From Rescued to Rehomed: Patrick's Story

Found under a member of the public’s house, Patrick came to us underweight, malnourished, and riddled with cat flu and fleas.After his initial assessment at our Levin Centre, our vets weren’t sure he would survive the next few days.

Centre Manager Antonia stepped up to provide him with a temporary home – she knew that, given his condition, he needed around-the-clock care. She made sure he ate his meals to keep his strength up, as nutrition would be a key factor in his fight against cat flu, and kept his grooming routine consistent.

“I have never seen that much flea dirt on such a little body,” Antonia tells us. “It took four days to get it all off him. But he was always a little lovebug, even though he had such a hard start to life.”

Antonia committed to Patrick’s care until he was strong enough to move on. Once he was out of the woods, the Levin Centre team knew it was time for him to find a longer-term foster home where he could continue to grow and get ready to find his forever home.

What they didn’t yet know was that Patrick’s foster home and forever home would be one and the same. Once foster mum Jess stepped in, the rest was history.

Jess started fostering Patrick when he was still very underweight and was fighting off the last of his cat flu. She expected an uphill battle.

But as soon as she brought him home, “he was just so full of love, and so trusting of humans – he absolutely melted our hearts,” Jess says. She and her family put a lot of time and work into Patrick, making sure he was gaining weight as needed, and keeping his strength up to conquer his cat flu.

Eventually, Patrick grew strong enough to handle surgery, and he underwent a procedure to help with his eye – the cat flu had affected one of them, impacting his eyesight. The surgery helped him back to fully functional visibility, leaving him with only a small sign of it ever happening at all; his third eyelid is still a little bit exposed, but it doesn’t cause him any discomfort.

Jess tells us that, after everything he went through, Patrick came out the other side perfectly healthy. "You wouldn’t even think he was the same kitten!” she tells us. “Patrick is thriving and living his best life.”

As the days went by, Jess had a feeling that a missing piece of her family had been found. “I think Patrick will agree we needed him just as much as he needed us – so we adopted him, because we just couldn’t imagine our life without him,” she says. “Every day is filled with so much love and laughter; he just slotted right into our crazy household.”

“We couldn’t have done this without the amazing SPCA staff at the Levin Centre, and the extra time and love they put into these animals,” Jess finishes. Patrick has become a loving and loved part of her whānau’s life – and we’re so glad he had the opportunity to find them.