You really couldn’t make it up…
There’s a big difference between a feral cat, a stray cat and a domesticated cat who has found themselves in a difficult situation.
A stray cat has usually known a home. They’ve experienced human love, care and attention, but have become lost or been abandoned. They may be frightened and display very “feral” behaviours, but with time, safety and patience, many can settle back into a domestic home.
Feral cats are different. They’re generally born outside, or have been living independently from humans from a very young age. They learn to survive by fighting and hunting for food and, importantly, they don’t necessarily want human interaction.
And then there was Tommy.
When Tommy arrived with us, we weren’t 100% sure of his background. What we did know was that he had been owned and had been signed over to us. He had been found outside with a serious wound to his neck, yet his previous owner described him as “a loving cat who always slept on the bed”.
He wasn’t neutered and he wasn’t microchipped.
After treatment for the large open abscess on his neck, along with being neutered and microchipped, we were left with a very scared cat.
Tommy would almost audibly gulp every time a hand reached out to stroke him. We recognised how stressed he was and genuinely believed that, with time, he would begin to understand that he was safe.
And initially, he did seem to settle.
But instead of becoming more accepting of human contact, Tommy began going the other way.
The hissing started. Then the spitting. Then the claws.
We could no longer gently stroke his head. Feathers were ripped from our hands and even offering him Lick-e-Lix became a no-go.
Tommy desperately wanted to hide, so we placed a covered carrier in his room. To this day, that carrier remains his safe place.
His room became his territory, and these strange human hands were definitely not welcome.
Even cleaning his room became a stealth operation, with the litter tray eventually being moved around the corner simply to make sure the person cleaning could come out with their skin intact!
Despite everything, we kept trying.
But it became increasingly clear that Tommy wasn’t happy living alongside other cats, and eventually the decision was made that he needed a different kind of home.
In November, Tommy was rehomed to Bourton as a working cat.
And that, we thought, was the end of Tommy’s story with us.
Except it wasn’t.
Fast forward to September 2026.
Dilys was visiting friends in Royal Wotton Bassett. Knowing she volunteered for SAS and with us, they asked if she could bring a microchip reader with her. A cat had turned up at their home around six weeks earlier and they wanted to see if he had a chip.
Imagine everyone’s surprise when they scanned him.
It was Tommy.
Not only was it Tommy, but this was a very different Tommy.
This cat was friendly.
He loved a lap.
He was happily accepting human attention and had simply wandered into Chris’s home around 15 miles from where he had been rehomed… and decided to stay.
The Tommy who once gulped when a hand came near him. The Tommy who hissed, spat and swiped at us. The Tommy whose room became his territory and whose carrier was his safe place.
That Tommy had apparently decided that, actually, humans weren’t so bad after all.
We obviously have absolutely no idea what Tommy has been up to in the time since he left us, or quite how he managed to travel 15 miles, but one thing is for certain…
Tommy clearly had his own plans.
He didn’t just find himself another home.
He appears to have found himself several.
And perhaps, underneath all that fear and defensive behaviour, there really was that loving cat his previous owner told us about all along. ❤️🐾
