Hi all. We (Natalie and Leo) are raising money to cover the vet bills and continued care for a collection of beautiful street cats we helped to rescue in our suburb of Sydney, including one special kitten who has needed to have her leg amputated.

Since moving to this neighbourhood, we’ve been surprised by the number of cat colonies we’ve seen around. Earlier in the year, we came across a colony behind our favourite pizza shop and contacted Whiskers & Co Rescue for help managing them. We personally caught and short-term fostered a long-haired orange and white boy who needed eye surgery, and also a teenage tabby kitten who we ended up adopting permanently. Whiskers & Co have assisted that colony with more rescues and adoptions and this is how we became aware of their work.

Around the corner in the other direction, where we walk our dog, there are a number of cats living in and around the yard of a short-term rental block alongside a property undergoing renovations. At first, we were uncertain which of these cats may be pets allowed to roam, but over time it became clear that some were strays or ferals coming and going via the stormwater drains, and we’ve recently been involved in the rescue of three cats from this street.

In late November, we first saw a litter of adorable small kittens - maybe 4 weeks old, three black tuxedos and one grey tabby - hanging out on the grass under a tree beside the curb. Their mother, a grey and white tuxedo, was nearby. We took some pictures and asked some locals in the street if they knew anything about them, but did not have any luck getting help or information.

A few weeks later, we started to see two of that litter again - the two on the right in the picture, the grey tabby and the neatest of the black tuxedos. No sign of the mother or the two other siblings — we haven’t seen them since. The remaining tux was now injured on a back leg, but was still hopping around quickly. This pair were extremely timid, but very hungry, so we began to sit on the street and feed them each evening and we learnt from neighbours that they had been hiding under cars and even inside car engines.

At the same time we were feeding the kittens, we began to see an extremely pregnant young tortoiseshell hanging around on the same block. Going through old photos, it turns out that Leo had seen her pregnant this time last year, but we never saw her with any kittens, so she either raised them elsewhere, or they were lost — possibly in last summer’s heavy rain. The tortie was braver than the kittens and it seemed she had been fed on occasion by some other local people, and we were able to feed and pet her a little as well.

We began to see whether we could catch either the pair of kittens or the expecting mother, with our biggest priority being the baby tuxedo, who clearly had a broken leg. On the evening of December 10, while feeding the kittens, Leo was able to bundle the grey tabby into a carrier by hand, but the tuxedo fought back and got away. This was very concerning for us, as the most vulnerable of the cats was now navigating the streets alone while hurt.

With the grey tabby set up in her crate — calm but very timid and lonely — we borrowed a cat trap and set it up in the driveway of the renovation house in hopes of catching the others, and then began the ritual of checking the trap once an hour from 6am to midnight, all day, for the next couple of days. At 6:45am on December 12, the tortie mother sprung the trap. While feeding her, we had already named her Gwendoline, and we were able to get Gwen set up in a safe foster space in anticipation of her giving birth.

We still didn’t have the injured black tuxedo - we hadn’t even seen the tux, who is now called Walker, since we caught Stones, her silver sibling. We were terrified that Walker might have gotten even more badly hurt, or sick from infection, or just hadn’t coped alone. But on the evening of December 12, Walker reappeared, seeking food in the same area. She even went inside the trap to eat the wet food left inside as bait, which is when we discovered that Walker was not heavy enough to spring the mechanism when stepping on the trap plate.

It became apparent that if we were going to catch Walker before her injury became deadly, we would have to spring the trap ourselves by waiting for her to enter it and then pulling an attached string. We sat out for a while that evening to see if she would return, but she didn’t. Walker was very easily spooked, and unfortunately, passers-by who stopped to ask what was going on sent her off again.

The next day, Leo parked herself in the driveway for the whole evening, and after many hours, much stress and tears, she managed to spring the trap around Walker and we were able to reunite her with her sister Stones before an emergency vet visit the next morning.

A note on names: Walker and Stones are named after the England international football players Kyle Walker and John Stones, because on the same day that these two babies were being caught, it was announced that these footballers, who had befriended a stray Qatari cat they named Dave while at the World Cup, were organising a quarantine and transport for Dave so that they can adopt him. We had thought this pair were boys - once checked by the vet, it turned out they were both girls! But the names had stuck.

