DZIABĄG

Dziabąg came to our home as a result of many fortunate coincidences. He comes from Ukraine, where I was working with Four Paws International, to support Stray Animals Project as a veterinarian. One day someone brought a kitten found on garbage dump near Eupatoria.

Little one was around five weeks old and was in very bad shape – dehydrated, scrawny, and weakened by many ekto and endoparasites. One of his eyes was damaged so much that we couldn’t save it. We were afraid that the kitten won’t last the night left alone at our work station. So I decided to take care of him over the night. Unfortunately, when I was trying to feed him with milk, he didn’t want to eat, spit out almost everything and he looked like he has already given up. To prevent hipotermia I took the kitten to sleep with me in bed but I started having doubts if I could save him.

Luckily the next day kitten felt a little bit better and I managed to convince him to eat. Thanks to treatment provided the previous day – fleas were completely gone. Since that the cat started to gain strength and felt better every day. His health condition improved a lot in a short time.

Everyday he was with me at work, cuz I decided to feed him every 2-3 hours. During most of the day he just slept in his carrier laying on a bottle with warm water covered in a towel. At night there was no other way than let him sleep with me in my bed – under the covers or on the pillow. It didn’t take much time for everyone in our team to love him. Even with only one eye he was super-positive cat, not minding his disability and sometimes chasing my feet all over the room. He really liked the team and grew fond of me every day. We called him Sleepy but later the name was changed. When we were having meals I had to take the cat with me. He liked to lay on my shoulder and take a nap, not minding anything around.

After completing all formal issues we were able to get Dziabąg (that was his new name) to Poland and our cattery Viosna*PL became his new home. It was short after the litter “E” was born so he had the opportunity to grow up with “siblings”. He had such a great affection for our family, his “sisters” and ‘brothers” that sometimes he was a “substitute mother” for the kittens. He even let them suckle his belly. When Elmirka – his devoted play companion – became a mom, he watched over the babies. When they grew up a little, he palyed with them not doing them any harm. He still is the best playing pal for all the kittens that are born in our cattery.

Dziabączek loves to play fetch, he even has few favourite balls. Sometimes he finds it in some forgotten place (where he left it earlier) and carries around the house in his mouth. He usually leaves the ball by our feet and meows to get some attention. He is a very cheerful cat, even after his eye surgery, he wouldn’t mind the cat collar he had to wear. Most of the cats are unhappy and depressed while wearing the collar after surgery and find it hard to get used to it. But not Dziabąg 😉 He seemed not to notice it at all.

Sometimes we even forget that he’s missing an eye cuz he never let us know he does. Even during  cat show in sport arena “Łuczniczka” in Bydgoszcz he wasn’t stressed. Quite the opposite – he walked on a leash around the entire arena and let all the children pet him. He was so positive towards people that he won a trophy and a cat tree, because many people voted on him as “The Cat of the audience”.

More photos in Galery–> Our cats

Cat Shows:

23.02.2014 – Home and Breed Cat Show in Bydgoszcz

Cat of the Audience