Remember Eddie, the adorable black cat who waited eight months for a home at an RSPCA shelter?
Well, this is him now – living happily with loving new owners who travelled over 500 miles to adopt him from the charity’s Yarm Lane, Great Ayton branch.
Sweet Eddie, who’s two years old, was described by the charity as ‘loving and easygoing’, but he still sadly only had one unsuccessful rehoming application in all that time.
Staff at the shelter suspected his dark fur colour was to blame, with cattery supervisor Beverley Dunn saying at the time: ‘Unfortunately black, and black and white cats are not as popular as tabby and ginger cats – and it always takes us considerably longer to find them loving new homes.’
Eddie had been taken to the shelter back in September after being picked up by a concerned member of the public from a shed where he’d been contained.
Both of the poor cat’s ears were ulcerated, which caused him to suffer from sore, bald patches that meant he needed to undergo months of treatment.
But thankfully, a happily ever after was in the cards for little Eddie.
Debbie Hughes, her husband Steve and their teenage daughter Lydia made the round-trip of nearly 530 miles from Oxshott to Great Ayton to adopt Eddie.
She and her family had read about Eddie’s story and decided to open their hearts to him after their previous cat, Sylvester, passed away last year.
Until they saw Eddie’s appeal for new owners, they hadn’t yet felt ready to give another cat a home.
‘We read about Eddie and his story really pulled on our heartstrings,’ said Debbie.
‘I really wanted to give him a happy life and a nice home. We thought we met the criteria, so we put in an application, and it all went from there.
‘We didn’t really think about the distance we’d have to travel to adopt him, we just knew we wanted him!’
Eddie’s spent the last eight weeks getting settled into his new home after making the long journey back with the Hughes family.
‘We said we had come for Eddie and I think the staff still couldn’t quite believe it,’ said Debbie.
‘We spent about 20 minutes playing with him and getting to know him, but straight away we were smitten.
‘He meowed a little bit to start with as we set off, but my daughter was sitting in the back with him, and she’s brilliant with cats, and he soon relaxed and fell asleep for most of the journey.’
‘It was a great day bringing him home. He’s met our two older sons and lots of other family members, and he’s settled in really well.
‘He’s a very affectionate cat who loves to play and be close to people, and we’re so pleased we found him.’
Beverely said: ‘We’re over the moon that Debbie and her family, who lived so far away, were committed enough to come and meet Eddie and offer him his forever home after he’d been with us for such a long time.
‘We were overwhelmed by the interest we had in him after we put out the appeal, and it just goes to show that the right home is always out there – even if it’s not always on your doorstep.’
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