Gwen is named after the magnificent actress Gwendoline Christie, due to being both a nice cat, and a marble (in both shape and colour) — a reference to the viral video "Fear Box" challenge done with John Boyega during Star Wars press.

Walker and Stones were very very happy to be reunited, and very very terrified and upset about being caught and handled by humans. When we went to the vet, Stones was deemed healthy apart from the fleas and parasites of a feral cat, given her initial vaccinations, and we were able to take her home straight away. Within hours of being handled, Stones was floppy and purring when being petted and cuddled.

While Stones was relaxing back at home, Walker was kept in for sedation and surgery. When the vets took a look at her, they called us and told us that her leg surgery would be fairly straightforward, but that she had thrashed around in the cage and even bitten someone. They said she seemed so feral and wild that they actually recommended having her euthanised and using our money and energy on other things.

We considered the fact that Walker was in a lot of pain, and that her sister Stones, who had come from the same conditions, was warming up to humans within hours of being handled. The pair were only around 6-7 weeks old, not too old to socialise by any measure we’ve ever heard of in feral rescue.

So we said no, of course we’re not going to have her euthanised because she's acting feral on her first day inside. Please do the surgery, we trust that rescuers with experience can handle her and that when she isn’t in pain, she will catch up to her sister in terms of socialisation. We’ll give her a chance.

They warned us that Walker would rip her cone off, rip her stitches out, over the Christmas public holidays, and be too violent to handle and medicate when recovering, and cost us thousands of additional dollars in vet bills due to the potential of needing more surgery done on a public holiday to reset the leg wound. They thought she would not be able to be handled or rehabilitated. But they did the surgery at our request, and it turned out very neat and tidy.

The bill for Walker’s amputation is the biggest cost we are raising money for. Whiskers & Co do get a wonderful rescue discount with their vet providers, but it is still a big surgical cost and as Walker’s initial rescuers, we are taking responsibility to raise the money for her care.

Since getting her surgery, here are some things Walker has NOT done, not even once:

She’s doing extremely well in foster care and is calm and learning to trust. Her socialisation began with being petted on the head with a toothbrush! Next was a few fingers along with the toothbrush, then hand petting before being picked up and burritoed in a towel for lap petting. Soon, the toothbrush and towel became unnecessary and she is currently adjusting to being picked up more regularly.

She's still coming off her pain meds from surgery, so some days, and in some moods, Walker is still a little handshy, or automatically defensive, hissing and occasionally swiping, but once she has been taken out of her crate, she’s been loving her pats and cuddles and lap time — she just needs to remember that she needs to get picked up in order to get the cuddles! She loves to eat tube treats from a finger and even likes her tummy tickled.

Her sister’s confidence and constant purring is helping her a lot as well. Currently Walker is kept isolated due to her stitches, but the girls have time together every day, and we hope that both sisters will go in for their desexing (spay) and microchip this week as well as Walker's stitches removal. Then they'll be able to be together full time, and this bonded pair could use a patient foster home or permanent adopter who could offer them to roam around the room and find their confidence together, as in their current foster home they are being kept in a crate. We can’t wait to see their progress — they are just starting to learn to play with toys!

As for Gwendoline, the stunning tortie mum - she is a sweet, elegant and affectionate girl who needs no rehabilitation - she is ready for a life of luxury. Gwen gave birth to five kittens on December 23 (three boys, two girls — each one a different colour) and she has been completely trusting of humans for the entire process. She is probably thrilled to not be having babies in a drain.

We really hope to see her rehomed somewhere great once her kittens are weaned, because she is a model cat citizen who loves chin scritches and pets even when her babies are feeding. She has shown no stress or aggression even when foster carers handle the babies. She’s a true angel of a cat and we are so relieved that we could help her. We'll post more updates about Gwen and her kittens soon!

But all in all, that’s eight cats that we have rescued with the support of Whiskers & Co. They are a small charity and Sydney is facing its worst kitten season yet. Everyone is overstretched. So this fundraiser will use the money for expenses of these particular cats, including:

Walker, Stones, Gwendoline and her babies will all be available for adoption via Whiskers & Co Rescue once their vet care and socialisation is completed.

Please donate to help give these cats the care and love they deserve!