window. He was such a sweet little sad patient. We took test plates to check his progress. Our protocol- from UC Davis Shelter medicine dept- is to get three plates taken a week apart that were negative (= no spores growing ). Usually for us that is the All Clear sign. Done!. This time, however, after getting the three negative plates we were extra careful and continued working with him and then the fourth and fifth plate turned positive. What??? This had never happened before. We reached out for help to other authorities. One source from the Cat Fancy Association suggested treating him all over again using a different oral medication. We started with more lime sulfur dips, and new medication and keeping him locked away from everyone. It was heartbreaking, poor lonely guy. Ultimately we gave him 6 more weeks of the oral meds and lots of dips and he started testing negative, but we kept dipping him and treating him for yet another six weeks just to be absolutely absolutely sure he was really negative. When we got 9 negative plates in a row we stopped. Excessive maybe but we had had to be sure he was cured.Thank goodness he is..
However this story shows that for most of his first year of life, he was entirely limited where he could go and what he could do.He did get happy times in bed with his mom for a while but for many months he just couldn't be a happy, little, run all around kitten on top of the world. Poor little guy. I tell people ringworm doesn't kill cats or cause pain or even cause itching. Its worst consequence is that it is a slow process and it's very lonely. That was hard both on him and on us but it is worse for him because he doesn't understand what's happening whereas we get to know it is only temporary. Let's hope science finds a quicker cure.
This is a long story to tell here, but I feel you need to know what his life has been like so far. None of this is his fault. I expect the cattery itself was contaminated but who knows. Now that this little boy is well and truly cured we have let him out to be near other cats and we can pick him up and give him cuddles and kisses.He loves it. I am getting his bio up right away cause he deserves to go home and be happy with his new family.
So now, of course, you can understand why this little guy wants to run around and play and look at everything and see the world. He says "Hey I'm a kitten and I've got some exploring to do!!!!!. Let me at it". With his mom, he was a super loving little companion. With us he is adorable, sweet and good natured but his true passion right now is not humans it is to play, to run around and get into everything. I figure he might need three or four months of non stop exploring and playing to get that out of his system. Actually most kittens go through this exact stage when they are younger. They're only really super cuddly in your lap when they're tired from all the racing around they just did. So this is kind of classic kitten behavior and Benjamin is just catching up.
Mr B. Bunny is friendly to other kitties and would love a playmate. He's a good natured, well-behaved, and strikingly beautiful little boy. You can see his smart little brain working all the time. His health is perfect. We had him neutered. ( of course the front desk wanted to adopt him.) His dense plush coat has grown in. He is ready to go home. He would be happy with respectful children over three feet tall. I have no idea how he would do with a gentle dog. Probably he would be fine. He's a super little guy whose life is just beginning again. Luckily he has eight lives left.
I expect many people are going to fight over this special boy. Please be patient if I don't get back to you right away. He is not to be adopted out of state so only applications from California please.
Some family will be super lucky to have Benjamin's gentle nature and cuddly company in their home. He is a treasure.
Benjamin Bunny is fostered by Harriet in Santa Cruz, California.
Benjamin Bunny is: Neutered/Spayed, Vaccinated, FELV Tested, Dewormed, Microchipped, Wet Food, Dry Food, Litter Box Perfect
Purebreds Plus Cat Rescue is dedicated to matching exceptional cats (like me) with qualified adopters who will cherish me and create an ideal forever home.
If you believe you're my perfect adopter please explain why in the comments section of my Adoption Application, and contact Harriet at harrietluvskitties@yahoo.com. If you are unable to reach Harriet please email info@purebredsplus.org.
NOTE: We prefer families with children bring them to the adoption appointment. Why? This allows interaction between the children and the cat. This helps ensure they will be a good fit for each other. A mismatch between a child and a cat is not in anyone's best interests!
