News

Autumn has been showing signs of it’s approach this week, the leaves are starting to turn on the trees around the cattery and the nights are chillier. The cats are lovely and warm in their bedrooms at night and can sunbathe during the day in their garden rooms.

I thought I would introduce you to our lovely pet donkeys over the next few weeks. The first one is Basil, or to give him his full name, Basil Faulty the Wonky Donkey! Basil came over to England in January 2008 from Portugal. A local charity was organising the rehoming of a number of donkeys from a rescue centre over there that was closing due to the couple who ran it becoming too ill to continue. Basil was not in the rescue centre, but the lady who was organising it found him collapsed at the side of the road, with men beating him to make him stand. They only stopped after she offered a large sum of money for him and so he joined the others on the long journey back to England.

When he arrived to us he had collapsed and it took six of us to half carry him over to his new stable, we also rehomed another donkey called Cookie who was in a better state. We rugged Basil up and he recovered slowly over the next two weeks and our other two donkeys Holly and Charlie were very excited to meet him. He was terribly thin and covered in sores and burns. He has a huge lump of bone sticking out the side of his jaw which must of been so painful when he was wearing tack, goodness knows how it happened in the first place. Our vet did months of remedial work on his teeth, they had never been rasped and were making his gums bleed every time he ate. They x-rayed his mouth and estimated him to be between 30-35 years old (donkeys can live until they are 50).

Basil is a cantankerous old man and when he has had enough fuss he will generally bite you! We know this and can read the signs! He also chooses when he will have his feet trimmed and the farriers know better than to try if he is in a mood! Having said that, after what he has had to endure, who can blame him? We love seeing him having a lovely retirement and from not expecting him to live through the night on that cold January evening that he arrived, to still having him almost six years later seems like a miracle. The photo was taken 23rd September 2014 and although he is bonier than last year he is still very well in himself and very much loved.

Basil the donkey

Nou

It has been a wonderful first summer for us all. We have finished our fabulous Cat Hotel and the feedback has been over-whelming. Our cats, Nou, Doumy and Sid think it is a great place and have really helped in choosing the best toys, cat trees and cosy furniture. We only moved to the New Forest in October 2013 and have been really busy since we arrived. Hotel Cat used to be a barn, it has now been completely changed and is totally unrecognizable. We have 20 acres of the most beautiful land and want to farm it ethically as we are totally against killing anything. Our egg business is going really well, we rehome hens and they stay with us for life – our oldest girls are nearly seven years old and still lay occasionally. They all free range which gives the eggs a lovely flavour, you will see them on the approach to the hotel as they wander where they like! They are also very friendly as they get plenty of titbits during the day, their favourite is digestive biscuits! We cut hay off of our fields this year, we left wide strips un cut under the trees and hedges as we have resident deer. The female deer had two beautiful babies this year and we are lucky enough to see them everyday. We are delighted with our new lifestyle and the cats think the farm is a great place too. Nou, our Ragdoll who thinks she is a dog walks round the farm with us twice a day, we call her the supervisor and she takes her role very seriously. Next year we are hoping to plant lavender in one of our fields and we are in talks with various groups who would like to help scythe the hay by hand and plant new hedges, there are interesting times ahead.

Our first guest was a beautiful Burmese called Tallulah – what a fantastic start to the cat hotel. Tallulah is a much loved house cat and adored all the fuss, games and love she received here as she was so used to being entertained by her lovely family at home. We do not have staff, Hotel Cat is a family concern as we all adore animals. James (nearly 18) and Lucy (nearly 16) would be up with her all day if I let them (I had to get my cuddles in with her before they took over!) – suffice to say they now want a Burmese………

Tallulah meeting Uncle Tim for the first time!