Clover, a little girl who is defying the odds

This is the story of Clover, a little girl who is defying the odds.

When Clover was brought in to a vet in the western Suburbs of Sydney she was stuck fast in a rat glue trap. These horrible traps are used for pest eradication and work when an animal gets stuck to the glue pad and then slowly starves to death. (Google it – these cruel products are available in Australia!)

Because she had struggled to get off the glue pad, she’d ended up getting even more of herself stuck. A vet nurse spent a long time trying to dissolve the glue to release her from the trap. But, even after being freed, it was impossible to get all the glue off Clover’s fur, so her little body needed to be shaved and she ended up with raw patches where the glue had taken her skin off. We can’t share a photo of her at this time, it’s too distressing.

Luckily for Clover one of our carers was at this vet at the same time and the nurse asked if we could take Clover on. Of course we said yes.

Clover would have been approximately 4 weeks old when found. She spent 2 weeks recovering at the vet and has now been with our carer for around 2 weeks.

When the vet saw her he put in place a medical protocol to treat her and her wounds. She was put on antibiotics, given fluids and her wounds were treated.

Although Clover still looks like a patchwork quilt she is recovering amazingly well. Because her fur is still very short, she feels the cold and we have had to work on keeping her warm. This is why she is wearing her stylish jacket. We purchased the smallest cat coat we could find to help her keep warm. The smallest size available is still too big for her so we have to tie it with hair soft hair bands so it will stay on her. We have made her a very cosy cocoon in a cat carrier with a lot of snug polar fleece blankets inside, underneath and around it.

Clover now has a friend called Furball, who is an adorable little ball of fluff around the same age with his own story, and Furball will help to keep Clover warm as well as being a playmate and confidante.

Clover has improved significantly in both health and personality. She is becoming more confident every day. Because a lot of our work is rehabilitating street kittens, we have learned over time the tricks that work well. Firstly, syringing their food usually bonds them to us very quickly. They learn that every few hours, we will give them a cuddle and a feed and they mostly learn to like us very quickly and start to recognise us as a mum figure. Also massaging the T-zone between their eyes and above really seems to relax them and this helps a lot too.

Clover is a little shy with strangers but once she is comfortable with you she loves playing, snuggling and being a crazy kitten. She adores playing with her tennis ball and best mate, Furball.

Clover & Furball will be available for adoption as a pair once she is fully recovered.