Porthos and Athos

Having lost their previous cats to old age, Doug and Jocelyne Scott’s home seemed very quiet. As Doug explains: “The mother of our two cats had come from The Blue Cross, so we decided to return to the Hertfordshire adoption centre and see if there were any cats there that we felt would fit in.” 
 
Athos and Porthos were brothers who had been at Hertfordshire for three months. Porthos was a frightened looking cat hiding at the back of his cage, but Athos was much more relaxed. Both cats had been diagnosed with heart murmurs, for which they were being treated daily, and Athos also had a large bald patch on his back due to a food allergy.
 
“Despite having to keep Athos on a special diet, and daily medicating both cats, we decided that two brothers would be a lot more fun than just a single cat, and so we made the commitment to take them both on,” says Doug.
 
For the first few weeks the cats were kept indoors to acclimatise them to their new home and family. “Porthos was still a very nervous cat; in the morning he would be in the cat basket, and spent the rest of the day under our bed. I would come home from work, crawl under the bed to talk to him and pat him until he worked up enough courage to come out and talk to me.

“Athos settled in much more quickly, but it was quite difficult to keep him restricted to his special food, as the steroid tablets increased his appetite and he would wolf down his food and then try to steal from his brother, who always let him, as he eats little and often and can be quite fussy.”
 
Doug and Jocelyne saw an improvement with Athos after a course of steroids. They also introduced some hypo-allergenic cat biscuits to add some variety to the cat’s diet.

“After his course of steroids finished, Athos’s allergy only occasionally flared up, and his fur improved tremendously. He no longer tries to pull his fur out (which used to stress him) and is now a very happy cat.
 
In the meantime Porthos has gained in confidence and has become a very affectionate cat.”